So, I have Cancer.

[Kimbers]

Darren, I am so sorry to hear that. As more and more awareness gets out there I think it important to promote men checking themselves and getting check ups at the doctors. Men in general are terrible with "man related" health. 

Glad you got that check up!

[molemot]

I found this article.....it's appropriate to me, although I haven't yet reached the hormone refractory stage yet...but it holds out more hope as and when I do....

 

A man with advanced, treatment-resistant prostate cancer may have been “cured” by an experimental therapy using testosterone. 

The tumours were shocked to death by the sex hormone.

Other seriously ill men taking part in the same trial showed responses that astounded scientists. Tumours were seen to shrink and in several patients progress of the disease was halted.

 

Levels of Prostate Specific Antigen (PSA), a blood marker used to monitor prostate cancer, fell in the majority of the 47 participants.

One individual whose PSA levels dropped to zero after three months and shows no remaining trace of the disease after 22 cycles of treatment appears to be cured, said the researchers

All the men taking part in the pilot trial had completed at least three cycles of “bipolar androgen therapy” (BAT) which involves alternately flooding and starving the body of the male hormone testosterone.

The treatment is revolutionary because testosterone is generally assumed to fuel prostate cancer. For decades men with advanced and spreading prostate cancer have been treated by cutting off the supply of testosterone or blocking its effects.

 

Sam Edwards via Getty Images

A common therapy is a form of chemical castration using an injected drug. Upping testosterone in a man with prostate cancer is generally considered similar to pouring petrol on a fire.

Yet laboratory experiments have hinted that blasting tumours with high levels of the hormone can suppress or even kill prostate cancer cells.

Professor Sam Denmeade, from Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine in Baltimore, US, who led the new study, said: “We think the results are unexpected and exciting.

“We are still in the early stages of figuring out how this works and how to incorporate it into the treatment paradigm for prostate cancer.

“Thus far we have observed dramatic PSA response in a subset of men; PSA levels declined in about 40% of men and in about 30% of men levels fell by more than 50%.

“Some men also have objective responses with a decrease in the size of measurable disease, mostly in lymph nodes. Many of the men have stable disease that has not progressed for more than 12 months.

“I think we may have cured one man whose PSA dropped to zero after three months and has remained so now for 22 cycles. His disease has all disappeared.”

Early findings from the on-going Restore study were presented at the EORTC-NCI-AACR symposium on Molecular Targets and Cancer Therapeutics in Munich, Germany.

All the patients had spreading cancer that was resistant to treatment with two of the latest hormone therapy drugs, abiraterone and enzalutamide.

The men received high dose injections of testosterone once every 28 days. At the same time, they were given a drug that stopped testosterone being produced naturally by the testicles.

“Our goal is to shock the cancer cells by exposing them rapidly to very high followed by very low levels of testosterone in the blood,” said Prof Denmeade.

Six of the men tested positive for a protein called AR-V7 that may be associated with resistance to enzalutamide.

After BAT treatment, no sign of the protein was seen in the blood of all six. Two of the men had declines in PSA level of 50% or more.

The therapy appears to be well-tolerated by the patients, one man experiencing an increase in pain and another having a problem with urine retention.

Prof Denmeade said it was still not clear how the treatment worked, but it appeared to involve cell signalling and part of the process of cell division. Large doses of testosterone also seemed to cause prostate cancer cells to make breaks in their DNA.

Cancer cells stopped dividing and turned “senescent”, meaning they “become like old men who sit around and tell stories but don’t make much trouble”, said the professor.

He cautioned that the therapy was still highly experimental and only suitable for men not suffering painful symptoms.

“Testosterone treatment can definitely worsen pain in men with prostate cancer who have pain from their disease,” he said.

 

Electron Microscopy Unit, Cancer Research UK/Anne Weston/Visuals Unlimited, Inc. via Getty Images

A multi-centre randomised US trial called Transformer is now comparing BAT with enzalutamide in men who have become resistant to abiraterone. It aims to recruit a total of 180 participants.

Prof Denmeade said: “If we find testosterone is superior then we would hope to move on to larger trials. Our problem is this is not a drug that is owned by a pharmaceutical company; it is generic testosterone. So moving forward is going to be difficult due to issues with finding funds to run a bigger trial.”

