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Incredible early results from lifestyle changes!

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Posted 8/9/2013 11:03 PM (GMT 0)
For 2 months now, ever since I got the word that my cancer had gone metastatic, I've been working very hard on changing my lifestyle to something that would help me fight the cancer.  Results are still early, but I just got really great news on the PSA front.  My PSA reading dropped in just one month from 8.56 to 6.65!  My recent doubling rate had been around 3 months and now it went down by over 20%.  This is just amazing to me.

I'm not sure exactly what this means.  Certainly, I still have PCa, and since my recent biopsy said that there is none left in my irradiated prostate, it has to have gone somewhere.  But after 3 tests showing rapidly increasing PSA to have one go backward is wonderful.  If anyone has more insight on how this happens, please let me know.  At the very least, I may be able to delay my entry into HT for a while, which would be terrific.

Here's what I'm doing, in case anyone is interested:

1.  Exercise.  I exercise vigorously 5-6 times a week - one hour on an elliptical, going 6 to 6.5 miles in 60 minutes every workout day, and two weeks ago I added 45 minutes of strength training on 3 days per week.

2.  Diet.  Fairly strict control (for me, anyway) on my diet.  I have a green (spinach based) smoothie for one meal (usually breakfast) each day and control carb intake on my other 2 meals, allowing myself 2-3 carb servings (15g of carb per serving) for my mid-day meal and 1-2 servings at night.  I eat a LOT more veggies than before and have cut back severely on meat intake, especially beef.  I've cut sugar and white flour (or any non-wholegrain flour) completely out of my diet.

3.  Positive attitude.  Meditation, prayer, and positive thinking exercises most every day, with an emphasis on how good my life has been and how much more I want to do.  I started a list of the things I've been able to experience in my life (both good and bad, but more on the good side), and another list of things I want to do in the near future - river rafting, travel, etc.

4.  Meeting goals.  I try to make at least some progress toward goals every day - whether the goal involves re-connecting with important people in my life (one of my top priorities since the metastatic diagnosis), implementing plans for the future, or simply doing my exercises. 

I took me about a month to get everything above going, but I started the exercise right away.  Results in the first month weren't very positive.  I'm using the book "Anticancer", recommended here by others, as my roadmap, along with feedback from the dietician at the Huntsman Cancer Institute in Salt Lake City.

Overall, I've lost about 20 pounds, feel great, and have much better energy.  I'm also diabetic (type 2) and my diabetes has been under such good control that I've been able to cut my meds in half.

I'm a pretty happy camper right now.  It may just be a fluke in the way PSA is measured, but for now I'm going to keep doing what I've been doing.  I'm not suggesting this or anything else to anyone, just letting you know about my experience.

Greg.

 

Posted 8/9/2013 11:20 PM (GMT 0)
Excellence...my admiration of your great determinations to control the disease.

All the best down the road :-)

Posted 8/9/2013 11:28 PM (GMT 0)
The proof is in the pudding, I say keep on keeping on what you are doing. You are doing things that can only help your general health. It's a good thing.

david in sc
Posted 8/9/2013 11:30 PM (GMT 0)
That is great news Greg, and I admire your self-discipline. Something helped, so anything that we can do that can be of help is quite important.

Michael

Posted 8/10/2013 12:12 AM (GMT 0)
Good for you....Just curious, what drug(s) are you using for diabetes?
Posted 8/10/2013 12:48 AM (GMT 0)
That's a really good workout routine. 60 min of cardio a day id great. I'm envious.

Smoothies are the rage nowadays.

your goal of re-connecting with important people in your life sounds wonderful. We could all benefit from doing that but unfortunately so many of us don't and we have hundreds of lame excuses for not doing so.

Good post and always good to hear stories of people looking for and finding happiness.
Posted 8/10/2013 3:26 AM (GMT 0)
That is great news. I'm a big believer in exercise and watching what I eat. You have done a wonderful job on taking charge of your own health.
Posted 8/10/2013 4:07 AM (GMT 0)
EdC, I will modify what you wrote to apply to me. I am a big believer in thinking about exercise, and I watch TV while I eat. Not sure that counts as the same thing, lol.

david
Posted 8/10/2013 4:45 AM (GMT 0)
Keep up the great work Greg!!
Congratulations on your latest PSA reading.
I have been an exercise fanatic for most of my life and firmly believe it has an enormously positive effect both physically and
mentally.
Wishing you all the best.
Bob
Posted 8/10/2013 5:40 AM (GMT 0)
Greg, fluke or not your plan seems to be working. I'm impressed and happy for you. Keep it up and keep reporting on your progress.

