After 2 years, I finally took my last dose of Abiraterone yesterday. I was taking prednisolone 5mg with the Abiraterone, so now I need to be tapered of that.
After seeing an endocrinologist, they've decided that rather than reducing the dose of prednisolone, they're moving me over to hydrocortisone 20mg (15mg in the morning, and 5mg at noon) for two months. After which I'll have a Short Synacthen Test, It will check if my body can produce it's own cortisol , only then the steroids can be stopped (I don't know yet if it will be tapered or not at that phase).
They've explained the hydrocortisone has a much shorter half life than prednisolone, which means my steroids level will be very low at night, this nightly dip in steroid level is crucial because it allows the HPA axis to receive the signal to "wake up" and start producing its own ACTH, which then stimulates your adrenal glands to make cortisol.
To me this sounds a lot better than just reducing the dose and hoping the body recovers, so I'm happy.
I still have one year of HT left, I've asked (after recommendation from Ulfhbg ) to move from prostap to orgovyx for that last year, in the hope of having a much quicker testosterone recovery at the end, and luckily my team agreed!
Big treatment milestone done, one year to go.
G
Hello G (L1m)
As Steve above (mstev2) says all sounds great.
I do love it when I see a fellow member of the Gleason 9 club doing so well. It just goes to show with the right treatment even an aggressive cancer can be cured.
Well done, 2 down 1 to go.
Thank you for the update.
Best wishes - Brian.
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Hi L1m
This is a brilliant post and thank you for posting. BW is back on Prednisone because his withdrawal was too quick possibly? = absolutely exhausted and lots of joint pain from inflammation. Plan was go back on it and see if it was withdrawal causing the problems ( which it seems to be ?)and then come off after a bit and withdraw slower. But your approach sounds more of a solid plan of action to me.
Thank you
L
Hi L1m
originally he was 5mg / sometimes 10mg . He took it for 3 years. His original withdraw was over 4months . 10mg to 5mg to 2.5mg then alternate days on 2.5mg for a couple of weeks and then off. As soon as he was off energy was incredibly low , he couldn’t even walk down the road without becoming out of breath. Twice at the gym he had to sit down and have an energy drink as nearly fainted. Joint pain -sleeping a long time. Clearly there wasn’t a lot of self production of steroid coming back.
Now he’s on 2.5mg alternate days - not a lot of energy but makes a big difference. He will start to drop a day each week and see if that’s better. This clearly isn’t a quick thing for everyone.
His gym trainer has given him “Creatine Monohydrate 100% micronised,” that has been ok’d by consultant ( but anyone using it needs to check that’s ok for them) and that seems to have made a big difference in the gym as it makes your muscles perform better over a short time.
I’ve had a chat with BW about your plan and he’s very interested in having the same as an option
L
