Connect
← Return to Hormone therapy before radiation treatment question....
Discussion
Hormone therapy before radiation treatment question....
Prostate Cancer | Last Active: Mar 29 11:12am | Replies (39)Comment receiving replies
@jeffmarc hello. Firstly, I have to take issue with the doctor who says that your Cancer will come back if you take hormone therapy, I am presuming “TRT!”
TESTOSTERONE REPLACEMENT THERAPY.
That’s just not accurate.
If you currently have detectable cancer cells, “TRT” will feed those cancer cells and it wouldn’t be a good idea. I had been utilizing “TRT” for about 12 years before I was diagnosed with Prostate Cancer. I am basically medically castrated without utilizing “TRT”. My “T” level is between 20-50. I am generally around 750-850 on “TRT,” Without “TRT”
I am basically bedridden and home confined. I have no energy at all. Coupled with serious and debilitating cases of Chronic Fatigue Syndrome and Fibromyalgia for the past 35 years. For your consideration and future research. TESTOSTERONE can’t feed cancer cells that are not there. If the lab report verifies that there is no detectable cancer cells then that’s the best you can do.
Everyman produces Testosterone. If what that doctor is proposing were true, every man would develop Prostate cancer which of course, is not the case. I discontinued my “TRT” a month before my surgery and for 5 months following it. My surgeon and oncologist kept asking me how I was feeling. I told them that I really wouldn’t be able to give them an accurate answer and observation until I started my “TRT”again. After starting my “TRT” for only the first week I was feeling as good as I was before my surgery. Of course, all men are different. Regardless of my Prostatectomy, I require “TRT” just to maintain any kind of normal lifestyle though already measurably reduced because of my “CFS” and “FIBROMYALGIA !”
Due to my long standing “TRT,” I was getting my bloodwork done every 3 months for the 12 years prior to being diagnosed with my prostate cancer. That’s how it was discovered as quickly as it was. All of a sudden my PSA went up from 4 to 6 to 7. I was trending in the wrong direction. The usual tests were done and my biopsy just confirmed it and determined what level I was at.
My PSA was < 0.014 right after my surgery in October of 2022 and has remained the same through today, March of 2026. I still have my blood work and additional bloodwork done every 3 months.
I’ve never heard of any man functioning well in his overall life, wellbeing and energy levels on “ADT.” I already know that I wouldn’t given my particular situation.
PC is a very personal disease that many many men come to experience and manage during their lives.
There is no best solution or treatment that works the best for every man. There is only the treatment that works best for you.
Best wishes and good luck.
GODSPEED
Replies to "@jeffmarc hello. Firstly, I have to take issue with the doctor who says that your Cancer..."
@philipsnowdon You and Jeff Marchi are polar opposites in this debate! Kind of unusual, but it demonstrates how different we all are and how we need to be treated.
He has BRCA2, which makes ADT completely necessary for his survival. You, however, have almost NO natural testosterone, which makes TRT absolutely necessary for you.
Both of you would wither quickly without your appropriate medication so it’s not really an argument over who is right or wrong, but who requires WHAT to keep on living their best life!
Hope you both continue on for a long time…
Phil
@philipsnowdon
You say that “ TESTOSTERONE can’t feed cancer cells that are not there.”. The problem with that statement is that there is no test that can show whether or not you have cancer cells left. A PSMA Pet test cannot find metastasis smaller than 2 1/2 mm and a UCSF radiologist said even 5 mm is hard to see.
Many prostate cancer patients have micro metastasis. Those can be fed and grow with testosterone. I know so many people that have gone on vacations from the drugs and had the cancer come back within six months, a year, two years, or five years, It varies a lot in other words.
I’ve had close to zero testosterone for eight years. It just doesn’t cause fatigue for me, And I suspect there are a lot of other people that have the same situation. Some people just can’t take it when they have low testosterone and are in a situation like you are.
It’s just not that simple to Start including testosterone in the mix for somebody that’s had prostate cancer.
You also say “I’ve never heard of any man functioning well in his overall life, wellbeing and energy levels on “ADT.””
As I mentioned above, I’ve been on ADT for eight years. My testosterone is below five. You would have no idea. I’m on it if you spend time with me.. I don’t have fatigue. A jog on a track a mile twice a day every day (had to stop running when my orthopedist said it would shorten the life of my replaced hip). I go to the gym three days a week and exercise with weights, then come home and jog the track. I do have to take bone strengtheners which I’ve done for seven years, Not a big deal. I’ve had prostate cancer for 16 years and had been undetectable for the last 28 months. Had surgery three years later it came back so I had radiation. Been on multiple drugs since. I’m 78 And people i’ve run into think I’m 10 years younger. My wife and I go dancing almost every Saturday night. We swing dance and do it For around 2 hours.
Hopefully, you can continue doing things the way you are and not having a reoccurrence.
Connect
@philipsnowdon "I’ve never heard of any man functioning well in his overall life, wellbeing and energy levels on 'ADT'."
Well, now you have. See my profile. Being on Lupron / Abiraterone for 2.5 years was a non-event for me, so much so that when my oncologist offered to take me off of it, I initially declined.
I ended up taking his advice because I wanted to see it the cancer was still there.
Two years later, after my PSA rose to 0.14 last week, I decided to go back on Orgovyx / Nubeqa, despite my oncologist's recommendation that I could wait a lot longer.