Advanced Prostate Cancer - Treatment choice

Glad to hear things are going well and that your PSA is now less than 0.1 which is a fantastic response. Long may that continue. 

Hi Pete,

Fantastic news, glad the tablets are working for you and your PSA has come down, I wonder why I was not offered Xtandi when the Abiraterone didn't work. 

I start my Chemo tomorrow 20th, went in today for a pre-assessment and general advise, will just have to see how things go from here.

Keep fighting and stay safe.

Nick

HI Ido4 and Nick

Thanks for your best wishes.

Nick. I can't say why you weren't offered Xtandi. Maybe they felt that a different hormone treatment would be unlikely to work. All the best with your Chemo and hope the side effects are manageable for you. You seem to have the right idea in keeping a healthy lifestyle.

Pete

Obviously everyone is different but my husband went through 10 rounds of docetaxel concurrently with decapeptyl hormone treatment and we were quite surprised by how well he coped. He worked full time throughout (desk based job) and only needed to take a couple of days of sick leave in his 10th cycle. He was aged 53/54 at the time.

We found that thanks to the decamethazone steroids they gave with the chemo he felt really well (and super active!) on the day after treatment. We jokwd that it was great for getting jobs around the house done! Tiredness kicked in on the second and third days but then he started to feel better over the following week. He didn't have any sickness. After his first treatment he did develop a dvt in his leg and was put onto blood thinners but that may have been caused by the cancer itself which can thicken the blood.

He's been really good at looking for the positives and now talks about one of the gifts of chemo being time with people. It may be different now with Covid restrictions but he was able to have someone with him during the chemo treatment and really appreciated time to just chat with his brother, friends etc each month.

The chemo did affect him increasingly over the cycles and he found the last few harder but even then it was only really in the week after treatment.

Hope that's helpful.

Hi Nick, I think that Abiraterone and Enzalutamide (Xtandi) are similar drugs and they can only give you one or other. My husband's consultant recommended Abiraterone for him because he's still working and she said Xtandi can make you more tired and mentally foggy.

Cheers

Patience P 

Hi Nick, Pete and all.

I’m new today to the site and have been asking for feedback on Enzalutimide and perhaps Abiraterone as it will be my next line of treatment having had Doxetaxel, Cabazitaxel & R223 Xofigo since being diagnosed with MCRPC 3 years ago. I tolerated them all fairly well with fatigue being the major burden of the chemotherapy’s. At 72 years I’m generally well and will walk 4 to 7 hill miles each day before back pain says take time out. I understand in England only Enza or Abi is funded by the NHS so the choice is one or the other. I believe you can have both in other devolved nations, you would need to check on this. I read that there is a life benefit if you have Abi followed by Enza but no benefit if Enza followed by Abi.

Keep active everyone and enjoy the Spring 

I am new to all this too I am looking after my Dad who has been diagnosed with prostate and secondary bone cancer throughout most of his body and his pelvic lymph nodes. His psa is also 3500 and has started hormone tablets and now injections, still waiting to see an oncologist regarding starting chemo just so frustrating all the waiting to see people and find out what is going to happen 

Hi. I was diagnosed with advanced Prostate cancer and secondary bone cancer over two years ago. My PSA was over 3,000 too. I started, like your dad, on hormone treatment initially then had chemo (I had a little wait too) and since then have been on Aberaterone and have three monthly hormone injections. My PSA now hovers around the 5 mark. Stay positive mate and I hope your dad’s journey mirrors mine.  Good luck!  Dave

Welcome to the site Spaceman. It's good to hear how well you're feeling and how you're so active. 

My husband's been on abiraterone for the past 10 months and seems to have been fine with them. We've noticed more mood swings and he's been more emotional than he was previously but as he's also still on Decapeptyl injections and the whole experience of cancer and lockdown take their emotional toll it's hard to say whether that's because of the abiraterone. One thing which may be worth discussing with your consultant- my husband's consultant recommended the abiraterone for him because he's still working (desk job) and carrying on with voluntary work, parenting a teenager and generally life as usual. She said the Enzalutamide was more likely to cause drowsiness and brain fog which could impact his lifestyle more.

All the best

Patience P

Hi Cakni and Kirsch

Welcome to the site. You can see my husband's journey on my profile and earlier in the thread. Just to reassure you a little about the wait for chemo Cakni.  My understanding is that the hormone treatment (tablets then injections) is the primary treatment for your dad's cancer and should bring things under control. The chemo is a supplement which has only been introduced at the beginning of treatment for advanced prostate cancer in recent years from what I've read. They've found it's more effective when given earlier rather than waiting until the cancer becomes 'castration resistant' (ie the hormone drugs become less effective). Whacking it while it's down is how someone put it to us! My husband's initial PSA was 2000 (also had secondary spread to bones and lympg nodes) and dropped significantly on the tablets and injection before he started chemo. It then continued to drop during the chemo cycles.

All the best

Lynne