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For those on hormone treatments, check your thyroid levels.

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Prostate Cancer
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Posted 12/10/2023 9:35 PM (GMT 0)
I have been on hormones now for the past 8 months, and about 2 months ago I was really feeling the fatigue.

I attributed it to the hormones.

Last month at my regular dr appointment they checked my thyroid function and as it turns out my thyroid was not putting out as much as it should. They increased my synthroid by a small amount and I feel waaay better.

I have not had to adjust my thyroid meds in more than 15 years, but for whatever reason it needed adjusting.

I still feel the hormones but the under active thyroid was definitely making things worse.

So if you have not had your thyroid levels checked in a while, ask your dr to check to see if your thyroid needs a few extra mg of synthroid.

It definitely helped me.
Posted 12/11/2023 12:12 PM (GMT 0)
Leuprolide chemotherapy (Lupron, Eligard etc) completely shuts down the hypothalamus gland - stops it from producing any hormones at all. The hypothalamus sits on and is very connected to the pituitary gland, tells it what to do. When it shuts down, so does your pituitary gland. (potential side effects include pituitary stroke or death)

That means the testes quit producing testosterone, which is the "hormonal" part. The side effects are such as: no Oxytocin means your thyroid no longer regulates your metabolic rate for diddly (lower metabolic rate means less calories burned constantly), your kidneys don't know how much water to remove from your blood (water weight gain, increased blood pressure), no T or human growth hormone (HGH) means you cannot grow new muscle but you can grow more fat, no follicle stimulating hormone (FSH) means your hair falls out, nails get thin and fragile (mine grew in split with bleeding beds).

Those are just a few of the side effects (we have discussed this here before) of leuprolide chemotherapy, there are many more, some are pretty scary, and depression is near the top of the list. When I was on leuprolide chemo I had the whole spectrum of hypothalamus and pituitary hormonal output checked - all were in the red at the bottom of the chart. Add in Enzalutamide and the side effects get much worse, some may be permanent. These are very powerful drugs indeed.
Posted 12/11/2023 1:22 PM (GMT 0)

TrailGuy said...
When I was on leuprolide chemo I had the whole spectrum of hypothalamus and pituitary hormonal output checked - all were in the red at the bottom of the chart.

So i am on lupron and xtandi. What other things besides thyroid function should i be testing? I also regularly get kidney/liver/blood counts/cholesterol/glucose etc…Are there others?
Posted 12/11/2023 7:48 PM (GMT 0)
In 2020 during my annual eye exam, my sight in my right eye dropped off the chart. My optometrist referred me to a retina specialist and I underwent surgery on my right eye. Vision changes are possible while on lupron, but no one has ever told me my changes were due to lupron. However the difference in my 2020 exam and the 2019 exam were significant. It has improved slightly since surgery but not by much.
Michael
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