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what to expect with zytiga

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Posted 8/3/2013 5:21 PM (GMT 0)

Hubby's psa has been doubling for last 3 months, it went from 8 to 48.9. His urologist suggested starting zytiga now although hubby had decided on a.c. His Oncologist is going with the a.c as long as no problems, at this time.

Zytiga can have some bad side effects, that's the reason for a.c.

Any comment please

Posted 8/3/2013 5:25 PM (GMT 0)
Look at the side effects for prednisone. They are likely to be more what your hubby will experience more. Zytiga has similar side effects to Lupron/Casodex while the corticolsteroid has the added ones he might have experienced.

Tony
Posted 8/3/2013 5:34 PM (GMT 0)
Thanks, I'll check it out.
Posted 8/4/2013 3:20 AM (GMT 0)
Zytiga side effects for my husband were minimal to nothing except increased hot flashes. Everyone is so different.
Posted 8/4/2013 5:09 PM (GMT 0)
Zytiga might not be that significant on your side effects, it varies. I am taking it now for one month and it is not that bad at all and ADT3 years ago was much worse. Might take a month or so to get your psa results checked out and see that is it working or not. Good chance it will assist on lowering psa, said to be like 10 times more effective than Keto drug. One nice benefit is that if you have like bone pains, this drug also helps relieve some pains, if you have such. You may get duration response on this for many months or even longer, it appears. Hope your insurance is real good the price is high for pills and some people herein have the high co-pays to prove it. Glad mine is covered, the $10 co-pay is sweet. Best to you in trying this or other choices (see www.hrpca.org for various proven treatments).
Posted 8/5/2013 4:50 AM (GMT 0)
My husband was already on Lupron and Casodex when Zytiga was started.

He really didn't have any additional side effects from the Zytiga. The prednisone increased his appetite and gave him a round face, but otherwise, no real problems.

He has since been weaned off of prednisone and is still doing quite well on the combination of Lupron, Casodex, and Zytiga. Hot flashes from hello, but overall doing great.
Posted 8/5/2013 5:18 AM (GMT 0)
Ms. WW,
When they weaned the Zytiga, was there a dose reduction on the Zytiga?

Tony
Posted 8/5/2013 5:43 AM (GMT 0)
Tony,

No. They had him wean off of prednisone by half a pill at a time. He started with cutting half of the nightly pill. Then waited a week to wean off of the other half of the nightly pill. Then he started by weaning off of half of the morning pill. The last half of the morning pill was the hardest one. He had to start taking it again for about two more weeks then was able to wean off completely.

I'm guessing you meant prednisone and not Zytiga in the first part of your question.
Posted 8/5/2013 5:51 AM (GMT 0)
No I meant the dose of the Zytiga. What dose is hubby on with the Zytiga?

Typically the low dose version 250mg starts with corticolsteroid but it can be weaned.

But the high dose version is 1000mg and cannot be delivered without prednisone.

Tony
Posted 8/7/2013 2:49 AM (GMT 0)
My father was on Zytiga for 14 months and had minimal, if any, side effects. Those that did occur were from the steriod. It was a good treatment and resulted in control of no new growth. PSA began rising in 13 month and then also in 14TH so he was taken off and did Provenge after steriod cleared his system.
Posted 8/7/2013 3:25 PM (GMT 0)
To lullaby:

   I was put on zytiga in early 2012, along with prednisone. By July of 2012, my Onco took me off the zytiga - then onto taxotere.

   My side effects on zytiga were very minimal regarding pain, but ... I did badly lose my apattite for most of the 5-months on zytiga. There was very little hair loss, and my energy level was Ok also. But, the weight loss was close to 45 pounds in those 5-months.

   I have read so many posts about the three types of chemo I've been on, and it seems that what you read, at best, are tendencies. Each of our bodies are different, along with age and an enourmous amount of other variables ... it is difficult to get a good grasp of wht to expect. I know, I have had the same concerns.

   With my latest chemo (oral) - Xtandi, I called the supplier and talked to their on-staff pharmacist for info on side effects. She gave me percentages of the those SE's reported, and it was of some help.

Best wishes ........ Rob

 

Posted 8/9/2013 2:31 PM (GMT 0)
Any idea why some people go on Taxotere first and then Zytiga or vice versa? Seems the regimens are all over the place. My father is getting ready to start Zytiga, so just curious.
Posted 10/16/2013 5:04 PM (GMT 0)
Hubby's Oncologist said better results have been seen when taking Zytiga first.
Posted 10/16/2013 5:33 PM (GMT 0)
CMA- the regimens are all over the place, varies like crazy just like the rules of PCa (not). Many ways to fight this and it varies a lot. I have done lots of protocols, some that should have worked didn't even phase psa and PCa, then others did pretty well. I did Ketoconazole HD and LD and with Leukine and even estrogen patch added....no results....I figured Zytiga wouldn't be useful (they both target CYP17 enzyme), but in fact it is doing pretty well it seems for 3+ months now.

Rob- Xtandi (enzalutimide) is in fact aka Super casodex, binds better to the AR receptor than casodex, they may call it chemo but really is not a pure chemo like taxotere etc., works a lot differently than chemo does. I know for billing they might call Lupron, chemo even, go figure?
Posted 10/16/2013 11:24 PM (GMT 0)
Hello Zufus ....

   It's slightly over two months later than my post. I never really called Lupron a chemo. It's always been an HT to me and administered by my Urologist rather than Oncologist.

   Many things have happened since that post .... like Xtandi did not wosrk for me - and my Onco did mention to be it's really not a chemo. I was on it for only two months ... and my PSA kept going up.

   I considered Provenge (also not a chemo) ... then had a second opinion thru Cadence in Warrenville, IL. They are very big on Provenge. Prior to the second opinion, I had an updated catscan (from 5-months earlier) and an updated full body bonescan (from 22-months ago).

   The bonescan showed no aditional growth and the catscan showing very slight growth. My second opinion doctor suggested going on an injected chemo instead of the Provenge because of the sequence of treatments so far and because the taxotere did reduce my PSA with fairly minimal SE's.

   So ..... nearly 3-weeks ago, I started on Jevtana .... as my Onco humorously refers to as "Son of Taxotere".

   The journey continues!

Rob

 

Posted 10/17/2013 12:39 AM (GMT 0)
Rob- Grizz they say Jevtana outperforms Docetaxel and can work when other chemo's stopped, so it might be better than others. Keep us updated on your experience with it, sorry Xtandi didn't work for you. We are stuck with some hard choices in this fight. We hope XL184 (Cabozatinib) gets fast tracked FDA approval in time for a lot of us to try it out, mets scans before and after are pretty amazing to see.
Posted 10/17/2013 3:02 PM (GMT 0)
Hello Zufus ......

   I too hope the Jevtana works. In my Onco's office, nearly all those who tried Xtandi found it to be very helpful ..... so I had great expectations.

   As you probably know, there is little practical information available on Jevtana ..... so, close to 3-weeks ago, I started a thread here to document on HW my experiences with it. I will update the info on a weekly basis ... sometimes more often and sometimes less.

   It is called "My Journey with Jevtana"! Beyond hoping that this becomes a valuable chemo to me, there will be at least one accurate documentation of that chemo with all SE's and blood counts and PSA values on a human - not just average statistics.

   My next chemo is tomorrow ... blood tests too!

Rob

 

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