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Optimal Duration of Hormone Therapy
Prostate Cancer | Last Active: 5 hours ago | Replies (60)Comment receiving replies
@jime51 I just saw your post in which you said you were pre-diabetic from ADT. Me too. After 12 months of ADT I had a glucose level of 115. Two changes in the diet, prescribed by a dietitian, did not change that significantly. Finally after 8 months since the 115 reading I asked my oncologist for Metformin. He brought up a report of an a trial in an arm of the Stamped trials that used Metformin and we read the summary together. He then prescribed the drug at 850mg twice a day. Four month of the drug had only modest effects, glucose 100 to 105, but there was same effect on cholesterol and triglycerides which decreased about 5 to 10 points.
Now after 8 months on the drug I had recent glucose reading of 95 to 100. I consider that a success.
You might ask you doctor for the metformin prescription. If needed find the many studies of metformin with prostate cancer patients on ADT, and take one of two of then with you to the doctor.
Replies to "@jime51 I just saw your post in which you said you were pre-diabetic from ADT. Me..."
@overage Thanks! I will hang onto this information. I complete ADT in two weeks, so we'll see what that does to blood work results.
@overage You do not want to recommend Metformin 850mg to your friends unless seeking constipation relief. Metformin IR has a 50%+ side effect of diarrhea (you must be in the lucky 50%). Metformin ER at 500mg has less than 10% diarrhea and is a first line drug for type 2 diabetes. It can also be taken anytime. Multiple 500mg pills are cheaper than other doses ER doses. The 500mg dose comes in both IR and ER forms; 850mg is only IR. As Marc mentioned, if the fasting glucose reading is high that should be followed with an A1c test that shows glucose levels over the past 60-90 days.
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@overage
Are you also getting A1c results? That tells you what your blood sugar is over the last 90 days and it’s a lot more usable number than fasting blood sugar. Which only gets one point in time.
The doctors at the Medical Center I go to don’t really use fasting blood sugar any more, they go by A1c. It gives them more realistic, look at long-term results.
Seven or eight years ago, they told me I was prediabetic and sent me to a class with a dietitian. In my case all I had to do was stop eating ice cream with chocolate sauce every night. Brought my blood sugar, right down to normal. Now I eat a small piece of cake or a couple of cookies in the evening. My A1c has been 5.4 the last couple of times, It’s always close to that. Of course the huge salad I eat for lunch every other day probably helps.