Great News.

I am glad to hear that you are cancer free.  :-)

Same here, and for what it's worth - since I am much newer to this than you - I'm tossing in a little of what I've found out, which you may already know. You surely know that high PSA counts after surgery hints at recurrence from incomplete prostate removal or cells escaping (PC cells continue to make PSA), and that radiation is an option.

You probably also know that androgen deprivation therapy can stop PC from growing - but the whole concept of stopping testosterone makes me shudder and I want to avoid it if I can. Low testosterone does a number on your bones and heart, among other things. Besides, after awhile of ADT your cancer can become resistant to even this.

Prostate cells, cancerous or not, depend on testosterone for life. Specifically, they depend on the testosterone metabolite DHT, the active form of T. DHT is made not only in the prostate and testes but the adrenals and even the hair follicles!  The 5-AR inhibitors Proscar and especially Adovart can stop the conversion of testosterone to DHT, which is why they're the main drug treatment for BPH - by stopping DHT they shrink the prostate. (the lower dose form of Proscar, Propecia, is used to reverse male pattern baldness, which is caused by DHT). But they'll stop the conversion even if you don't have a prostate. I'm starting Adovart today on my urologist's recommendation. Here's a support group link on 5-AR inhibitors: http://www.ustoowichita.org/adt.cfm

I've been reading about Vitamin D, and this is what I found out: It can stop cancer cells from growing. The form of D, cholecalciferol - OTC vitamin store stuff, tiny cheap pills - I’m now taking is indeed active, contrary to common wisdom. Calcitriol, the metabolite of D that is the chemically active form, has been tested and found to work, but it's dangerous when there are high levels in the blood, so you can’t take much for long; your calcium levels would rise to toxic levels. But prostate cells (and I would guess other cells) can make calcitriol from D inside the cells, where it doesn’t get into the bloodstream. And inside the epithelial cells it inhibits cell growth. These are the cells that not only make up the outer layer of the skin but the inner layers of many of our organs, including the prostate. The epithelium is where carcinomas develop. All prostate epithelial cells, including cancerous ones, can make calcitriol from D. The bottom line is that the cancer cells can make something that causes their own growth to stop. This is why I’m taking large amounts of D. I’ve found that you can take 20,000 IU of D/cholecalciferol a day with no problem - I'm taking 2,000 and want to get blood drawn for a baseline before I increase it. Your skin can make 10,000 IU from just 30 minutes of sun without sunscreen, but the sun has to fall on more than just your arms and legs. Thus it’s healthy for me to go shirtless in the sun.

Vitamin D/cholecalciferol is converted to calcidiol, which promotes mineralization of bones and teeth and is used to treat osteomalacia - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Osteomalacia. Calcidiol is also converted into calcitriol. If you're on ADT, you need help with your bones. Here's a site with more info: http://www.vitamindcouncil.com/cancerProstate.shtml

The main thing is that it won't hurt you. I think doctors are generally geniuses, but they still don't know - can't know - everything. There's just too much to know out there.

A few other nutritionally oriented avenues of investigation for you:

ECGC: a green tea extract - Induces cancer cell sluggishness and death. Take at least 400 mg

Lycopene (reduce testosterone effect on cancer cells/inhibits PC cell’s own growth factor), though it certainly didn’t prevent cancer in my case, but I’m not sure I was taking it prior to 2007. Also found in pink grapefruit. Take at least 10 mg

Genistein promotes PC cell death, inhibits cell division. Also found in curcumin, soy. It annoyed me that I found it in Vitamin Shoppe in the women's section under estrogen and menopause (sigh!).

Curcumin is supposed to induce apoptosis (cell death). It also didn't stop me from getting cancer, but again I started only in the last year, and my cancer had obviously been growing for at least that long.

selenium: may slow tumor progression, causes cell death (in test tube)

the link for where I found some of this:
http://prostate-cancer.org/education/nutrition/Pinski_DietarySupplements.html

The PCRI site this comes from is full of information.

Hope this wasn't needless information or TMI. Best wishes. Life is a blessing.

Thanks for all of the information.  I will save it in case i need it and will pass it on to others.  I'd like to send you an invite to be "a friend" if that is OK with you.  I have a local friend who is on hormone therapy now, and I want to send this to him.  I hope I don't "need" all the information any time soon, but thanks for sending it.  Peace.

That would be fine. How do you send me an invitation?

How come some of the icons for the posters are purple and some are blue?

Oh - another thing, FWIW. For some reason I lost my nocturnal erections about three weeks ago. I never knew how much I liked them and would miss them. My libido crashed, too. It started when my wife and I got this really nasty flu - we're just now getting over the cough, and I lost 12 pounds from eating less and no exercise. The loss of spontaneous erections really bothered me, so I started reading up on that, too (God bless the Internet and especially Google). What I read is this: men who are on testosterone deprivation (that would include drugs that stop T production, the ones that block the cell receptors, and the ones like Adovart that suppress conversion to DHT) lose much of their libido and their nocturnal erections. The result can be an actual shrinking of the penis over time - apparently there's a purpose behind nocturnal erections beyond feeling good, making you sleep on a lump in the bed and making you overshoot the toilet: they actually help maintain penis length. Who knew? So men on hormone deprivation should be taking the erection drugs like Viagra, Cialis or that new one, Levitra(?), assuming it's OK healthwise to take them. They can help nocturnal erections return, and of course make making love more possible, even if the libido is depressed. I think I can find the link again when I have more time. Like I said, FWIW.

Gotta go to Costco now to get my Adovart. I plan to exercise more to keep my libido going. Peace back.

uh...that would be Avodart.

Hello.  I believe the blue icons represent a male member while the purple denotes a female.  I think it must be easy to click on the wrong button because i have corresponded with several men who have had purple icons.  It is easy to update one's profile.  As far as inviting members to join as friends -- i have been able to just click on icon and go to member profile and send a invitation.  I'll do that after this.  If it doesn't work, you can visit my profile and invite me; i will answer your invitation in the affirmative and it will be done.

I know what you mean by missing the nocturnal erections.  I knew the outcome after surgery, but I wasn't going to let ED prevent me from having surgery to get rid of the cancer; however, I had not expected to miss the spontaneous erections as much as i have.  I realize that there is more to manhood than "morning wood," but it has been difficult waiting for the nerves to return to working order.  You might try taking L-Arginine.  I need to get some--i noticed a difference when i was ingesting it.  I was taking it along with Viagra--I am currently in dispute with my insurance over quantity.  I also take L-Carnitine--it is supposed to make viagra more effective.

I read recently that Levitra is better suited for men with diabetes and better for men who have had the vision problems sometimes associated with viagra.  I had a small sample from the doctor but couldn't tell any difference between it, viagra, or cialis.  (I am sure it takes longer to tell the difference than a few samples.)

Take care.  Looking forward to more information exchange.  Peace.

Hello WTL.

I tried hovering over your name--if you hold your curser over my username a little box pops up with profile information and little boxes to check--send a message, invite as a friend and one other.  A box didn't pop up for you.  Do you have a profile?  I tried locating you/your profile without success.  I am guessing that you are going to have to invite me.  I checked another friend of mine in a comment like you left me, and it worked.  

Go to your profile and make sure you don't have anything blocking invitations to being a friend.  (You can make sure you selected "male" as your gender too.  That may change you to blue.)  Take care.