What happened to my friend? Update - not good.

He was diagnosed with PCa after beating bladder cancer. As I recall his Gleason was 7 and he was treated at two major well known and respected cancer centers here in the US. He had a prostatectomy to begin with. His disease was not nearly as aggressive as mine. This man is in his 50s, very, very fit and keeps up a daily routine of physical exercise. He was a regular, active member at our local PCa support group. Then he had a recurrence. He went to one of the cancer treatment centers that you see advertising on billboards and on the radio. He was impressed with that facility and stayed there for about six weeks. He was convinced that was the right place for him to be. Then he never came back to our support group, took early retirement and moved out of state. I saw him briefly on the street and asked him how it went and he hung his head, shook it and said nothing. We think he was put on Lupron and the side effects were awful for him.

Can anyone here speculate on what happened? Can Lupron cause severe depression? All I can think of is that he was looking for the 'cured' word and did not get it, and maybe was told that ADT was a treatment for life. It is awful to lose a friend to this disease and it is like I lost my friend already and he is very much alive.

Post Edited (Faustmann) : 3/6/2018 6:18:27 PM (GMT-7)

I suppose I could classify one of my Lupron side effects as depression. I was uninterested and ambivalent about everything. I'm usually a very busy and engaged guy and always thinking about things I want to do and things I must do. On Lupron I wanted to care but couldn't. It was a terrible state of mind.

Faustmann said...
We think he was put on Lupron and the side effects were awful for him.

Can anyone here speculate on what happened? Can Lupron cause severe depression? All I can think of is that he was looking for the 'cured' word and did not get it, and maybe was told that ADT was a treatment for life.

Lupron does affect some men worse than others. Some have more physical affects... weight gain, manboobs, loss of body hair. Others more mental and emotional. For me it seemed to exacerbate a sense of undiagnosed depression that I'd been living with since the cancer first hit me over three years ago. I recently posted about this in another forum if you are interested.

The profound effects of ADT are easily dismissed by anyone who has never been thru it. If it were called "chemo" then others might have a better understanding. But unfortunately it is treated like getting a flu shot.

Perhaps your friend succumbed to compounded life events... such as if he was given a poor prognosis - depressing in its own right, plus put on a regimen of ADT which had the tendency to heighten his feelings of despair. Since he was in that cancer center for six weeks he probably already had more than one thing going on.

Between the Lupron and being told his life expectancy was now somewhat reduced, this can put anyone into a major depression which in itself is life-threatening...

I have been taking LUPRON injections for 18 months now, only 2 more needed after one this month. The side effects of the drug are what they say, mild depression, some feelings of 'what is life all about at my age (70) but the most noticeable one are the "HOT FLASHES" - a sudden onset of my body heating up and sweating like I just did hard exercising for 30 minutes. No regular pattern of events so just have a fan next to my chair that I turn on and do a 'chill out', takes about 2 minutes.

I also see reports that those on LUPRON are getting Testosterone injections to keep their libido up. WHAT ARE THEY THINKING? Surely their Oncologist told them that the reason they are being given the LUPRON is to kill off all testosterone in their body because THIS IS WHAT PSA CANCER CELLS FEED ON. This is like committing slow suicide and wasting the VERY EXPENSIVE injections. The only other side effects are incontinence (leakage and having to wear Depends pads) and loss of endurance and tiredness.
In my mind the loss of sexual intimacy have a very low priority compared to staying alive and active.
========================================================
Age 70
Had seen PSA rise to <1 to over 9.5 in about 6 years.
Biopsy revealed 4 of 12 samples as cancerous - Gleason (2) @ 7 and (2) @ 8 -
Decided best course was RALP - this was performed in Nov 2015
Post-Op PSA showed a PSA of 0.5 and post op biopsy revealed that 7 & 8 on Gleason were closer to 8 & 9 and also had leaked to seminal vesicle on right side and had also traces on outside of the vesicle.
Referred to U T SW Oncology and Radiation -
Underwent 8 weeks of radiation and concurrent Hormone therapy with Lupron and also met with internist about calcium deficiency side effects with Lupron.

All PSA results since treatments started have been 'undetectable' -

Thanks for all the replies. This board never fails me.
I have been on Lupron or Eligard for six years now. Yes I have hot flashes, man boobs and no chest hair. But I have accepted my situation and am committed to fighting until the end.
I just don't see the SE's of hormone therapy affecting me like it did my friend. I worry about him.

Bumping this tread because I learned that my friend passed away within the last two weeks. We only know that his last PSA was undetectable and the cause of death was almost certainly not prostate cancer. That makes me think that his stay at the big cancer center uncovered another cancer or a recurrence of bladder cancer. He was very private about what was going on. I am sad.

Sorry to hear that news Faustma. Sometimes I think that it will be easier to deal with my own death than dealing with the loss of others that I am close to.
Michael

My condolences...

Very sorry Faustmann

I know this has been answered a few times.

I was on Lupron, now Eligard and unfortunately it does cause depression, moodiness, and more emotional.

Having a negative prognosis sure enhances the depression. I know I'll be working on something of interest then my mind swings to my situation. Then it's, "this is useless, why am I doing this", I'm usually gone for a week or more.

So sorry for your loss Faustmann. Many thanks for the discussion around Lupron side effects. I am avoiding ADT side effects as long as possible. Quality of life is very important to me.

Very sad news about your friend. Hope his story can help others cope.