lupron

cyrus -- i'm about six weeks past nine months of lupron and i'm finally starting to feel better tho hot flashes now are the worst that they have been.  i hear you man.  nothing nice about lupron...except it could save your life. with your numbers and your age i would do everything possible to stick it out.

good luck, and i wish you the very best in the new year!

ed

cyrus, Hang in there buddy I know it is tuff but you siad it best. "I have 11 year old tiwns" You can do this buddy...we know it is not nice but your fighting for the right reason.

Happy New Year my friend.

Cajun jeff

Post Edited (corvetteman3) : 1/1/2011 8:28:11 AM (GMT-7)

There are other choices you actually have or other drugs to help with those side effects. Lupron is the gold standard...for profits (LOL) as the usual suspected protocol. Another guy from this forum has a heavy duty case of PCa....he is using casodex (or generic version) and an old school drug that is like proscar and having lesser effects and excellent control for over a year now, using this.(fyi casodex use you might even have a sex life using it). Lupron or other drugs do not come with any guarantees, usually found useful for some kind of duration and it varies plenty, just like PCa's in general.

Some can discuss the virtues of using Lupron or other LHRH drugs, there are other choices and the effects do vary or can be alot less. The docs usually won't endorse estrogenic drugs(no money to made on it and no patents on it), some do and they have less side effects and taking say 1/2 mg. of DES (plus aspirin or coumadin) even along with Lupron will cancel most of the side effects of Lupron and lower your psa likely further (go figure...I did so for a little while and know so...no book theories). The are even other drugs, usually used after Lupron but don't have to be that way. But they will have you on this for two years and then maybe a vacation from it, then if and when psa rises you might have to consider what your future protocols might be or back on Lupron until it is no longer useful. Might as well visit www.hrpca.org   for list of 'Proven Treatments' to get a heads up on the drugs used against PCa...there are even some not listed there. Best to you going forward. You may find that the 'experts' are less than what you might have imagined them being, you should be seeing an oncologist when found with a non-cured status, they monitor more variables and know more about the vast archives of drugs and useages.

Thanks for the feedback from my first posting,  I had agreed with my oncologist to do a minimum of 4 thirty day lupron injection along with 44 courses of radiation.  Have heard various opinions on outcomes of intermitent ht verses 2 or 3 years. Side effects have me half crazy and have to decide next week when radiation terminates if and how munch longer to do ht. They tell me i am looking at a 10per cent advantage by doing the 2 years. T level went from 735 to 10.  Night sweats every hour keeping me up along with urinary issues.  Lidido gone,  viagra just stopped working and i dont feel like myself.  Is all this worth it now for the odds of sucess or is there a balance.  My girl friend is trying to get it but i have to say it is getting uncomfortable. Feedback is helpful to me, thanks  cyrus1

Hi Cyrus,

I am one year off from having completed two years on Lupron. Made it through the first year pretty easily but the second I had some weight gain and so far have not been able to get it off. Had all the usual side effects but most were bareable. Here are a couple of links to the Bolla Study which is what forms the basis for the two plus year ADT.

Best to you.

Don

http://www.nejm.org/doi/full/10.1056/NEJMoa0810095

http://www.prostate-cancer.org/education/highrisk/bolla.html

Ed,

I got my last shot in January of 2010. I have regained some body hair and libido although the equipment only works a little. But then I have not tried any medical remedies either since I do not have a significant other. The hot flashes are also gone and I feel pretty close to normal. I do need to get back into the gym on a more regualr basis but my contract work has interfered a bit as it requires a heavy travel schedule. Which is probably the biggest reason I can't get the weight off.

Don

Don thank you for info, have to make a decision and am trying to be as informed as posible.  happy new year cyrus1

Just a brief addendum to my earlier post:

I often see posts that refer to a patient being prescribed ADT (androgen deprivation therapy) for a certain time, a year, two, or so.

The true measure of success of ADT (sometimes miscalled "hormone therapy") is the PSA and testosterone levels.

While on tx, PSA should be =/< 0.05 ng/mL, and T should be <20 ng/dL, which are the "undetectable" levels.

Having maintained those levels for at least one year consideration can then be given to suspending ADT until it again rises to a preselected level.

The calendar should not control. Let's say the patient has been on ADT for two years and his PSA is 3.5 ng/mL. Should he stop simply because it's the second anniversary? Absolutely not!

thanks Don.  i actually feel a very very slight return of libido but hot flashes are pretty frequent and interrupt my sleep every morning.  bloating is much better.  i now feel like i weigh 300 lbs. instead of 400 lbs. .

the best thing tho is i'm pursuing my interests again and overall i'm optimistic that 2011 will be much better than 2010.

ed

Thxs mycroft My dr is a cancer radiation specialist at a urology center in denver. I am comfortable with him but its either initially i didnt realize how advanced my cancer was and/or im looking under every nook and cranny to recupurate my libido asap, have a healthy sex life with my girlfriend, and not die because of it. He wants to see me do 2 years of ht and im the one resisting. So, I need to make the right call with regard to quality of life now versus the danger of a short cycle of this. cyrus1

cyrus1 said...
My dr is a cancer radiation specialist at a urology center in denver. He wants to see me do 2 years of ht and im the one resisting. So, I need to make the right call with regard to quality of life now versus the danger of a short cycle of this. cyrus1

Cyrus: I suspect that the rad is unfamiliar with the endocrine tx of PCa, as he is not in compliance with the recommendations of people who are. See my previous posts and links. If you want further reliable information check out the Prostate Cancer Research Institute at www.prostate-cancer.org/pcricms/

Is the rad an oncologist or a urologist?

Purgatory said...
The more I read these threads on and about HT, the more its cementing my mindset to never go that path. Seems like for every vote that says its not so bad, there are nine votes that talk about the terrible parts.

Quality of live over quantity of life is some each of us has to deal with at some point in our lives.

David in SC

David,

That is certainly your right. On the other hand, while I had some initial problems with Lupron I would have to say that at this point, 1.5 years into the deal, that any side effects I originally experienced have entirely gone away. Those included some slight bone density loss, now not a problem since I am on Fosamax, and anemia, which may or may not have been caused by the Lupron. I had hot flashes, but don't have them any more. I have not had any weight gain, and while I do try to exercise several times a week it is relatively moderate this time of year because I don't like to bike in the cold weather. I don't do much of anything special in terms of diet and weigh now exactly what I did when I began HT.

The only lasting side effect is loss of libido but I consider that a relatively minor price to pay for what many studies clearly show will slow the progression of PCa. As for the loss of libido, yes I miss that, but frankly I believe that there is a lot more to my humanity and my value to my family than whether my penis gets hard.

I am not sure why you are on such a tear against HT but I am here to say that it ain't all you seem to have it cracked up to be.

If people on HT are dying from heart attacks because they are gaining weight I would suggest they suck it up and get off their lazy butts and do some exercise and watch what they put in their mouth.

Sancarlos