I went through the same thing with my Eligard injections.

When you say that you “worked REALLY hard to stay in shape…” what does that mean? Were those significant resistance-training (weightlifting) multi-joint exercises that utilize the body’s largest muscle groups (mainly squat, deadlift, bench press, row, overhead press, and lat pulldown)? Or were they just regular, easy, low-level exercises that people generally do?

Also, there is no need to go to a 500 calorie diet. Besides being very unhealthy, it’s unnecessary. It’s almost always about calories in vs calories out. In my case, in addition to weightlifting, I had to add alternating days of running 5Ks with swimming 35-45 minutes of laps every week.

Did you hire a physical trainer specializing in resistance-training prostate cancer/hormone therapy patients?

We often hear about the physical benefits of exercise to minimize the side-effects of hormone therapy (https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=YE61HSAsFb0). But, there are also mental health benefits as well: https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=8n0cIhamFvo

Many cancer treatment centers have counselors to help patients and family members in dealing with the emotional and mental aspects of prostate cancer and hormone therapy. You should consider reaching out to them.

Having heard in a PCRI Conference presentation that resistance-training helps to minimize many of the possible side effects of hormone therapy, I ramped up my strength-training program prior to my first injection.

As a result, my side-effects from Eligard were minimal - just minor “warm” flashes and muscle atrophy (resulting in about a 30% loss of strength). I did have a loss of libido, but no ED. No mood swings, emotions, fatigue, forgetfulness, confusion, memory loss, insomnia, night sweats, weight gain, etc., things (“male menopausal”) that are typically mentioned.

(By not starting a robust weightlifting program prior to starting on Lupron, you put yourself way behind and will have much to make up. It will not be easy.)

As for the loss of libido (with my testosterone level dropping to 3.0 ng/dL), everything still worked. (I was not going to take this lying down, if you’ll pardon the pun.) So, that loss of libido did not prevent me from maintaining the physical relationship with my wife. There was no desire, but I went through the motions anyway. Sometimes you simply do what you have to do. Life is that way sometimes…… The relationship survived without issues. I simply had to lift some weights and push through it.

Now with 20/20 hindsight, my Eligard experience was just a mild annoyance. Just as was presented in the PCRI Conference presentation, very intense resistance-training was the key.