Normal Testosterone after Three Months HDT

Very nervous here. My testosterone level came back from my GP at 613 after three months on Eligard, HDT. And I'm a Gleason 9/10.

I read that a small subset of guys on HDT are resistant. Anyone experienced with this?

I have calls in to my RO and urologist to discuss next steps, which I expect will not be pleasant.

What is your PSA? Has it reduced?

Generally the initial reaction to the drug is a spike in testosterone followed by a reduction to near 0. If your T is that high, then your PSA should be up as well. Your PSA will start falling after the T has dropped very low, generally under 50. I am amazed that your T is so high to begin with at your age and after three months of Eligard.


My Psa became undetectable within about 100 days of my shot, but we didn't measure T at that time because the PSA was undetectable. At a later reading my T was 3.


The resistance you refer is when the cancer is resistant to no T. In other words, the cancer grows in the absence of T, meaning it is getting food from other sources. That is not your situation. That your T is so high after the shot, it appears to be resistant to Eligard. I vote for a retest. I assume you are getting another shot of Eligard this month so it may be that you will take longer to get the T knocked out.

Here's an update. My Urologist retested my testosterone. He found the same result as my GP: My levels are over 600 almost four months after my first Eligard injection.

"In my 30 years of giving this drug, I've never seen this before," my urologist told me. My RO and RO nurse also admit they have never seen this before. Great. I have Elite Status. A medical mystery. One for the record books. The urologist has the batch number of the vial and is checking with the drug company. I'd like to find out if my resistance to the drug is due to a bad batch or to my own body mounting a last-ditch effort to say: "No, we won't let you take our manhood without a fight."

In the meantime, I suppose the cancer cells have been gorging on a testosterone buffet and growing fat. Hopefully, any cancer cells are still contained with my prostate and getting zapped by the 44 radiation treatments.

I will start Firmagon next week. It's a monthly injection in the abdomen. The first shot is a double and I suspect is not pleasant. Trying to keep positive.

Thanks. I start Firmagon next week. I'll let you know if I become a case study. Hope not.

Yours does indeed sound like an unusual case. I wish you good luck dealing with your apparent ADT resistance, and with your perfect 10. It sounds like you've had to deal with one thing after another... which is why the last two lines of your signature piqued my interest.

My older brother was a quiet, thoughtful, sensitive Buddhist who lived alone at his own Walden pond in rural Indiana. He read a lot and enjoyed his rescue dogs (named Ralphie, Wally and Emerson). He was the one who taught me at an early age the skills of fixing things, which became a passion and a livelihood for us both.

In late 2009 I learned that he had been diagnosed with CLL. He looked awful as he went thru treatment, but was eventually declared to be in remission. The last time I saw him we were both visiting our mother in the hospital. We very nearly had dinner together... a sorely missed opportunity. Ten days later he was gone, from causes most likely unrelated to his CLL and chemo, though one can never be sure.

That was my first exposure to cancer, though I now suspect that our father may have had cancer when he passed thirty years ago but never told anyone. Oh yeah, my maternal grandfather died from prostate cancer when I was 13, but one tends to only remember glimpses of the past at that age.

So reading your blog I see that your diagnosis and treatment for your blood disease started in late 2015. I'm trying to recall just where my head was around then. My wife finally retired in Oct 2015 and we began our relocation to our retirement condo in Florida. Things had already started getting crazy in late 2013 thru early 2014 when I had a failed biopsy and my urologist seemed to be fighting me rather than helping me.

Christmas 2015 was a sad experience I wish I could forget. A few months later I had an MRI and another biopsy and the rest is outlined in my sig below. But by the next Christmas 2016, just a few months after my prostatecomy, my wife was diagnosed with diffuse large B call lymphoma. The three ring circus that ensued as we both dealt with our cancers was the most trying time of my life. 2017 was consumed with chemo, radiation and surgery. When it rains it pours.

So I ended up writing more here than I intended. My blog can be accessed under RobLee on the Cancer Survivors Network, or by clicking on the little house icon to the left, or at CancerCoupleBlog.com if you're interested. Good luck to you going forward Don. I get the sense that this leg of your journey has only just begun, but it seems you've been down a similar path before and can handle whatever you may encounter.

Those three words will not be uttered here.

Why isn’t the triple blockade prescribed? LGRH Agonist(lupron etc.) , antagonist (casodex) and AR5 receptor (avodart)
Bob

Thanks, guys,
I plan to take a Valium and an ice pack with me on Wednesday when I get my double dose of Firmagon. And RobLee, special thanks for sharing your story. I take inspiration from the journey that you and your wife have been on.