LUPRON: 8 years of injections since Dx

Hi all,
I just passed the 8 year mark for lupron shots, is there anybody else out there that has had as long of a run on the same HT? What can I say about this past bunch of years and how the side effects (SEs) have lessened, worsened, and changed. First off, the hot flashes have dropped more than a little. The first three years were equally hellish but after that, they dropped by half each year until where now I can say that they are almost unnoticeable.

The genital shrinkage and associated sexual dysfunctions occurred within the first year and have remained withered, no working, and sad. My upper body and muscle tone remained in good shape, no weight gain in belly and minimal breast growth for the first 5 years. That's when I really grew some boobs and have gained 35 lbs, all around my belly.

Fatigue and pain were slight during the first year but the Lupron has really aggravated my pre-existing ortho-arthritis from the start. Fatigue kicked in really hard in my 6th year, I was able to keep my lawn green (in the high desert) and have a 1/4 acre vegetable garden. This will be the third year that I haven't been able to garden and the lawn is just barely struggling along. I also developed joint pain as opposed to the OA six years ago. It's a real gritch to get in and out of the car and such other type of bending and joint stress.

Well, I hope that I've covered most of the problems that we Lupron users face. I wanted to provide you with a long term usage curve for you new to the Tx. Please feel free to ask me about things that I may have missed, after all this time I feel like a Lupron pro . . . Q

Todd1963 has been on treatment for about 9 years.   I remember another member (from New York) from a couple of years ago that was going on 10 years on HT, but we haven't heard from him for awhile.   Many men have used intermittent HT successfully for many years.   Of course there are numerous men over the years that had orchiectomies and lasted many years.   I guess that is the ultimate form of complete androgen blockade.  I read not long ago that the average period of time that HT is effective is 11 years.

Thanks JNF for the info, I was intrigued by the 11 year effectiveness, I just haven't seen that many long term users on the board.
And, thanks for the kind words . . . Q
Beth, thanks as usual, your sightings match mine on the continuous use of Lupron.

Hi DYank,
Yeah, I expected to be off of it within three years but it remained effective well past that. I don't know if you noticed but the worst SEs didn't show up until around five years so you should be good as long as you stay active . . . Q

Hi Sue,
Yes, the Xofigo is primarily palliative and I really shouldn't expect drops in my PSA. I guess it was magical thinking on my part as I saw my RO yesterday and he confirmed palliative. I have no lymph involvement though my MO is watchful, she is anti chemo as am I due to the Recent PC death of a friend of mines husband. His numbers at Dx were PSA 93 and G 7, 3+4. Not high enough for immediate chemo, doxetaxel, in my opinion. He then went to Lupron and radiation but he still died in 7 months. I count us lucky to have such good teams working on us.

Talk about crazy, I've broken out in over a 100 itchy bumps since Xofigo 2, I've scratched myself raw. My MO thinks that it's the radiation which makes sense as we do not have bed bugs and C is bump free . . . Q