Slight PSA rise 9 months after radiation.

Have you had radiation? How long ago. Not quite sure the numbers you wrote down make sense.

You went from 1 to 2 to 22 to 54 to 21?

After radiation if you have three rises in your PSA, you should be looking for further diagnosis and possibly treatment. if your PSA is going that high, you really should see your oncologist. It’s way more than doubling.

@narus wrote "My PSA goes up but sometimes goes down.
.1,.2,.22,.54,21"

@jeffmarc wrote "You went from 1 to 2 to 22 to 54 to 21?"

Except for the last number, there's a decimal point before each number in @narus's comment, which can be hard to see next to the comma (I assume he left it off the last one by accident). So read

"My PSA goes up but sometimes goes down.
0.1, 0.2, 0.22, 0.54, 0.21"

Yes highest PSA post radiation was .54. Frequently if I make a mistake it is usually related to poor eyesight and needing new glasses.

I always blame my fat fingers. 🙂

I figure it will takes a year or more lupron that has been in my body does not leave quickly . i understand that the longer it is in longer takes to recover from it. It still oresents it's effects its just that I can deal as long as I can keep fitness. As I get closer to 80 will slow down even more.
As far as fitness goes I usually do a 15 minute warm down with the light weights and abdominal and sometimes a plank or two . The cardio is my real favorite .

What is your oncologist telling you? I would think that your numbers seem high even allowing for a possible bounce. Any PSA bounce that I have seen resolves itself and continues lower in the next quarterly check.

That said, there are no steadfast rules in regard to post radiation numbers. I think that is why they are so vague in their "2.0 points above a nadir meets the criteria for recurrence" rule. No clear numerical definition is ever given of what constitutes a nadir with radiation/no ADT patients.
Unsure as to what effect an enlarged prostate might have on post radiation numbers but others may know more.

I know it is stressful but i might get another test even if out of pocket without waiting the specified 3 months. Do you mind telling us what your Gleason score was?
Wishing you the best.

@narus
I would not worry (my opinion) about your bumps up and down. The numbers you have are great. I assume you still have your prostrate and if that is correct your numbers are excellent even the highest. And this comes from the guidance of my R/Os and PCP not me as a medical expert.

My R/O at UFHPTI told me the goal was to have my PSA below 1. TWO of my R/Os and my PCP keep reminding me that I WILL have bumps up and down and to NOT WORRY about that is is normal and common. It is the continued rise and no fall that they worry about.

I hope that helps you! However confirm with your R/O or urologist your concerns. I am passing on what was told to me and what to expect over the years after treatments.

@ozelli wrote "That said, there are no steadfast rules in regard to post radiation numbers. I think that is why they are so vague in their "2.0 points above a nadir meets the criteria for recurrence" rule. No clear numerical definition is ever given of what constitutes a nadir with radiation/no ADT patients."

Exactly. Again, layperson writing, but from the links I shared above, it appears that radiation kills only some of the healthy cells in the prostate (in addition to the cancer itself). Since healthy prostate cells also generate PSA at a lower level, your nadir would depend on exactly how and how much radiation hit your prostate and how the healthy cells reacted to it. It's not like a prostatectomy, where the prostate is gone completely so any PSA is probably coming from cancer cells outside it.

Note that the links I shared also said that while many hit their post-radiation PSA nadir after a couple of months, for some it can take as long as 2–3 years. (!!!)

Perhaps PSA after successful radiation therapy falls onto something like a bell curve. If a non-expert uses a small-enough sample (like sharing anecdotal evidence with a few dozen people in a discussion forum), they might hear *only* from people near the middle of the curve, and not realise that a wider spectrum of healthy results is possible. That's why I'm suggesting that the original poster not worry too much until they've talked with their actual oncologist.

vitamin C, yes 10,000 mg.

Then, while doing that, I had five treatments of targeted radiation at the metastasized cancer cells.

I hurt a bit because any cancer that escaped the prostate caused damage to the nerves in the areas above and so I used ultra high frequency radio ablation to deaden the damaged nerve endings. My pain went from about five or six to about one or two on the scale of 1 to 10.

No surgery, no chemo.

On July 12th 2024 my PSA score was 0.0 (see image below).

My Xtandi has been dropped to 80mg daily and I see my ooncologist again in October.

My goal is to beat this thing, keep it down, and educate other people about how I handled it.

I'm 65 - (And you may want to really read this comment)

My PSA was like 8.42, then 11+ then 15+....3 years ago, now its 20
Before I went to the urologist, I bought a book called "The great Prostate Hoax"
The author is the doctor who came up with the PSA test, and cited that the PSA (alone) was never intended to be the Gold standard to determine if someone has cancer....but rather in his words "Taken over by the CDC" -
After reading most of the book when The doctor told me I needed a biopsy on my prostate...
I said, I'll think about it BUT before I do, I have a question....
Q1) Have ever had a patient with a high PSA, but NO cancer? - He said Yes! We see it in motor cycle riders all the time....
Q2 ) Have you ever seen ppl with a NORMAL PSA but with cancer....? He said yes

Well, in that case, I'm not going to worry about it unless I have problems.... Most men will die WITH Prostate cancer, than from it....
So never been back