Jim
Posted 8/10/2013 11:56 AM (GMT 0)
Greg,

Congratulations! Have you considered also using aspirin daily as an aid to cancer recovery?
I am sure you have seen the results of the study which states " Men treated for prostate cancer who took aspirin regularly for other medical conditions were less likely to die of their cancer than patients who weren’t taking aspirin, according to a new study published on Tuesday in The Journal of Clinical Oncology. "

http://www.nytimes.com/2012/08/28/health/research/regular-aspirin-use-may-aid-prostate-cancer-recovery-study-finds.html?_r=0
Posted 8/10/2013 1:34 PM (GMT 0)
Congrats on your efforts and results.
I don't exercise that hard but am trying for a vegan diet plus occasional fish. I also take some supplements, including coated baby aspirin, D-limonene, pomegranate extract, wormwood,turmeric, ginger, mushroom and milk thistle. I add parsley and garlic to some sandwiches.
I also take small dose of metformin.
Anyway, good luck on your program and I hope the results continue.
Posted 8/10/2013 2:41 PM (GMT 0)
Thanks for all of the responses and encouragement.  It helps to have support, especially on the dark days.  As recently as Wednesday I had a very dark day.

Jerry L:  I take Metformin and Insulin for the diabetes.  I had been taking Tradjenta, as well, but I stopped as my blood sugar got so much better, and I've cut my Insulin in half.  Based on information on this forum, I decided not to cut back on the Metformin.  I've been diabetic for over 15 years and I've been on Metformin the whole time.  It hasn't kept the cancer away but perhaps it will help now that my diet is better.

Traveller 58:  On doctor's orders, I've been taking a baby aspirin each day for about 4 years.  I hadn't seen anything about the idea of aspirin helping with PCa, so thanks for posting it.  I couldn't find anything that said how much to take, so I'll just stay with my baby size.  The book Anticancer talks a lot about inflammation being at the root of cancer growth, so I guess the aspirin idea correlates with that. 

robertC:  Thanks for the ideas about supplements.  I haven't done much in that area.  I'll look into the things you're taking.  What type of pomegranate extract do you take?  I looked into that a little but couldn't figure out what to take, or how much.

I sincerely appreciate this forum and all of the goodness generated here.  Thanks to all of you!

Greg.

 

Posted 8/10/2013 3:30 PM (GMT 0)
Great job greg! Man I wish I had your energy though...Im envious of that workout. Im also metastatic and have tried to work out but right now that consists of just walking.....today I walked 3 miles and was literally smoked....ever since I started HT and Zytiga my energy level has been nil...but I force myself to go for long walks.....hopefully I can go back to the gym as well....
Posted 8/10/2013 5:02 PM (GMT 0)
Thanks, Casper. I think what you're doing is outstanding. I've heard that HT can make you anemic, so I hope you and your doctor are watching for that. I've also heard that it leaves you very tired otherwise, so the effort you're making is probably very hard. Congratulations on doing it. Hopefully, you'll be able to build up to doing more and get back to the gym.

I've had advance warning about the HT, so I've had some time to get started. I know that exercise is good for fighting the cancer and I need strength training to fight against the loss of bone density, so I'm hoping that getting started now, before going on HT, will help me keep exercising once it starts. My guess is that it will be very, very difficult, which is why I'm so impressed with you doing what you're doing.

You have my best wishes. I'm glad your PSA is down recently and hope it continues.

Greg
Posted 8/10/2013 6:15 PM (GMT 0)
Greg,

That's great news that your PSA is dropping, although it is not at all surprising to me.

