PSA increase after chemo

User

Posted 08 Mar 2023 at 15:48

Hi all

I had 6x docetaxel cycles (also on Prostap and had RT ages ago) with the last one at the end of October '22.

PSA before chemo started in July was 4.1, went down to 0.6 by the beginning of December. Blood test on 2/3/23 and it came back at 4.4! Consultant said on 3/3 I shouldn't be disappointed, it happens quite often. Then he immediately booked me in for Bone scan and CT scan; I had the bone scan on Monday just gone, and the CT is scheduled for next Monday. He wants a six-week blood test and review appointment then.

I am worried.

User

Posted 08 Mar 2023 at 16:48

Hi Stew I was diagnosed in 2018 and have had the same treatment as you with a slight variation.
I've been on Prostap since September 2018, I had docetaxel in Oct-Feb 18/19 and RT in April 19.
Although I've suggested on a couple of occasions to my excellent Onco about an HT break, he won't hear of it
Got a couple of scans coming up, DEXA and CTI to check out what's going on in the next month.
Hope you tolerated the chemo better than me, I thought it was horrendous particularly a few days after each session.

User

Posted 01 May 2023 at 10:44

Well, six week blood tests weren't very good. In six weeks PSA went from 4.4. to 8.7.

Chemo was such a horrible experience, I can't believe that something that is meant to cure/stop the cancer seems to have stimulated it instead.

Also annoying is that all the scans I've ever had - loads of them, and loads of different types - have always come back NED. The only thing they've ever picked up is cracked ribs, which I kind of knew about anyway.

More scans booked and bloods again in early July. Quite depressing really.

User

Posted 02 May 2023 at 00:38

Unfortunately, chemo doesn't actually kill prostate cancer but for about 2/3rds of men it does make other treatments such as HT more effective. At this stage, your PSA starts to become less important than how you are actually feeling?

"Life can only be understood backwards; but it must be lived forwards." Soren Kierkegaard

User

Posted 02 May 2023 at 16:04

When you say it makes treatments like HT more effective... I've been on prostap for ages, and since chemo I've noticed that the sweats are coming back. Cyproterone has made them manageable until recently, now they are damper and hotter. Could this be that the HT is working harder somehow?

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