There are a number of men who have written on various listservs that they use DES (diethylstilbestrol) as a hormonal suppressant. Actually, the current standard of care calls for the use of the gonadotropin-releasing hormone (GnRH) agonists, leuprolide and goserelin for a hormone blockade.
So, what is the actual role of DES and why isn’t DES considered the standard of care?
DES is an older form of androgen deprivation therapy that has largely been abandoned because it causes a greater risk for complications like blood clots and deep venous thrombosis.
Some physicians, with the goal of preventing blood problems when prescribing DES will also prescribe Lovenox (enoxaparin) or Coumadin (warfarin) which “thin” the blood. These additional drugs are hard to balance and bring additional side effects and problems to the table.
So, as a primary hormone blockade treatment one is always better taking a GnRH instead of DES. However, DES does still have an important role as a secondary hormone blockade when the GnRHs stop working.
If you start DES follow your doctor’s directions carefully.
Joel T Nowak MA, MSW
Don’t forget to sign Malecare’s petition to make prostate cancer a national priority, go to www.prostatecancerpetition.org
Joel you keep implying this President has been a hinderance to the advancement of potential cures for prostate cancer. How so?
I wonder how much further along we would be toward cures if drug companies didn’t have to worry about lawyers backed by the Democratic party, waiting to sue any company when one of their experiments go wrong.
I find it incredulous that people who are terminally ill are not allowed to take part of clinical trials asap. How is it that when a promising compound is found the next sentence inevitable reads, “clinical trials could begin within 5 years.”
You should be on the bandwagon screaming, “we can’t wait five years, I’ll take the drug sooner.” Oh yea, you can’t do that because you can’t waive your rights. How about wailing against all those politicians backing the lawyers who are “protecting” us from ourselves.