5 thoughts on “FDA approves first gallium-68 PSMA PET scan imaging agent in US, BUT …”
Not much to say about the article; cancer is always a crap shoot anyway, regardless of the odds.
I’m having a new appreciation for your wary wait & see stance. I’ve been visiting the Team Inspire web site a little recently, and there are some sad tales of post-treatment woes there, including post-radiation. There are guys that get ADT & SRT and do well, but, this seems like another crap shoot.
I had done a search for “residual prostate tissue and PSA” a couple of months ago, and came up with only one paper, and that one concluded that PSA production was highly unlikely. I had my PSA and other labs done about three weeks ago, and after receiving my result, sent an email to my RO. He returned a thoughtful reply that implied PSA from residual tissue, but of course, could be from cancer, lamenting that there’s no sure way to tell the difference at low uPSA levels. So, I did another search, changed the search terms/parameters a little, and this time got several papers regarding residual prostate tissue. Here, perhaps, is the best one: https://www.ajronline.org/doi/full/10.2214/AJR.19.21345
I did cease taking all my meds and supplements for five full days prior to my semi-annual PSA lab, and I was relieved (!) to see that the uPSA value was unchanged from my previous six-month test. So, for me, at least, I won’t be stopping meds before a test again, but I just had to see for myself. My BP and lipid profile parameters went up remarkably after those five days.
I know your next test is next month. I wish you well.
I’ve been curious, Dan, if you have any idea(s) why you had those significant dips in your uPSA — early 2019 and (most notably) early 2020. Can you account for those in any way? (I’m thinking, probably not, or you’d be doing it/whatever all the time.) They could be due to lab error, esp. if there were different labs involved in testing. Diet? Meds? Supplements? Exercise? Meditation? Your chart catches my eye every time I check here.
I’ve been taking melatonin for years now, probably a decade or even longer. I had no problem sleeping; I attended two or three lectures by a notable researcher and learned about melatonin’s antioxidant benefits; often called the “anti-aging” drug, not that you don’t get old and die, but that you live a relatively healthier life along the way when taking supplemental melatonin.
Melatonin does put me to sleep usually, but I’m after the antioxidant benefit. In addition to my bedtime dose (20mg), I used to take 10mg additionally along with my other meds and supplements just before eating supper. Just recently it dawned on me that about the time I stopped taking that 10mg suppertime dose may have been the time when my uPSA values started to increase in velocity…. I’m not sure; just surmising. I’ve seen, but never studied, the anticancer effect of melatonin. I’ll have to check further into this. Anyway, I’ve just re-started taking that additional 10mg suppertime dose. 30mg is a decent maintenance (therapeutic) dose for an old guy.
Just thinking out loud Dan. I’m continually intrigued by those big dips in your uPSAs. Take care.
The short answer is there’s no logical explanation for the variation in PSA levels. I’ve been using the same lab for 8 years, and up until March 2020, I wasn’t on any regular prescription medications or other supplements. I made sure that I didn’t have an orgasm for 4-7 days before each blood draw to eliminate that variable.
When I’d ask the doctors about it, they’d just chalk it up to the sensitivity of the test or a full moon (kidding). I could tell that some would get a little irritated if I was sweating a one-one-hundreth of a nanogram per milliliter change in PSA. When we’re measuring something that small, there’s bound to be some inconsistencies.
When I had the radical drop from 0.16 to 0.08, the doctor indulged me and we did a re-test, as that was definitely an outlier.
At this point, I pretty much am okay with a fluctuation of 0.02-0.03 ng/ml as just being part of the process. For me, I look more at the overall trend and the PSA doubling time.
Dan's Journey through Prostate Cancer 
Not much to say about the article; cancer is always a crap shoot anyway, regardless of the odds.
I’m having a new appreciation for your wary wait & see stance. I’ve been visiting the Team Inspire web site a little recently, and there are some sad tales of post-treatment woes there, including post-radiation. There are guys that get ADT & SRT and do well, but, this seems like another crap shoot.
I had done a search for “residual prostate tissue and PSA” a couple of months ago, and came up with only one paper, and that one concluded that PSA production was highly unlikely. I had my PSA and other labs done about three weeks ago, and after receiving my result, sent an email to my RO. He returned a thoughtful reply that implied PSA from residual tissue, but of course, could be from cancer, lamenting that there’s no sure way to tell the difference at low uPSA levels. So, I did another search, changed the search terms/parameters a little, and this time got several papers regarding residual prostate tissue. Here, perhaps, is the best one: https://www.ajronline.org/doi/full/10.2214/AJR.19.21345
I did cease taking all my meds and supplements for five full days prior to my semi-annual PSA lab, and I was relieved (!) to see that the uPSA value was unchanged from my previous six-month test. So, for me, at least, I won’t be stopping meds before a test again, but I just had to see for myself. My BP and lipid profile parameters went up remarkably after those five days.
I know your next test is next month. I wish you well.
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Well, I messed this up — I thought I was at the previous post, epidemiology, etc.
Sorry….
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I’ve been curious, Dan, if you have any idea(s) why you had those significant dips in your uPSA — early 2019 and (most notably) early 2020. Can you account for those in any way? (I’m thinking, probably not, or you’d be doing it/whatever all the time.) They could be due to lab error, esp. if there were different labs involved in testing. Diet? Meds? Supplements? Exercise? Meditation? Your chart catches my eye every time I check here.
I’ve been taking melatonin for years now, probably a decade or even longer. I had no problem sleeping; I attended two or three lectures by a notable researcher and learned about melatonin’s antioxidant benefits; often called the “anti-aging” drug, not that you don’t get old and die, but that you live a relatively healthier life along the way when taking supplemental melatonin.
Melatonin does put me to sleep usually, but I’m after the antioxidant benefit. In addition to my bedtime dose (20mg), I used to take 10mg additionally along with my other meds and supplements just before eating supper. Just recently it dawned on me that about the time I stopped taking that 10mg suppertime dose may have been the time when my uPSA values started to increase in velocity…. I’m not sure; just surmising. I’ve seen, but never studied, the anticancer effect of melatonin. I’ll have to check further into this. Anyway, I’ve just re-started taking that additional 10mg suppertime dose. 30mg is a decent maintenance (therapeutic) dose for an old guy.
Just thinking out loud Dan. I’m continually intrigued by those big dips in your uPSAs. Take care.
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Hi Orv.
The short answer is there’s no logical explanation for the variation in PSA levels. I’ve been using the same lab for 8 years, and up until March 2020, I wasn’t on any regular prescription medications or other supplements. I made sure that I didn’t have an orgasm for 4-7 days before each blood draw to eliminate that variable.
When I’d ask the doctors about it, they’d just chalk it up to the sensitivity of the test or a full moon (kidding). I could tell that some would get a little irritated if I was sweating a one-one-hundreth of a nanogram per milliliter change in PSA. When we’re measuring something that small, there’s bound to be some inconsistencies.
When I had the radical drop from 0.16 to 0.08, the doctor indulged me and we did a re-test, as that was definitely an outlier.
At this point, I pretty much am okay with a fluctuation of 0.02-0.03 ng/ml as just being part of the process. For me, I look more at the overall trend and the PSA doubling time.
I’m not sure if that answered your question.
Be well.
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I think you answered it about as well as anyone could answer such a question. Thanks.
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