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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