I went with DH to his 3 monthly appointment yesterday. We were expecting to see his specialist nurse, but instead, we saw another resident doctor. We have now not seen the consultant since January or the specialist nurse since April.
Without having mentioned this to me beforehand, DH asked how long his current regime of twice yearly Decapeptyl injections and Abiraterone was likely to be effective. He had asked this question of his specialist nurse before and not got an answer, but this resident doctor was much more forthcoming.
To my surprise, she told him that he should expect it to fail in around 2 years 'give or take'. She said some people didn't get that long, but others got longer. She also mentioned that he might get to a point where he was unable to tolerate the side effects any longer. That is probably more relevant. Although he is now on pregabalin and venlafaxine in an effort to control side effects, he is becoming increasingly concerned about the amount of medication he is taking.
So it now looks as though we've got a couple of years, if we're lucky, before we get to the firefighting stage. This is what we've wanted all along so we can plan.
For the moment his PSA is undetectable, but on the downside he is now anaemic, there is concern that he might become Type 2 diabetic and he has lots of digestive issues , which are beginning to affect what he can actually eat.
Hello ansteynomad
Thank you for the update. it's hard to work out what's best for DH and as we aren't medically qualified we can only give an opinion.
We don't have DH's full history but - here's me - been on Decapeptyl for 3 years, it's worked to a point, I have had 9 months off it, my PSA has risen, back on it for 9 months and my PSA is down - the idea is my body isn't getting used to the drug! Back on it for 9 months and low PSA again - it's called intermittent HT - it's working for me! How about suggesting this to DH's team? I know we are all different!
I do wish you both all the best and hope you get thing sorted out - you don't want to be firefighting!!
Best wishes - Brian.
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