Lupron brain. Is it real?

Over the last couple of months I have been making a lot of mental errors. For example, when my wife comes back from swimming at the Y I ask how her scuba dive went. I start to make dinner and find in the middle of making it I am making another dinner. For example, start to make a chicken dinner and realize I was making a fish meal. I am making other errors. Nothing major, but the number is increasing. Had surgery last April, hormonal since last June, 38 rounds of radiation last fall...

Am I just over reacting or is something going on?

Stats vary on that. Most comments about it seem anecdotal.

I'll confirm I've had unusual issues something like that. It got worse after the 2nd year. But I'm comparing my 59 year old self to my 54 year old self. Maybe there are some issues just due to age. I don't know.

The worst for me are memory holes. I've always had a good memory, and relied heavily on it. Not so much anymore. I have to create a variety of reminders for me to do things, like notes on cards, putting things in the way so I can't miss them, setting alarms, and so on. Incredibly easy for me to miss meetings at work if I'm not careful. Or, readily forget to do things I said I'd do. They absolutely have to be written down!

Sometimes I find myself doing silly things, putting things in the wrong place, opening a kitchen cabinet when I was looking for a fork that I know is in a drawer. Just brain fart stuff like that. I'm not talking dementia level things. I'm not putting the TV remote in the fridge, or anything like that. At least not yet...

Having been off of HT for almost a year has helped, though some things still are problematic. That makes me lean a bit toward age being a factor possibly as much as residual HT effects. It's uncomfortable to think about it, actually.

Men on ADT do have impaired cognitive performance compared to controls:

Course and Predictors of Cognitive Function in Patients With Prostate Cancer Receiving Androgen-Deprivation Therapy: A Controlled Comparison

Men on ADT are more likely to suffer from depression. Absent-mindedness is often a symptom of depression.

Association of Androgen Deprivation Therapy With Depression in Localized Prostate Cancer

It may be a good idea to discuss psychopharmaceuticals with a psychiatrist. I seem to recall that PDA tried modafinil to increase alertness while on ADT. Hopefully, he will see this and comment.

Thanks. I will discuss with the Dr's.

Allen, thanks for those links. The first one does mention the conflicting conclusions of earlier studies about the effects of ADT, and goes on to show pretty clear effects based on this study's criteria. You sure do keep up on a lot of fronts.

The first one is particularly interesting. It concludes ADT does have a risk of mental side effects, and further that those vary significantly in type between different people. When this issue has been brought up here periodically, we do see reports of a variety of effects. This study actually supports that phenomenon.

One observation was interesting, that the ADT group's performance on tests didn't improve with multiple exposures to the same test. Some form of learning impairment, evidently. I wonder if that's the same thing I find as my "memory holes"? Hmm....

I'm not sure if it makes me feel better about it or not. At least it helps confirm I'm not necessarily just imagining this, and in fact it may not be a simple result of aging. I mean, I'm "only" 59 now, and it seems early for age-related declines to begin.

ADT is a daunting treatment option. I knew that from the outset. The day I was scheduled to go get my first shot, I was essentially paralyzed at home. At the actual time of my appointment, I was still sitting on the sofa, unable to move. It was weird, kind of a locked-in-place panic. Finally, I sort of slapped myself mentally, confirmed to myself the decision to do this had already been made, called the office to tell them I'd be late, got in the car, and jumped down the rabbit hole. It was life changing in many ways, and I sincerely hope it helped extend life enough to be worth the QOL damage.

The effects are tolerable, but quite significant.

[Edit: Oh, and Lupron is in the category of chemotherapy drugs at least on some websites like Chemocare.com]

Oh it's real for me. It's the kind of thing that you find yourself standing in front of the fridge and can't remember what you are there for.

Don't get me started on the hot-flashes, muscle and joint aches. Lupron is like a permanent hangover.

Very real for me! My wife knows it as well as I do. She leaves little stickies in places to make sure I remember to do something. I really feel the lack of recall effect it has. Just last night we had dinner with friends and just trying to have a conversation without stopping to look at my wife to fill in the blanks when something just wouldn't come to mind. Another example is I used to be a wiz at numbers and percentages. Now it takes me too long get the answer. My wife used to ask me numbers questions, now she grabs her calculator for a quicker answer. I find this issue greater in the afternoon as my fatigue builds during the day so I only go to work for half days. Looking forward to my last shot in June! -JR

Thanks Redwing. I get my first HT shot in about a week. To be honest I'm scared to death about it. Far more concerned than when I had RALP and RT, or even the diagnosis of cancer itself. Somehow, knowing that somebody else was also terrified of it helps to make me feel better.

For incidents like looking for something and then forgetting what, my psychotherapist had a tip. He said to talk to myself -- saying it aloud and repeating it until it's accomplished, like "phone, wallet, heys, phone, wallet, keys, etc." It works!

Well, boys, if "lupron brain" is real or not it certainly sounds like it's an oxymoron.

As a psychologist, I test and work with people who have a variety of learning and/or cognitive concerns daily. Reading about the possible SEs of Lupron when I found out I was going to start on it terrified me completely. I think that it is established that "Lupron brain" is a possible SE. However, after almost six months on it, I think this SE is another with the familiar "your mileage may vary" disclaimer to comfort those who may be getting ready to take it for the first time.

My worry about cognitive impairment was even stronger than my worry regarding possible cardiac issues. I am thankful that I haven't experienced "Lupron brain" at this point, but since I still have a long way to go on ADT, the worry is still certainly still there.

I do the same as TA...it does indeed work...unless I forget to do it....

Mr Bolodilat: on the rare occasion I can even determine what you are saying, it is often not constructive.

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Post Edited By Moderator (142) : 2/6/2017 7:45:50 PM (GMT-7)