Connect
← Return to Started Hormone Therapy Today
Discussion
Comment receiving replies
Side effects appear within weeks or months.
Due to their different mechanisms of action. ADT which includes Orgovyx, Firmagon, Lupron, Eligard, Prostap, Camcevi, Lucrin, Zoladex, Trelstar, Pamorelin, and Decapeptyl can cause numerous side effects. Actually due to a lack of testosterone.
Hot flashes
Fatigue
Muscle deterioration
Bone weakening
Brain fog
Depression
Weight gain
Difficulty in breathing
Not all of these side effects occur to everyone on the drugs. Most of them are just things you have to be aware of and circumvent. I walk on the track twice a day, 1 mile at least, to help prevent bone weakening, fatigue and muscle deterioration. I also go to the gym three days a week (usually) and spend an hour with all different types of weight exercises. One thing that happens is people get a beer belly from the muscle deterioration, I do a lot of sit-ups to offset that.
Some people get depression but it is not common. It is easily treatable, according to people that have reported it on here and on Online Meetings I have participated in. If he has that problem Come back and ask for help, Or see a psychiatrist about doing something to relieve the depression.
Some people get no hot flashes at all. Others only have a few hot flashes and they are very minor. I had severe hot flashes for the first year on Lupron. As a hot flash was hitting I would feel a lot of fatigue. After a year, my oncologist prescribed a depo-provera shot every three months and it really stopped those hot flashes on Lupron. There are other hormones that can do this, speak to your doctor.
I know one person that says eating tofu every day really controlled his hot flashes, another person in this forum said the same thing. Tofu does have properties similar to endocrine hormones but a lot weaker. Can’t hurt to try it. Seems they ate it daily.
According to a doctor that spoke to a recent webinar, all people on ADT should be taking bone straighteners. I took Fosamax for six years and I’m now on Zometa. That along with calcium citrate taken daily helps keep your bones strong. Ask your doctor about this.
Replies to "Side effects appear within weeks or months. Due to their different mechanisms of action. ADT which..."
Jeff, you should really consider writing a book or at least practical guide for patients and PC management 🙏 . There is basically only one excellent book written by a professional, but none that are written by a patient and from the prospective of a patient with such vast knowledge about treatments for every stage of PC and that can give patients practical advise about everyday life while dealing with side effects and such. THANKS for sharing all of those supposedly minor but extremely important details about dealing with injections and ADT and the rest of medications. For medical professionals "injection site" is of no big consideration , obviously, but for a patient it can be a difference between having a good night sleep and no EXTRA pain and to the contrary being in pain, feeling down and defeated.
If you take SSRIs for depression caused by ADT/low testosterone, be aware that a side effect of SSRIs is anorgasmia (the inability to have an orgasm).
Connect
Thanks Jeff! I will definitely ask MO about bone strengthening meds and whatever else I should be doing to guard against long term effects of ADT. I go for walks everyday, but will start hitting the gym 3 times/week. Both my kids go to the gym so they can show me what to do (I hope)