Each year around 47,000 men are diagnosed with prostate cancer in the UK and 11,000 die from the disease.

Dr Matt Hobbs, deputy director of research at the charity Prostate Cancer UK, said: “Drugs that reduce the levels of testosterone (androgen deprivation therapy) are an effective treatment for thousands of men with advanced prostate cancer.

“However, at some point the cancer evolves and those drugs stop working. This research is intriguing because it offers a hint that – somewhat unexpectedly - for some men whose cancers have reached that ‘hormone-resistant’ stage it may be possible to kill or stop growth of the cancer cells by actually overloading them with testosterone.

“Many exciting new lines of attack against prostate cancer are emerging of which this is one.

“However, this is early stage research and further studies are needed in order to understand exactly how intriguing developments like this work and to test the findings more robustly in large clinical trials.”

 

Sorry...can't seem to edit this to get rid of the dross.....(!)

 

 

[Kimbers]

My father in law has just been diagnosed with Prostate Cancer. Like many men, he has left it so long since the signs started. I really can't stress enough to every man reading this, to check themselves, get regular check up's once you get to a certain age (like me) and not to be too scared/too busy to get anything done. Life is never too busy to end it prematurely!

[molemot]

Must reinforce Kimbers post above. Once you get past 50, go for a PSA check.  Then repeat it regularly..... Your doctor will not want to do it; he will caution you about "false positives"...and he will be right, they do happen. If the level is elevated there are several routes you can take...but the test will show problems before you ever get any symptoms. By then it can be too late.... so be persistent and don't die of ignorance and/or embarrassment.

[theelanman]

what he said.......

Ive been in for most of these now and even the camera up the 'old chap' wasn't that bad...........in the scheme of things

if in doubt get it sorted...don't leave it........(I think the worst bit for me was the fact it was training day and the procedure was observed by about half a dozen nurses........I was the only bloke in the room......)

[Bazza 907]

How often do you think you should be checked?

[Kimbers]

On 05/12/2016 at 10:38, theelanman said:

what he said.......

Ive been in for most of these now and even the camera up the 'old chap' wasn't that bad...........in the scheme of things

if in doubt get it sorted...don't leave it........(I think the worst bit for me was the fact it was training day and the procedure was observed by about half a dozen nurses........I was the only bloke in the room......)

At least it wasn't a long proceedure!

On 05/12/2016 at 10:39, Bazza 907 said:

How often do you think you should be checked?

Barry, It depends on your "issues". A healthy man with no issues or signs between the ages of 35 and 60 is recommended every 5 years but this goes down if family have a history, or if your poop changes long term or with pain, lumps etc etc. I have 2 yearly due to being a higher risk.

[Bazza 907]

6 minutes ago, Kimbers said:

At least it wasn't a long proceedure!

Barry, It depends on your "issues". A healthy man with no issues or signs between the ages of 35 and 60 is recommended every 5 years but this goes down if family have a history, or if your poop changes long term or with pain, lumps etc etc. I have 2 yearly due to being a higher risk.

Thanks Mate

I had a check last year and all was ok so I'll leave it a couple of years then check again. As you say, no harm in getting the reassurance.

[nigeninja]

 

Just seen this thread and only read the last page,but ive just got over Hodgkin's lymphoma (cancer).

12 months of chemo, 3 separate 7 day stays in hospital during that 12 months for complications, not good and would not wish it on my worse enemy.

Anyway while your down there checking your self, check for lumps around groin and under your arm pits, although i never had either of them in those places, i had two very small lumps on my neck and shoulder,really just like a small cysts under the skin.

I was as fit as a fiddle no signs that anything was wrong, so yes pays to check and get to the docs ASAP       

[mcx]

On 05/12/2016 at 10:38, theelanman said:

what he said.......

Ive been in for most of these now and even the camera up the 'old chap' wasn't that bad...........in the scheme of things

if in doubt get it sorted...don't leave it........(I think the worst bit for me was the fact it was training day and the procedure was observed by about half a dozen nurses........I was the only bloke in the room......)

Yes had the camera up treatment, not fun but better to be sure!

