Nutrition & more for living well with metastatic prostate cancer?

Regarding the “& more” aspect of your question…have you considered moderate to vigorous aerobic exercise?

I’m not a physician (a retired chemical engineer) but research was my business for over 45 years. For the last year much of my research has focused on the study of PCa for (primarily) low and intermediate risk individuals.

This subject of moderate to vigorous exercise has been the topic of over 500 studies and 6 RCT’s, according to a February 2024 meta-analysis (see below):
https://www.nature.com/articles/s41391-024-00801-7
In other words, there’s plenty of research evidence that suggests moderate to vigorous exercise slows down PCa progression.

“The present study indicated that HIIT and MICT showed considerable cardiorespiratory benefits for localized PCa. HIIT was preferred over MICT in biochemical progression control in terms of decreasing serum PSA levels. However, MICT was favored over HIIT regarding cardiorespiratory benefits.”

Moderate to vigorous exercise helps even in cases of advanced PCa (see below):
https://www.nature.com/articles/s41391-022-00504-x
If you have not been exercising, start slow and consult your doctor or a personal trainer regarding the best exercise program for you.

Until age 66 I had never run 5K in my life…and I was 35 lbs overweight. I starting running the day after my retirement.

In October 2023, I was diagnosed with clinical FIR that was downgraded to LR, because of a low Decipher score…so I adopted AS.

Upon diagnosis I immediately increased my running regiment to three 5K’s per week (M-W-F) and my PSA level has been consistently ~25% lower (at my 4, 7 and 10 month postbiopsy PSA tests) as compared to my prebiopsy PSA level.

My anecdotal evidence backs up the research and should encourage even the non-exercising PCa man what is possible.

Even so…results may vary…..

All the best!

Good advice. I've always been active (I prefer walking to the grocery store over driving, for example, and actually use the weight bench in my basement).

When we discovered my cancer at age 56, that brought me two major benefits:

- my upper body was strong enough to move myself around the hospital bed during the initial paraplegia after my spinal compression

- I was healthy enough to tolerate strong treatments for my cancer and deal with the side effects

Scott, I can relate to your post. Partly because I was too proud of my healthy lifestyle, I didn't get my PSA checked as often as I should have. So, it wasn't caught early.

I was a vegetarian for years, I garden organically, I haven't had a real hamburger since last century, I didn't smoke, didn't drink much, I hugged trees (OK, I still do that on occasion), but I got PCa anyway.

I joke to friends that I could have been drinking cheap whiskey and smoking Camel Straights all these years...

But (I must add), I'm off to the gym to lift some weights! We can't give up!

Just so. I don't even drink much. When they asked me in the ER about alcohol consumption, I said "A couple of glasses of wine or cider."

"A couple a day?"

"No, a couple a month."

The thing is, there's no self-denial in any of this for me. I live in an urban neighbourhood with hundreds of shops and restaurants near me, so of course I walk a lot. I don't enjoy alcohol much, so I have an occasional drink mainly just to be social. I went off meat after a stomach flu in 1997, and couldn't manage to get back to eating it. And I've always hated the smell of tobacco, so I've never tried it. We cook most of our meals from scratch because of all the food shops near us (plus it's cheaper and tastes better), but it's still fun to junk out every Friday for "takeout night." (Being healthy doesn't mean you have to be perfect. 🙂)

Did healthy living prevent my stage 4 prostate cancer? Of course not. Life doesn't work that way.

But it *did* put me in a better position to fight it. I came in at the start strong enough to fight my way back from the wheelchair to walking over two tough years while also dealing with the side-effects of ADT, Erleada, and two rounds of radiation. This last year I've been reaping the benefits, and have gotten used to the ADT to the point it barely bothers me.

That — not a miracle cure or magic protection against cancer — is the real benefit of a healthy lifestyle.

I have two wonderful oncologist. One is local, treats me where I live, small college town, smaller hospital, he's solutions based. Whatever can be done locally to treat my PCa he's on it. Caring, great communicator, and fun. My other oncologist works in a NCI teaching hospital, epically helpful, caring, fun, large hospital, couple hours drive away, worth it, she keeps me up to speed on current best PCa treatment practices. Couldn't ask for two better oncologist for my PCa treatment team.
Discuss dietary issues with both, and they both agree a normal healthy diet strategy.

Thanks for sharing that, @proftom2 -- that sounds like a good hybrid approach for someone who doesn't live in or near a big city with a dedicated, multidisciplinary Cancer Centre (aka "Center of Excellence"). You have the best of both worlds: a local onco in town for your routine appointments, and an expert one a couple of hours away for the new/advanced stuff.

The only challenge would be how well they work together -- it's hard to steer a car with two drivers -- but in your case, it sounds like there are no egos in the way, which is wonderful.

I’m sorry I haven’t reread your post completely but my question now is this…
My husband starts chemotherapy on Monday are you aware of applying a cold compress to the scalp while chemo being induced have saved the hair?

They actually have a cap that fits over the head to do this. Some have a gel you can cool to keep it cold. Definitely helps keep hair.

Thank you for your comment! That will make him so happy!