Re: bicalutamide a castration drug?

[Guest guest]

Bicalutamide is a castration therapy drug? I didnt know that. nobody told me that when they put me on bicalutamide a couple months ago.

The things you learn here in this group! Thanks for the info. Of course knowing this makes little difference, its just the idea of what it does that is a little unsettling.

Dave Halvorsen

To: ProstateCancerSupport Sent: Sun, October 3, 2010 1:37:49 PMSubject: Re: Elevated PSA

Thank you for the information (and thank you Terry for hosting the YANA site). -- As I understand it from your YANA listing, you did not immediately have some form of castration therapy (i.e. bicalutamide) post surgery in 1996. Is that correct ? How many cycles of castration therapy ON-OFF periods) have you undertaken since then ? [ The dates you actually refer to are not clear - would you mind appending the information ? ]Your listing says you "added DES .. ". Was this in addition to bicalutamide or did you take a break from bicalutamide before going on to DES ? It is usual to take LHRH-a (zoladex or lupron) before DES. Have you not used LHRH-a at all ?Sorry to hear your PSA has risen to around 50 ng/ml on DES. This would indicate the presence of tumor somewhere - responding to low androgen - probably in the bone but possibly in soft tissue also. This is known as 'castration resistant prostate cancer'

(CRPC). Have you tried to identify the source ? A bone scan or MRI would help. Once identified you could take steps to reduce the tumor load. I have some ideas but would need to know more detail before I suggested anything further.Feel free to contact me privately. Take care. -- Sam.>> 's story is here http://www.yananow.net/Mentors/M.htm > > > > All the best > > Prostate men need enlightening, not frightening> > Terry Herbert - diagnosed in 1996 and still going strong> > Read A Strange Place for unbiased information at> http://www.yananow.net/StrangePlace/index.html > > > >

_____ > > From: ProstateCancerSupport > [mailto:ProstateCancerSupport ] On Behalf Of sammy_bates> Sent: Friday, 24 September 2010 3:37 AM> To: ProstateCancerSupport > Subject: Re: Elevated PSA> > > > > > ,> > Are you a YANA "Mentor" ? Where can I find a history of your treatment ?> >

Sam.>

[Guest guest]

Dave -- Any drug capable of reducing the amount of androgen available to

the body is a castration drug. Many drugs have this as an unintended

side effect; in addition, many drugs are used with this purpose in mind.

Indeed more castration drugs are being designed, tested and introduced

to the market place every year. [ e.g Degarelix is one of the latest, a

LHRH antagonist]

As prostate men become more enlightened the tendency to use euphemisms

to cover up the real meaning of the standard treatment for more advanced

disease is less prevalent. However, some men still object to the term

" castration therapy " , and would rather use something like " androgen

deprivation therapy " or " hormone therapy " or even " chemotherapy " .

I have to admit I do not like the term " castration therapy " myself, and

certainly would not admit to it if someone on the street who found out I

had PC asked me if I were on " castration therapy " . It would be

embarrasing to say the least. [ As a matter of fact I am not 'on' it

right now, but that is beside the point.]

Nevertheless, that is (i.e. castration therapy for the masses) the

reality, and the sooner we face up to it and begin to search out the

alternative treatments to PC, the better. If you look at the YANA site

you will see that some men do very well on testosterone replacement

therapy (TRT). How can that be if as Huggins claimed in the

1940's that in effect " androgen causes - castration cures prostate

cancer " ?

Of course we have moved on a little since the 1940's. It is now

generally acknowledged that there is no " cure " for advanced prostate

cancer. Having said that castration is still promoted as the most

effective long term treatment despite the mounting evidence that

castration itself is the cause of the iatrogenic (medically induced)

condition of CRPC (see thread below). -- Sam.

> >

> > 's story is here http://www.yananow.net/Mentors/M.htm

> >

> >

> >

> > All the best

> >

> > Prostate men need enlightening, not frightening

> >

> > Terry Herbert - diagnosed in 1996 and still going strong

> >

> > Read A Strange Place for unbiased information at

> > http://www.yananow.net/StrangePlace/index.html

> >

> >

> >

> > _____

> >

> > From: ProstateCancerSupport

> > [mailto:ProstateCancerSupport ] On Behalf Of

sammy_bates

> > Sent: Friday, 24 September 2010 3:37 AM

> > To: ProstateCancerSupport

> > Subject: Re: Elevated PSA

> >

> >

> >

> >

> >

> > ,

> >

> > Are you a YANA " Mentor " ? Where can I find a history of your

treatment ?

> >

> > Sam.

> >

>

[Guest guest]



Dave

In layman's simplification Casodex fits into the testosterone like a jigsaw piece, thus blocking it's availability to be used by the body and as it is believed that testosterone is a PCa growth factor this limits cancer progression.

Zoledex or Lupron have a different mechanism they first cause a rapid increase in testosterone from the testes, this is followed by shutdown of the testosterone production. This is why when starting Zoledex, Casodex is given for a few weeks before and a few weeks after the first implant

Re: Elevated PSA> > > > > > ,> > Are you a YANA "Mentor" ? Where can I find a history of your treatment ?> > Sam.>

[Guest guest]

Just for info purposes we are very lucky to have Lupron etc because in Thailand because of expense they truely castrate the person instead. I hope for a cure so I can have my testosterone back until I die of something else. I know a cure is not likely in my lifetime.

Tom W.

To: ProstateCancerSupport Sent: Sat, October 9, 2010 8:21:29 PMSubject: Re: bicalutamide a castration drug?

Chuck Maack wrote:> Attached is an explanation of the role of LHRH agonists, GnRH> antagonists, antiandrogens, and 5Alpha Reductase (5AR)> inhibitors in androgen deprivation therapy (ADT)....That was a very lucid explanation Chuck. Thank you.Here's another article I found on the web about Casodex:http://www.drugs.com/pro/bicalutamide.htmlYou can also get the actual FDA drug "label" for the drug fromthe National Library of Medicine here:http://dailymed.nlm.nih.gov/dailymed/about.cfmType "bicalutamide" in the search box.'s explanation of how it works is the right idea but I'dlike to elaborate a bit. The drug doesn't bind to testosterone,it binds to the testosterone receptors on the surfaces of cells -which accomplishes the same

thing.You can think of hormones as being like little keys that float inthe blood stream and receptors as being like little locks on thesurfaces of cells. Any particular lock only accepts one kind ofkey. When the key is inserted, the lock opens up a chain ofchemical reactions inside the cell or, in this case, passes thekey inside where it starts a chain of chemical reactions.There are several ways to block the action of a hormone. You canstop production of the hormone. That's what Lupron does, for themajor source of testosterone - the testicles. You can bindsomething to the key so it no longer fits the lock. Or you cangum up the lock by sticking something in it that is not thehormone but makes it impossible for the hormone to get in.That's what Casodex/bicalutamide does. Avodart and Proscar dosomething very similar but they gum up locks inside the cell,stopping reactions of any

testosterone molecules that made itpast the Lupron or the Casodex.According to the first article I cited above, Casodex canactually cause the body to create extra testosterone. That isn'ttoo surprising because the body is "homeostatic", meaning that ithas various mechanisms that compensate for disturbances to try toreturn everything to a standard state, much the way a thermostatturns on the heat if it gets too cold in a house or turns it offif it gets too hot. That's one reason why Casodex is now usuallyused in conjunction with Lupron or similar drugs.Actual castration, i.e., surgical removal of the testicles, ismost like Lupron. It removes the major testosterone producer inthe body.Alan