This is not about prostate seed treatment, or brachytherapy, by itself. It’s about giving a short course of hormonal therapy first, to lower testosterone in men with localized prostate cancer to make them eligible for radiation seed treatment. The idea is that a shot of Lupron or Zoladex will shrink the prostate and make it […]
Is your doctor squeamish about testosterone replacement? Many are; in fact, to many doctors, the idea of testosterone replacement has ranked right up there with playing with fire. They worry that men will get burned – that increasing a man’s testosterone will make him more susceptible to prostate cancer. They worry about this because the mainstay […]
Part Four of Four It’s challenging enough that you need to be on androgen deprivation therapy (ADT) in the first place. Now, in addition to prostate cancer, you have to worry about the risk of dementia? Some studies have shown an increased risk for Alzheimer’s disease, and cognitive impairment and depression are known problems that […]
Part Three of Four Does ADT cause cognitive impairment? This question seems simple, but really, it’s more like opening a medical can of worms. So let’s ask a different question. Do men on ADT get cognitive impairment? Yes, some do. But many don’t. It is hard to pin down definitive facts here – like, how many men get […]
Part Two of Four Metabolic syndrome includes an unholy cluster of bad things that can lead to a heart attack or stroke. Elevated blood pressure; unhealthy levels of blood sugar, cholesterol, and triglycerides; and abdominal fat – a big jelly donut of visceral fat, also known as “heart attack fat,” right around your belly, a cardiac […]
Part One of Four The only people who really like androgen deprivation therapy (also called ADT, or hormonal therapy) are the drug companies that make billions of dollars a year selling the drugs. Doctors don’t like it, and men don’t like being on these drugs. So why do it? There are few specific situations when […]
In a matter of weeks, Mark Meerschaert went from being an athlete to someone who could barely walk; metastatic prostate cancer had come from nowhere and spread like wildfire throughout his body. A highly respected mathematics professor and researcher – the kind who fills up the blackboard in his classroom with labyrinthine calculations to answer […]