Hormone Therapy

I had my prostate gland removed after a biopsy showed a gleason score of 7/8. Then 36 radiation treatments. PSA has risen to 1.6. Hormone Therapy is recommended. The side effects sound overwhelming, terrifying and seem like they will change who I am. Has anyone had or heard of anyone who has had Hormone Therapy for preostate cancer?

Rule #1 of Prostate cancer  "There ARE no rules"

Rule #2 of Prostate cancer  "EVERY therapy has side effects".

Having said that, let me give you a bottom line on hormone therapy -

It sucks!

But it works!

You will be the same person you were before treatment (read - I will not have a sudden urge to go out and buy female underware)

Your urge to have sex will go to hell in a handbasket (but only until you are able to come off the treatment).

Other posters will fill you in shortly, but I just wanted to give you a quick bottom line on what to expect.

Hormone therapy is not fun, but you can do it as many of us have proven.

Don K.

Finally got my signature line set up.  Thanks for the info on that! Thanks for sharing about HT.  Keep me posted as to the side effects and how you are handling them.  I am further investigating anti androgen HT as the testosterone apparently is only blocked from it rather than being suppressed.  After finally making some progress with ED,  this sounds feasible.  Any suggestions or insights.

Jack

i also am taking a sub-clinical dose of celexa for hot flashes, which has been successful for me.  in the beginning the celexa also helped me with anxiety.  i strongly recommend celexa or some other anti-depressant.

a three-month shot of lupron doesn't affect me much for the first two or three weeks.  over the next six weeks i get the full brunt of side of the side effects, stiff joints, weakness, shortness of breath unmotivated, food cravings, intolerance to heat, nausea etc.  about the last month i start feeling better which tells me it's time for the next shot.  i also gained 20 pains due to overeating but i've talked to guys who gained weight on lupron even tho they did not eat more.  my sex drive has vanished.

please remember that some of my side effects have been aggravated by radiation treatments and drugs like flomax.

i know it sounds terrible but i've been through worse.  i've been able to work and function but i do have a light schedule that i can adjust. 

i see HT as a necessary evil but mostly as an inconvenience. and in my opinion it's not as bad as many would have you believe.

good luck.

ed

with a PSA of 0.14.  I think that maybe I should have waited to make a decision there.  After coming so far post surgery and 2 and 1/2 years later just starting to see some improvements with ED,  I wonder whether RT may have interrupted the healing process.  Was it needless art such an early stage and low PSA?  I have read about many who have not undergone follow up therapies until much higher PSA readings.  With Hormone therapy I really feel that I will be giving up the last part of manhood I can hold on to. Selfish I know but the last few years have caused me to proceed with caution.  Surgery?  I had no option and that was clear.  The rest I am beginning to question.

Jack

ed

Jack -- lupron and the other HT drugs  are very serious drugs, and you have concerns and questions. my big worry was depression but i was suffering from anxiety back then. looking back i was freaked out about HT (and PC) because of all the stuff i read on the internet.  according to the doctors and medical staff that i talked to the biggest complaint with lupron is hot flashes. the flashes i get are very muted and a minor nuisance but i started celexa a week or so before my first shot of lupron.

ed

Hi Jack:

Appears that you are getting a good education on HT here. All above very good posts.

Aside to Sancarlos - Boy I hear you on pain at the injection site! First shot of lupron was just another shot in the butt. But third time I was so sore next day that I could not even get out of bed.

And Jack - I need to mention "Libido" to you just in case you didn't know. Hell, a lot of us guys don't even know we have a prostate until it starts acting up, not to even mention libido.

Since you have already had your prostate removed and then had radiation therapy, it is no wonder that you are having ED problems. But assuming that your Testosterone level is somewhere near normal, you still have the urge for sex. And this is libido.

The sexual drive called libido is a function of testosterone level. No testosterone = no libido. Simple as that.

The sole and only purpose of ADT drugs (Lupron, Etc) is to send a chemical message to the testes telling them to stop making testosterone.

So, if you go ahead with hormone therapy you can expect to have the urge for sex disappear. And in your case this could be a blessing. Instead of the constant need for sex that we men have, suddenly you won't even want it anymore.

Sounds awful on the face of it, but maybe better than the suffering of always wanting it but can't perform anyhow.

Then after stopping the hormone therapy you would be back to square one - Figuring a way around the ED problem.

Plus - You would still be alive.

Just something to think about.

Don K.

Just want to make sure I didn't scare you with the report of big time pain at the injection site with Lupron.

Myself, Sancarlos and one other patient are the only ones I have heard complain about painful Lupron shots. And I check out several Pca sites.

So, just a few of us have that problem

Pca is ideed "A journey through a strange place".

Don K.

You too?

Dang, that makes four of us.

Don K.

 Now now now! Let's not argue.  So it hurts and aches for a while, maybe endlessly.  That would be the least of my concerns with HT.  Although I do appreciate your sense of humour.  That is one thing we can hang on to I guess. Keep it coming friends!

Jack