Intermittent HT

More smirking Mrs BW.

I have a friend who told me the story that when he was building a gazebo in his garden, a rather elderly lady neighbour lent over the fence and said ‘Alan, I do admire your erection’.

Ha Ha! Well Lorraine (BW) - the other link I give to people with (I won't say the word!) ED is this one:

 Sex and cancer - Let's talk 

It's an open frank discussion about how people overcome their issues.

Going back to the first link - Intermittent HT must be a thing otherwise it would not be mentioned in the printed advice from Macmillan.

I asked both my Oncologist and CNS the question "what if I became HT resistant" and the answer was to change the HT as it's possible I could be resistant to one "brand" of HT.  Don't forget we all react differently to HT.

It's a very interesting subject and one close to my heart.

Kind Regards - Brian x

 Grundo there have been numerous phase 3 trials but no conclusive proof reached to date, although some have given positive signs, the problem is that some patients don’t react well to it.  Balancing quality of life and longevity it quite subjective. Much as I would love to cease HT do I want to risk my life as it currently is?  Probably not.

Ok David interesting 

I wonder if the people who showed positive signs continued with it,

Steve 

Hello Lorraine (BW) 

You've got me looking now and I have other things I should be doing!  I have found mention of it again here in our resource bank:

Hormonal-therapy-for-prostate-cancer.

Caner research UK looked at it 13 years ago:

Stop-start-hormone-therapy-better-than-continual-hormone-therapy-for-prostate-cancer/.

I am aware there are some videos on You Tube regarding this subject from a well known American source but as it's NOT a trusted UK source I can't link this under Community Guidelines.

I will be back later - good hunting.

Kind Regards - Brian.

I presented with T3B N1 M0 PSA253 G8 in January 2022. I had my last hormone injection in October 2024, my PSA was undetectable during the time I was on it but my last test in September was 0.5; I will see what it is in March 2026

Hi RT

Looks like you had RT so  .5 is ok now that HT finished.

Next few PSA s will mean a lot, and long as no upward trend then should be ok

Best wishes

Steve 

There is a good video on this from an organisation I can't mention.

There have been clinical trials which show there is no difference between the 10 year clinical outcomes of intermittent and continuous ADT. However, there are improved quality of life outcomes with intermittent ADT. (The patients in the trail had previously experienced a biochemical relapse.)

The protocol is to take a holiday when the PSA is stable and undetectable and restart when it reaches a pre-determined threshold in the 2-5 range.

Its something I would definitely consider if it became appropriate for my treatment.

Hi Grundo 

When BW was told HT for life, we contacted an oncologist that we had previously paid for a second opinion with from the Royal Marsden and asked their opinion. She was really helpful and she suggested coming off everything after two years and just taking a look and see what was happening as nothing was lost in seeing where he was. We ran this by our Consultant and at the same time discussed Intermittent use and he felt there was “ no point.” Also as time/years go by and you get into a routine of HT and manage it ok, BW and I were more worried about messing with things and causing a problem where there wasn’t one, stick with it as it was going well… 3 years later this change has only come about because of side effects. So in a way it’s naturally falling into a place of change.

Lorraine

HiDavid2017 

8 years is epic! You’ve done so well and clearly your body is very accepting of your drugs. Worrying about any micro mets getting a nice little “seed bed” going on the sly has always been something that I’ve pondered over. In a way we know too much, but at the same time have no idea. Once when I asked BW’s Consultant if the lack of steroids would cause toxic damage to his liver with Abiraterone and cause a seed bed for micro mets to settle into. He sat staring at me for at least a minute with an incredulous look on his face. Though I always think it’s worth asking these things. 
Yes ! All they have to do is keep everyone going until the cure is found- Brilliant . I feel that day will come. 
x