HealingWell
Search Close Search
☰

I'm having a post radiation psa spike-

Support Forums
>
Prostate Cancer
✚ New Topic ✚ Reply
❬ ❬ Previous Thread |Next Thread ❭ ❭
Posted 7/18/2016 3:47 AM (GMT 0)
My psa was 7.6 at the start of radiation, then down to 3.6, now up to 8.6.

I finished all my external and internal radiation treatments 15 months ago, and this spike really caught me by surprise...

My wife is worried sick, and I'm not sure how to take the news.

I'm not filled with panic yet, I'm thinking the next couple of blood tests will tell the tale.

All comments appreciated, in advance, since I'm having internet access issues.
Posted 7/18/2016 5:05 AM (GMT 0)
I vote for a retest. A lab error is another possibility for the jump. Out of band results like that need to be confirmed.

But like you say, the next tests will tell.

Andrew
Posted 7/18/2016 7:01 AM (GMT 0)
Vapor,
I have very limited knowledge and little to add about the reason for a spike, and I hope Andrews right about a lab error. However, I have recently read a lot of good news in treatments if it continues to rise, do try not to worry and focus on good things until your next test. Keep us posted and good luck!
Beth
Posted 7/18/2016 12:19 PM (GMT 0)
Hi Vapour. My understanding is that there will be a post RT PSA "Bounce"
If I had to wrap my simple little mind around the concept, the way I rationalize it is that since RT destroys the PC cellular DNA to prevent replication, once those buggers get to that stage of their life cycle, there will be lots of PSA produced while they fight to replicate and survive.
So why at 18 months? Type 3 cells have a very long life cycle.
Posted 7/18/2016 12:23 PM (GMT 0)
Vapor, I agree with Andrew, demand a retest.
I had a post surgery move from undetectable to 3.8. Not only was it a lab error, but the lab told me they "could not reproduce the 3.8 result in multiple tests using the same blood sample.
Posted 7/18/2016 4:24 PM (GMT 0)
A spike that big is suspicious for prostatitis or urinary retention. Any symptoms? Maybe a course of Cipro before a retest.

- Allen
Posted 7/25/2016 1:38 AM (GMT 0)
I have been having more symptoms. I know my prostate feels enlarged, and having burning pain come back. Fatigue is also hitting me hard once again.


I had a rare for me, retrograde ejk you lay shin that was extremely painful, and then a few weeks later took the blood test. I've had increasing symptoms to now where it's hurting to sit much, stream interruptions, ect.

I'm also still suffering from the small intestine issues. I just can't eat much. Potatoes are my new favorite food... Protein shakes and almond milk, my new beverage.

I get psa tested again next month, and will see my urologist. He won't give me cipro for prostate itis without first "milking" my prostate, and then looking for a specific bacteria, and then HE will be the one to decide which antibiotic I will have. In the next breath, he told me that there is almost no chance of finding any identifiable pathogen in the sample, if he is even able to collect one...


No way that guy is probing any orifices of mine, unless I have no other choice...
Posted 7/25/2016 2:52 AM (GMT 0)
That's about the best test for prostatitis- he massages the prostate and then takes urine samples. It doesn't hurt - it's just a finger. But he's right that there are usually no bacteria found. Most prostatitis doesn't respond to antibiotics. Your other option is to just wait to see if your PSA goes down on its own.
Posted 8/15/2016 10:50 PM (GMT 0)
I have been having prostatitis symptoms. I was able to procure a month long course of cipro. I have been on it for about 2 weeks, and my prostatitis symptoms have greatly improved.

I was able to get another blood test last week.

I just read the results (9.92) and will see the VA urologist tomorrow.

I'm not sure what to do next, but as a 49 year old man, with a much younger wife, I'm in no hurry to start hormone treatments.

Anyone have golden advice on what psa number would be the appropriate time to panic?
Posted 8/15/2016 11:34 PM (GMT 0)

vaportrail said...
Anyone have golden advice on what psa number would be the appropriate time to panic?
49

It doesn't work like that. PSA is not a test for cancer. PSA can go sky-high with prostatitis, and may never come down completely. Since it seems that you do have prostatitis, you may want to wait it out. PSA often goes in a see-saw pattern with prostatitis as it spontaneously relapses and remits. The PHI test is less sensitive to prostatitis, so you may want to get that instead of a PSA next time.

- Allen
Posted 8/16/2016 12:58 AM (GMT 0)
Thanks for the comment Allen-

I've spent the afternoon pouring over this paper on post radiation needle biopsies.

ajcp.oxfordjournals.org/content/ajcpath/110/6/765.full.pdf

Interesting information, to say the least...


I'm trying to keep my optimistic outlook I originally had, about me NOT having prostate cancer. After all, I was told that only 1% of men have it before age 50.


I took my first ever psa test upon returning to the USA in 2013. It was 4.6, if I remember correctly. I had already been suffering with prostatitis for several years, and was also on testosterone injections for hypogonadism, so I refused the biopsy that my doctor recommended. I did follow his advice to get off the testosterone replacement injections.

A year later, I had a new doctor that told me I REALLY NEEDED a biopsy, since my psa was up over 6.

At the time, I was glad to get a referral to an outside (non VA) urologist, and had plans to get back on testosterone after the biopsy showed no sign of cancer. I was really shocked when I got the news that not only did I have prostate cancer, but a large 4+3 tumor that took up half of my prostate, and had already developed peri-neural invasion...


Oh well, I guess we all live and learn. But I often wonder if my treatment may have turned out better if I had done the biopsy right away, instead of waiting a year...
Posted 8/26/2016 6:02 PM (GMT 0)
Update-

Well, the VA urologist started my appointment by telling me I shouldn't have a psa test done when I have prostatitis. But by the end of the appointment, after "the finger" he informed me that I don't have prostatitis. (he only believes in acute prostatitis, when it hurts like hell when he presses on the prostate) Instead, he called it chronic pelvic pain syndrome. He told me that the pain, swollen testicle, and all the other classic symptoms of chronic prostatitis I explained to him were actually caused by my GI issues, and sent me to see my GI doctor.

The GI doctor disagreed, and looked through my last MRI herself, and found a spot on my pelvic bone. Now I'm supposed to have another bone scan...

The urologist just called me, and told me that he doesn't think the spot on my pelvic bone is cancer spreading. My psa is 9.9 and the uro went on to tell me that a psa of 12-15 is usually when it starts to spread but not always.
Posted 8/26/2016 6:11 PM (GMT 0)
Prostatitis is really hard to diagnose. Sometimes antibiotics bring the PSA down, but most times they don't. Sometimes you just have to wait it out. The fact that antibiotics relieved your symptoms tells you there is some kind of infection in there. Can you see another urologist for a second opinion? Maybe one who specializes in prostatitis?
✚ New Topic ✚ Reply