It was 2-3 months for me--maybe even 4 months until they were completely gone. I had expected them to go away faster than they did.

Hi Redwing:
I was on HT from 11/12 thru 5/14 or 18 months. My testosterone came back very slowly reaching about 290 in 9 months. It stayed there for quite a few months and actually fell a little at my 12/15 test to 257. Most recently in June of this year it reached 418 after rising to 333 in March. For me, the hot flashes gradually faded away starting around the 6 month mark thru the 12 month mark. I don't get them anymore. My memory also improved slowly and is still not as good as before being on HT.
Simon

Thanks for the thoughts. Maybe it will just take some more time. I'm hoping my testosterone stays on a more-or-less upward trajectory!

peanut307, yes I did take Megace for them, pretty much the whole time. I stopped that back when the "official" HT period ended. With my higher T level, it seems they're now about as common as they were when I was on HT. I tried stopping Megace a couple of times while on active HT, and the hot flashes came on with a vengeance. At worst, they'd hit about every 90 minutes. I timed it with an app on my phone! Megace cut that to about one every 4-6 hours, so it was a significant help.

Break60 said...
I've found that the estradiol patch changed twice weekly eliminates night sweats and substantially reduces hot flushes during the day.
Bob

I've seen comments about that. The hormone balances in my system have been quite challenged through all of this already. I'm curious about all the other effects of estradiol (estrogen) patches with a hormone dependent cancer like ours.

It's a bit vain, but I'm concerned about aggravating gynecomastia. I already have some of that from 3 years of HT, and further development wouldn't be very welcome. It's silly, but still...

I'll exercise my google-fu and see what I can find. Thanks!

Bololidat said...

Im not on anything but do have minor nite sweats and have had them a long time{ the wife says I'm just a hot blooded guy}...I am hi-strung and wound fairly tight{duh}...have vivid..active and fun dreams.{even the bad ones..i kick butt}..imo you wrestle with your self in a yea/nay inner struggle and are unsettled...generally speaking...Advice...melt into yourself..whenever "it" starts up..

What is "it"? only you know...but know you do...What is melt into yourself? Just by an act of will let everything go...and if only for a minute experience what it is like when the load is gone..everything..just fricken gone...right..wrong...dis..dat..everything...feel it once...remember it...melt into it at will...frick em all... "burden light...yoke easy..." no one needs to struggle for peace...just receive it...thats why its there...its free..its real...turn to it...

Ok, this is heading a bit off-topic for this thread, but it's my thread, so there.

Bolo, I don't always get the rather beatnik vibe of your posts, but I appreciate the thought in this one. You're right, I do struggle... my wife says "It must be hard to live in your head". She has no idea. Unsettled? Yes. Most of the time. Dreams? Awakened frequently by the hot flashes, I find my dreams are usually exceedingly unpleasant, often alarmingly so.

My faith helps me, though I often keep grabbing back problems, real or imaginary, that I fully intend to commit to the care/control of one greater than I. Let it go? Hold with an open hand? Sure, trying regularly, with quite varied success.

The clouds part, the sun's out, the waves are dying, picking up the debris. Has the storm truly passed, gone, over the horizon? Or, are we in the eye of the storm, having survived the fury of the first wall, and waiting for the other side to arrive, one day, some day? I can trust the storm's gone, convince myself, but I can't take down the hurricane shutters yet. Unsettled, yes. I'll enjoy the sunshine though!

This latest new-doc/PSA-up episode tripped me up in ways I hadn't expected, and am still working to truly resolve/accept/overcome. Scratched through the thin veneer of my confidence, it did. I think there's nothing there, but to be convinced of it, of anything, requires an almost insurmountable level of study. And the studies aren't definitive. It's like trying to get a good firm grip on a handful of whipped cream.

It's the way I'm wired, my "operating system". I'm not like this because I'm an engineer, I'm an engineer because I'm like this. You make a good point, to reach back to those few moments of true calm, true peace, to pool with them... There are not many such, especially not in the last 3+ years. Sigh...

But I would still like to have the hot flashes go away!

Redwing
I got off the juice just a couple months after you. I was on either Firmagon, Lupron or Casodex for nearly 3 & 1/2 years.
My hot flashes seemed to increase right after stopping but they improved after about 2 months. I think they've subsided now but I still get a couple good ones every night that come complete with a puddle of sweat on me, my sheets or my pillow. And no, it's not urine. My day hot flashes have also improved but still get them probably 6-8 times a day. That's a lot better than 4-5 times an hour! Some are light and others are more concentrated.
I'm going for my first post SBRT PSA check tomorrow so hopefully I don't have to go back on any ADT for a while. I'd like to give this vacation a chance to get me some more relief.

Last 3 month shot for me was November 2015. Seemed to drop off fairly quickly (2-3 months), but has stabilised now to 1 or 2 a night (generally very early morning as I awake). Fed up with it now!

Thanks for all the responses; it's amazing! So, at least for some of us the hot flashes do continue after HT. Wow....

Bolo...for what it means I've always had an image in my head of you as a beatnik. Not too far different from Maynard G Krebs actually, with a bit more gray hair thrown in...

re hot flashes. this was a major issue during and after the first HT session of six months last year. flashes continued even 8 months later- intensity reduced somewhat though. My oncologist has put me on HT again aug 16 , says not happy with the psa velocity. hot flashes have peaked within a month of the 3 monthly injection. one every 25 to 30 minutes. sometimes very intense.
break 60- Bob's flashes subsided with estradiol. I managed to buy from USA and have starting using estradiol 0.025 mg/d weekly. after 5 days i find no releif , in fact i think the flashes may have increased in intensity. perhaps i am using low dosage??? or it takes time to start affecting???
will appreciate advice/comments please