Who am I?

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User

Posted 30 Dec 2022 at 15:11

This is probably the wrong place for this, but when I tried to follow the “introduce yourself” link in the start here section, it said access denied! So if mods want to move it, feel free.

So, I’m a 78 year old, long-retired academic, diagnosed with PC in 2017, having lived happily with Essential Thrombocythemia (one of the rarer blood cancers) since 2013. PSA 600 @ diagnosis, urologist was 100% sure there were metastases, but couldn’t find any. Refused radiotherapy at that stage because of danger of it causing the indolent blood cancer to morph into something much nastier. Lived on leuproline and bicalutamide till the latter stopped working. Had high intensity palliative RT, then from beginning of this year, been on Lp plus Darolutamide, which has reduced PSA to <<1.
Which is great, but it has played merry h**l with my muscle mass, so am now walking and moving like someone around 80. Oh, hang on, I am nearing 80! Living in a rural area, needing to keep wood burner fed, need advice how to counter the muscle loss!

User

Posted 30 Dec 2022 at 18:26

Keto diet might help

User

Posted 03 Jan 2023 at 17:12

Have a friend who is a keto fanatic, but am still unconvinced. Part of problem is having worked in ruminant nutrition for quite a bit of my career, tend to regard ketosis as a pathological state!

Interestingly, my Brother in law was on Darolutamide for 18 months with no problems, living on a seriously unhealthy junk food diet, before the ulcerative colitis got him.

User

Posted 03 Jan 2023 at 17:56

Welcome to the Club that people would rather not wish to join. The question you ask, Who am I?, reminds me of the one asked of himself in the soliloquy in Les Mis by Jean Valjean who had his struggles.

Edited by member 03 Jan 2023 at 21:10 | Reason: Not specified

Barry

User

Posted 04 Jan 2023 at 21:49

Exercise is the key I believe.

One of the best I know for a whole body workout is an indoor rower. If funds allow, get a recent secondhand erg off Facebook marketplace, then you'll always have it to hand to use. Then join an online indoor rowing club like The Diamonds (over 60s rowing club) and you're sorted.

User

Posted 05 Jan 2023 at 03:24

A couple of things that might help. Raise your protein intake. There's various published works [some in my bio] that strongly recommend for people over 60 and for those dealing with cancer, protein intake per day needs to be doubled. If you get down to making calculations based on protein content of your food, doubling is not easy and supplements might be needed. There's also some dietary advice around that suggests you should cut down your meat intake ... fine in one way but makes it even harder to get enough protein in your diet. Protein is essential for muscle growth. Carbs tend to make fat.

The other, rather odd thing [and nobody else has reported this so maybe it's me] is that any strength you gain from exercise is lost much more quickly in this situation than it is normally. Daily exercise, even if it's not record breaking, will work better than 2 or 3 times per week.

Jules

Edited by member 05 Jan 2023 at 05:44 | Reason: Not specified

User

Posted 05 Jan 2023 at 07:05

Before you decide to increase your protein intake it is absolutely necessary to perform renal function assessment. Mobilization of the muscles is the best method

User

Posted 05 Jan 2023 at 08:32

Originally Posted by: Online Community Member

Mobilization of the muscles is the best method

I quite agree. Perhaps I should have made it clear that the reason for increasing protein intake after a certain age, or when afflicted by cancer, is that we become less able to metabolize protein and therefore suffer from a deficit. It's not a matter of supercharging normal body function.

Jules

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