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Can vegan diet and HIIT workouts move the needle?
Hello! I am so pleased that I found this group. What an incredible wealth of information it contains. Here's my story and I would appreciate any feedback on whether my plan of action sounds like a good one. My name is Steve, i'm 69 years old, and weigh 180 pounds and an 6'. In February I had a yearly check-up and my doc saw that my PSA was 3.9. He drew some blood and did a K4test, They came back with a PSA of 4.8 and a 8.3 which put me at 9.6%chance of aggessive prostate cancer. He suggested that I see a urologist and see what he thought. The urologist said to come back in September and get another PSA test. I asked if we could get an MRI and he thought that would be unnecessary. After the appointment, my doctor asked me how it went and he said that if the urologist won't order the MRI, than he would. The MRI came back with a gland size of 5.5 x 5 x 4.5 A PSA density of .136
There is a far left apex lesion measuring 0.8 x 0.8 DWI score 4 CCE negative T2 score 3 PI-RADS 4
impression:
The pI-RADS 4 sub centimeter lesion is in the far left apex peripheral zone. No visualized seminal involvement or definite extra-capsular disease.
I went back to the urologist and he thought it probably wasn't cancer but he would do a biopsy. Here is the important part of the results.
Part 6- Prostate left medial apex, core needle biopsy: Prostatic adenocarcinoma, Gleason 3+4=7 (grade group2) involving 40% 0f 1 of 3 cores. All other cores were ok.
We then did a Decipher test and it came back .46 which is .01 away from the high point of low risk. (.45)
I meet the urologist again and he told me just go home and live your life. You can do Active Surveillance and in September we will recheck PSA and in March he would do a follow up biopsy and another MRI. I asked about diet and exercise which I had been reading could help the situation but he did not think I could do anything that would change the outcome. I spent hours and hours reading everything I could and decided that i would up my exercise to HIIT workouts as well as really step up an already very active life and I would also transition to a vegan diet since everything I found showed that plant based diets could have an impact on PC. I began the diet on May 18th and i'm doing great on it, obviously missing meat, cheese and dairy but if it changes the picture I will be pleased. I lost 15 pounds and leveled out at 180.
I have 2 questions for this group - First, do you agree that active surveillance is the way to go with this small lesion and second do you think the diet and exercise program can have an effect on lowering PSA and possibly shrinking the tumor? I sure appreciate your time and insight!
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@sulatnasteve It sounds like you are taking active surveillance seriously and I appreciate that. One question not addressed in the term "active surveillance," is who is doing that work. I have always felt that is a responsibility that lies with me as the cancer patient/non-patient. I view MDs and centers of care as resources. Obviously they should give good advice and appropriate care, but they focus on what is in front of them when they are in the room. I need to be actively managing the surveillance if it is to be indeed active. That means I know how often and how I need to check my situation, and I make sure it happens.
I failed to do that before I was diagnosed. My PSA was first brought to my attention in my early 40s, but followup did not indicate a need to pursue treatment. I thought I was still checking PSA regularly but I wasn't thinking about it, and so I didn't notice when the blood work stopped including it, thanks to the change in clinical guidance deemphasizing that. A new MD did not think to ask if I had any history that would be relevant and just did not check the box. It was only after a change in primary care that an MD did, again without my specific input. At this point it was clearly high (10, not 4) and when I looked back I did not find a PSA result for the previous 9 years! That was at 65. So I did get the surveillance for 16 years, but then had a very passive surveillance for 9. Perhaps I would have had more treatment options somewhere in between.
Do I blame the MD who didn't check? Well, yes, I do, but I also blame myself for focusing on other things to the exclusion of this one. It has now been 4.5 years since my RALP, which found cancer at the margin, and my urologist shut down the local office and moved away. I am pretty sure he isn't actively thinking about me and I had better take responsibility for actively monitoring my current status with this disease. So far they tell me it's "stable," but within that stability are slowly increasing levels that could take off someday. Statistics suggest I have a 75% chance of recurrence (biochemical recurrence is indicated when PSA levels reach 0.2 ng/mL on two subsequent tests.)
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1 Reaction@spino I very much appreciate your response. I am glad that you did get a number of years where you got the biggest benefit from active surveillance- no treatment side effect! But I agree that we can’t back burner the fact that we have cancer and it needs to be monitored. That’s the whole reason for the diet and exercise program I am doing. It may be that I am a bit over the top and all this effort might not pay off, but I am praying it does and that I see the psa not increase and the tumor not grow. But this is my first go around at this so I know I still have a lot to learn. When people like you share their story I am so thankful. Praying your situation stays where you need it to!