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What if this prevents cancer from becoming resistant?
Prostate Cancer | Last Active: 20 hours ago | Replies (45)Comment receiving replies
@denis76
After being on ADT for seven years, I stopped taking it while I was on Nubeqa. I was 77. My Testosterone rose at a pretty good rate hitting 50 in eight months. The second and third month it went up over 75% a month. When it hit 50 it was going up 25% a month for the last four months. My oncologist wanted me to go back on because of my BRCA2, So I never found long-term results. My PSA stayed undetectable the whole time.
Some people don’t have T come back at all.
Waiting one year, undetectable, is what a lot of doctors recommend. It can depend on your Gleason score and other aggressive problems, however. If you are a Gleason nine or 10, you might want to wait 18 months. At least that’s the recommendation that Rick Davis over at ancan.org Gives to people. He’s been helping people for 17 years and has found that those that have more severe cases have it come back sooner. The doctors in the meetings agree with him.
You would expect the PSA to drop to undetectable < .1 Within three or four months of starting ADT. If that didn’t happen then waiting longer to stop ADT may make sense. Did you have radiation as your primary treatment? That can be a factor in PSA, not dropping since it takes a long time for the cells to die for some people. It still should not take that long for the PSA to become undetectable, definitely unusual.
How often you should monitor you PSA depends on your prostate cancer case. If it was very aggressive, you probably want to continue it for at least six months to a year. If it’s not as aggressive, maybe three months of monthly and then three month tests. Since your PSA took so long to become undetectable, I would want PSA test monthly for at least six months.
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@jeffmarc
Yes, Jeff, I've been reading your words ever since, and I've been in awe of your wisdom.
Regarding radiation therapy, I didn't have it. My PSA was 530, with 3 metastases in my bones and numerous lymph nodes.
My PSA dropped to 0 within a year and a half. And I think this long period is due to the fact that Erleada was added later.
After 8 sessions of docytaxel and ADT (my PSA dropped to 6), the PET/CT report (January 2025) stated that most metastases (their SUV) were not detectable in my bones, and the size of the lymph node metastases had decreased and remained. And most importantly, please help me figure this out. The report stated that the SUV of my prostate tumor had barely changed. It only dropped by 10%. In other words, ADT and chemotherapy failed to suppress the cancer.
I was preparing for death back then because my PSA hadn't dropped. And after a very good doctor recommended that I start taking Erleada, and I did, my PSA dropped from 6 to 0 in about six months.
You asked about the aggressiveness of the cancer. How is it determined? By the number of metastases, or by the Gleason score? I have an ATM mutation. Could that make the cancer aggressive?
I've been reading all your messages very carefully. If I understand you correctly, in my case, I should wait until my PSA remains at 0 for at least two years and then try to stop all medications, right?
Please explain to me what it means when report say "my prostate tumor's SUV has remained almost unchanged after chemotherapy."
Bless you and thank you!