Confused is an Understatement, Need Input!!!!

Art -
life is confusing at types and cancer certainly is too - Zufus came up with a great term for it - "twilight zone" - that suits for when things work - and you don't know why - and when things don't - and you know why or don't - and for the times when it , well, feels like you are in (cut to theme music) ... the twilight zone....

I did a scan of some of the links and articles on the web and what I came up was that - high testosterone may not cause prostate cancer - but the presence of testosterone feeds the cells once they have started to go nuts... (pun intended)
-and low testosterone may not prevent prostate cancer but it may contribute to the lack of well-being for the patient....

-a couple of the places were outright "snake oil" salesmen ... with silly logic similar to.. young men don't get PCa since they have high T levels - so older men get PCa since they have low T levels - so low T levels cause cancer!-
- creating scare tactics in order to push their beliefs and products ( I doubt some of their alleged medical credentials)
bull-feathers .....

-what you have done with your HT is slow down the growth of PCa cells and you feel you have done enough and are cured ( your words in your previous postings)....
-what often happens after that, is you cannot "let go" and start to do more research to back up your beliefs - and unfortunately in this case, find a "twilight zone" of confusing messages.

-if you are happy as you are right now - stop the research - put aside the PCa and live life - fish - ride - pet a deer - shoot a deer ( in season) - shoot some pool... you get my drift....

-if you choose testosterone therapy - they will ask to monitor your T levels and ( I would expect) your PSA on a regular basis....

end of story...

non-judgmental hugs,
Bronson


p.s. a number of the sites had disclaimers at the bottom of their web pages ( not FDA approved -not intended to replace a doctor's advice - will not prevent disease ... etc ...)

Post Edited (tatt2man) : 11/16/2011 2:55:27 PM (GMT-7)

Bronson

Excellent Response!

Art - as Bronson said - -if you are happy as you are right now - stop the research - put aside the PCa and live life - fish - ride - pet a deer - shoot a deer ( in season) - shoot some pool... you get my drift....

I for one can't add a thing to that.

Bud

Bronson- great logic and explanation, Rod Serling like too, well done.

T-replacement recepients a new club or acronyms:

E.T. (extra-testicle)
Macho-Maximus (aka the movie- How da' fella got his groove back)
King-Dong

Well for some of us on HT's (T-enhancement) it is like Walter Mitty type day dreaming, still having a flicker in fire, even with lost desire, the neandrathals rise like a phoenix out of the fire (poetic-injustice). Our HT and other therapies are kriptonite to our manhood, I have become a better shopper if that is any concellation.

Thanks for the good advice guys,
The links I posted are a small part of what I found on the web that is contradictory to traditional methods used for the past 7 decades.
Two things hit me real hard was when I found out that initially they told me I would get my life back after following their recommended treatment regiment and there was not reason to be concerned. After the treatments I believed myself to be cured until proven other wise. When I went to see the Endocrinologist last Thursday, he explained that he would not give me the script for the injectable T under any conditions and my natural T level would never be what it was since the rad treatments does damage. So I asked if I was always going to be a walking zombie, he flat out said yes for the rest of your life!
That was a bomb that woke me up a little.
He further explained that if I still had PC then it could resurface anywhere at anytime regardless of treatment efforts or methods. That was bomb #2.
I was visibly upset that I had been misled most likely for profit as far as getting my life back to even close to what it was before the treatment.
I told him that if I was cured then why continue to keep me sick and weak unnecessarily, after all based on what he was saying I will continue to be breathing but I will not really be alive as before.
I left his office after firing him and stayed very upset (HT instigated) and called my Oncologist. I said it must have been ok to get my T level back up or you would not have given me the T patches that I have been on for 2 weeks. He claimed he gave them to me under duress cause I intimidated him. Bomb #3.
There is a lot more to the story but I found a Doctor that promised to write the script next week when I come to see her. She said she would never let any of her patients live such a poor quality of life without justification.
She said she would not break her promise to me.
I don't know if these studies are going to ever be able to prove anything beneficial for us PC patients but I will not live like this that is for sure. If I have to obtain from other sources then I will.
I don't need any more bombs dropped till I can regain control over my emotions. I have not had a problem with anger at all. I have been having major problems with depression and anxiety. Got to get that under control soon somehow.
In the meantime I will let you guys know if my primary fulfills her promise.
Be well to all of you
Art

Zufus, are you a writer?  Maybe working for Leno, Kimmel, or Letterman?

sicofbeingsic,

You are right, you are the one to make your own medical decisions concerning your own PC journey, and your life in general. Each of us has be our own "best" advocate. Each of us has to be responsible for our own life when one has cancer.

You have to get use to the contridictions of studies and reports, surveys and nomograms, etc. They only have a somewhat limited value when you are talking about your own individual situation. None are written in stone, none are exact, all claim to have facts behind them, etc. You have to take them at face value sometimes.

What is happening to you, directly, should be of the most concern to you, in your lifestyle choices, in your medical decisions, etc. I do not believe its all "greed" directed, though it may seem that way at times.

When I was choosing a radiation oncologist, I "interviewed" 3 doctors at the same clinic. Each had a different take on my situation. One said to wait for the SRT, let the number get higher. The other said definitely to have SRT plus HT, and the 3rd, insisted on the SRT, but definitely no to the HT. And all 3 were in the same building in the same hallway.

I had to take in all of their opinions and make my own decision. At some point, no matter how your research, you ultimately have to make at best, an educated guess sometimes, and hope that you were right. I thought I picked the best RO, but in the end, because of her decisions, my SRT caused horrific pain and permament and major damage to me, and to boot, the radiation didn't even remotely slow the cancer down. So you never know how things will turn out.

Bitterness is a bad friend, it won't help you now, or in the future. Keep on searching for the answers for you, and for you alone. What works for one, may not work for another.

I wish you the best, and hope that you can come to some sense of calm about your situation. It's certainly not all good, but its not all bad either.

David in SC