You said, "I'm not sure exactly what this means. Certainly, I still have PCa, and since my recent biopsy said that there is none left in my irradiated prostate, it has to have gone somewhere. But after 3 tests showing rapidly increasing PSA to have one go backward is wonderful. If anyone has more insight on how this happens, please let me know. At the very least, I may be able to delay my entry into HT for a while, which would be terrific."

May I ask why you think you have metastatic disease? Anything seen on a bone scan?

If you had intermediate risk PCa and HDR monotherapy and no biopsy evidence of local recurrence, I think it is highly unlikely that you are experiencing a distant recurrence. I'm not saying it's impossible, it's just highly unlikely given your GS3+4 and originally low PSA and no evidence that it wasn't locally contained before treatment. I don't want to discourage you from these wonderful changes in our diet and lifestyle; however, the PSA probably decreased as a result of the antibiotics you took for your biopsy. As I've said to you before, your erratic PSA may be indicative of prostatitis rather than recurrent PCa, and your recent experience seems to back that up.

If I were you, I'd be talking to doctors who specialize in HDR brachy about your case -- they are the ones most likely to have had experience with this. I'd hate to see you go on ADT treatment for a disease you might not have.

- Allen
Posted 8/10/2013 7:57 PM (GMT 0)
For what its worth, I take the cheapest pomegranate extract from Swanson Vitamins.
Posted 8/10/2013 8:06 PM (GMT 0)
Interesting and thought-provoking question, Allen. After speaking with a urologist, a surgeon, a radiation oncologist, and a medical oncologist, the consensus was that given my constantly increasing PSA numbers there must be cancer somewhere. I did take antibiotics for a month, but the PSA level still kept zooming upward. I asked, belatedly, to have a culture done from my last biopsy, but they had put the samples into something to preserve them that would have killed any bugs.

I had a CT and a bone scan. The bone scan was clear, but the CT showed somewhat enlarged lymph nodes. They thought that might be a sign of where the cancer had spread. In general, no one thought I would have visible mets with my PSA level . . . yet.

Strange to have a consensus from 4 different doctors that might be wrong, but I'm certainly glad I didn't start HT yet.

Given my diabetes and the constant threat of PCa - even when we think we might have it beat - I'm going to keep doing healthy things regardless of whether the cancer is back. But you've given me some new hope. I'd given up on the idea of this being prostatitis after hearing from the doctors. Is there any kind of test that could tell the difference?
Posted 8/10/2013 8:56 PM (GMT 0)
There is something called a "four cup test" for prostatitis where they give one a prostate massage and collect urine as it flows through in stages to indicate where the infected urine, if any, might be. I don't know if it is still valid after HDR. Possibly they can take a single biopsy core with a double needle to prevent contamination, or take one through the perineum. I know little about this -- you'd have to talk to a specialist.

The enlarged lymph nodes may be indicative of prostatitis as well. The C11 Acetate PET scan (available in a few locations) may be able to show if the lymph nodes are undergoing metabolic changes indicative of cancer. If five or less are cancer-involved, it is possible to have them treated with SBRT. If they show no cancer, it might point back to prostatitis as the cause of the PSA increase. All this detective work is highly specialized stuff, and the PET scan probably won't be covered by your insurance, but it may be worth getting a second opinion from someone who has dealt with this kind of thing before. I think John T recommended Dr. Scholz, who is excellent. I also think highly of Dr. Demanes at UCLA, who is a famous HDR specialist.

BTW, did the pathology report of this last biopsy indicate that there were areas of inflammation?

- Allen
Posted 8/10/2013 9:50 PM (GMT 0)
Greg,
"Hope is eternal"..I don't know where that phrase came from and I normally don't indulge in phraseology.
Many (some) of us have been following your progress and like Tall Allen still hope that your psa is just a blip..We won't call your 4 doctors wrong, but^*@..Sounds like you have a good handle on life so keep it up. With 4 doctors, you know all of your options if you ever desire to exercise them...Hopefully, I only have 1 more 6 month shot of lupron left--It was "doable" for me..All the best to you.
Bill idea
Posted 8/11/2013 12:54 PM (GMT 0)
Greg, your post is quite positive and hopeful.  I thought you may have spoken about a "Bucket List."  Please keep those goals in mind.  I wish you the very best on this journey!

Peace,

Aimzee

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