 

[Kimbers]

Ditto. Also had 2 up and one down other....erm...parts. They did a down and up in one session. Never did ask whether they used the same camera!

[theelanman]

I drew a line when they wanted to send the sound engineer in......

camera crew fine...........but no to the boom operator........

available in VHS, Betamax and Super 8 at reception on the way out......

[Barrykearley]

I've been on the receiving end of a camera up the cock

i can tell you it's painless ish at the time

take a piss an hour later and it's damn agony for a couple of days - not nice. But better than the alternative 

[Sparky]

Two years ago I had major systemic infections that were mistaken for bladder cancer.  During my last camera session surgeon takes one look and says "Oh, that hole's far too small.  Nurse, fetch the stretching forceps.  And he'll be needing the gas and air."

That was an interesting 15 minutes.

[Barrykearley]

Interesting ??? Pmsl - I still have knightmares about that camera - I swear to god I've seen smaller tree trunks

[andydclements]

4 hours ago, Kimbers said:

Ditto. Also had 2 up and one down other....erm...parts. They did a down and up in one session. Never did ask whether they used the same camera!

Same camera is fine, it's all about the sequence, or at least it is until you realise you're not the first patient.

[PaulCP]

6 hours ago, nigeninja said:

 

Just seen this thread and only read the last page,but ive just got over Hodgkin's lymphoma (cancer).

I was as fit as a fiddle no signs that anything was wrong, so yes pays to check and get to the docs ASAP       

Great to hear you are now over it, I'm currently being tested for the very same thing and awaiting results of latest biopsy.

Like yourself I am fully fit and had no symptoms whatsoever. I've suffered from a trapped nerve in the neck for the past 9 months and, although the problems it was causing were reducing, I finally persuaded the consultant, after a bit of insistence, to sign off a CT scan to determine if surgery could eradicate the problem.

I then got the results, the good news is that the scan shows the vertebrae causing the neck problem is moving back into position but the scan showed other things up of a more sinister nature, mainly a few small spots on the lungs which I was told looked like secondary cancer carried there in the blood stream. They are currently trying to find the primary which is so far proving to be elusive. Told by my GP to expect a rough few months once treatment starts.

So, the point of my post is to highlight how these things can creep up on you. If you get the chance of routine check ups just have them even though you think everything is ok in the way that you feel. I still have no symptoms that I know about and between various tests still manage to get to the gym. Just thankful that in the end it was a fluke that identified it before it was too late.

[jonnyboy]

Sorry to hear that Paul have you had a diagnosis on the flavour yet? Another HL person here very lucky to have a very much lower threat variant just coming up on 3 years since diagnosis. Also no symptoms at all just got picked up through a lump in the nether regions that was removed and tested.

Edited December 10, 2016 by jonnyboy

[PaulCP]

Thanks Jon, still in the diagnostic stage but have an appointment with my consultant on Tuesday to go through the results of the biopsy taken last week, just a matter of waiting.

Still feel pretty much ok with non of the symptoms  on their check lists. I get the impression that decent fitness levels must mask the symptoms so hopefully it will also help with the treatment.

[CocoPops]

Jeez Paul.

fingers crossed matey.

Alex has just had another "no sign of tumour regrowth scan" for her Brain tumour. Still dread every scan though, for the one that does show regrowth.

[ramjet]

7 hours ago, PaulCP said:

Thanks Jon, still in the diagnostic stage but have an appointment with my consultant on Tuesday to go through the results of the biopsy taken last week, just a matter of waiting.

Still feel pretty much ok with non of the symptoms  on their check lists. I get the impression that decent fitness levels must mask the symptoms so hopefully it will also help with the treatment.

Physical fitness is an aid to anything.

[johnpwalsh]

Cant impress enough for everyone to get tested. I had an abnormality about 6 years ago. Got the camera done and found pre cancerous polyps. Caught nice and early and seen to. Worst bit was watching what was going on on the big screen by the bed, euch.

[ramjet]

Note for new players:

Close your eyes. 

[Bibs]

@PaulCP, my Mum had a non-HL as a secondary and they never found the primary (but how hard can it be, we're not that big!) but the chemo from the secondary worked and she's been in remission for 6+ years now. 

[Kimbers]

My cock is naturally ribbed for her pleasure! 

I win!