Jazzman1,
Jazzman1 said...
I'm just wondering if the Androgel (about two months' worth now) might have caused the increase without acually goosing up any cancer cells. Anrogel induced noise perhaps?
Boy, you and me both [wondering]. And possibly a number of other men who had PCa surgery, were undetectable for a while, were low T, had uros brave enough to put them on TRT (borderline against conventional wisdom, but that's changing...), then have seen some low detectable uPSA readings. Maybe there is some connection between TRT and having low detectables post-surgery. And maybe it is not really PCa recurrence. And perhaps the connection is only becoming evident nowadays because TRT after prostate surgery used to be strictly forbidden.
You and I have both posted some about
this effect in other threads, even if only tangential to the thread main topic. So you may remember I had two years of the gel TRT, remaining undetectable, then one year of test cyp injections, first showing a low detectable uPSA of .025 in Feb. 2017 then .027 in March. I went off the TRT in early March (my decision, not uro's). My most recent two uPSAs, June 21st and July 19th, were both .018. The LabCorp uPSA I get only detects .015 or above, so I am bouncing near bottom of low detectable now.
I was wondering if my supraphysiological swings from about
T=1200 right after injecting (lab measured), down to about
T=300-400 just before next injection, were somehow causing the low uPSAs, but not really due to recurrent PCa. I did report the rise to my uro in Feb., but he was unconcerned. In fact, the pharmacy notified me last week that they just received my test cyp script
renewal--unprompted by me. So, obviously, my uro's not too worried.
One other thing I should mention is that I went on Pygeum africanus in April and have stayed on it at 100 mg daily. My thinking was if i had some remaining patches of benign prostate tissue with BPH, the pygeum might bring the uPSA down. Following is some info, but I **am not** recommending this natural product--just explaining what I have personally done to try to understand *my* case.
prostate.net/articles/pygeum-africanum-prostatitis-treatmentMy tack now will be to stay off the Pygeum for the next month (also still off the test cyp injections), then retest uPSA at end of Aug. If it is undetectable or low detectable (say .020 or less), I may restart the TRT injections and watch uPSA closely. If, OTOH, my uPSA seems to be rising again next month, well, not sure what that would mean, exactly. My annual uro appt. is December. If it sounds like I'm fumbling my way through all this, it is because I am.
Jazzman1, I know it feels much better to be on the TRT. However, since you are still kinda at bottom range of where a RO might go ahead with SRT for you, have you considered going off the Androgel and retesting uPSA in a month? Of course, consult your docs first.
It is a really tough call to time the SRT, knowing a delay might give you further info to avoid over-treatment, but also knowing the delay might make the SRT somewhat less effective because it started later than it might have. Just a really tough decision.
Robert