@madpuppy74

I am so sorry to hear your course has been so difficult. I recognize that people vary in their response to and tolerance of ADT. I am early in my course (just 7 weeks lapsed now from my first Lupron injection) and the hot flashes are disturbing along with the loss of libido and associated ED. I will be switching to Orgovyx after my 3 month depot-Lupron is completed, which I’m told is more easily reversed when ADT is ended. Still I know there are no guarantees here, as there are none in life in general.

Few people understand what any of us are experiencing. I’ve learned that most people who ask “How are you doing?” only want to hear “I’m fine” and really don’t want us to unload the truth of our process.

Exercise, friends, hobbies and volunteer activities keep me going and give me purpose. But that’s not to say there aren’t times I feel despondent and question the compromises I have accepted. Even my spouse doesn’t know how to respond to my losses and needs, leaving me on my own to overcome my negative thoughts.

I believe in the science, but know that treatment recommendations are based on statistics and can never predict the outcome for an individual.

It’s easier said than done but “hang in there” and continue to find the glass half full rather than half empty.

@madpuppy74
I’ve been on ADT for almost 8 years. After surgery and radiation, its affect on my ability to get an erection is minimal in comparison to those two things. I’ve had prostate cancer for almost 16 years. I took Lupron for six years and I’ve been on Orgovyx For a little over two years.

While ADT did not cause me heart problems getting on abiraterone Gave me high blood pressure and multiple Afib events. I’ve been on a blood thinner for many years and it has resolved any problems I’ve had from afib. I also have to take three blood pressure medicines every day but my heart is in good shape now that I’m off Zytiga.

If you’re getting constant sweating, there are solutions. I got depo-provera Shots every three months and they pretty much stopped my hot flashes and sweating. Estrogen can also help. Speak to your doctor about Getting hormones to resolve it. Estrogen can cause gynecomastia, but depo-provera doesn’t. For a long time I would lay in bed At night and throw sheets off and put them back on, I do have a fan right next to me near the bed But I Seldom use it anymore. The main time I use it as after I run on the track, Yes, control over body heat is not the greatest so I sweat a lot after that run and the fan really helps.

It can take a year or more to have your testosterone come back to levels that’ll make you more comfortable. According to the PCRI conference, it will never come back to what it was before you had ADT, But it will come back. People Who took Orgovyx Have it come back faster.

I also used an Embrlabs.com Wave 2 device to stop my day and night hot flashes. It was very effective. I still use it though I don’t get hardly any hot flashes anymore.

My testosterone is less than five. I found out I couldn’t get off the floor without leaning on a chair or a bed or pulling myself up against something a year ago I went to the gym three times a week for an hour. After about three or four months, I could finally get up off the floor. I have built up my muscles and never had my oncologist tell me don’t exercise. I’ve increased the amount of weight. I’ve used for both arm and leg exercises since I started about a year ago.

I do run twice a day for 1 mile on a track, every day. I built up my stamina in a few months so that I can run without stopping. I’m also not winded after I’m done and my heart rate never gets very high.

One of the People that talked at the PCRI conference this last weekend was Robert Newton PHD from Australia. I’ve heard him at least three times now and he talks about how exercise extends the life of prostate cancer patients and can even stop it from getting worse. You should try to find some information about exercises by him. There’s a number of videos on YouTube. He Strongly emphasize the need to do weightlifting exercises. The information you got is just wrong and contrary to everything I have been hearing for the last five years about the need for exercise and involving weights in that exercise. It is essential.

After all these years on ADT, I have noticed no reduction in my ability to taste food. My wife creates a wide variety of meals for me and they are quite tasty. I’ve always been critical about food that was bland. I’ve had no problem getting spicy or flavorful food at home or at restaurants.

@madpuppy74
I think your post reflects what many of us on MCC promote. That what one person taking ADT or hormone treatments side affects will not determine what yours will be. All bodies are different and what one will suffer from side affects others will not.

I see many post saying not an issue takine hormone treatments and then we read posts like yours saying "be careful." Hormone treatments are serious drugs and have side affects. Be prepared for those side affects and not rely on what outcomes others has citing little or no side affects or dealt with them with little discomfort. That might suggest you will have the same side affects when it does not.

In this case the old caveat "prepare for worse and hope for the best is very appropriate." I did not have hormone treatments. I was originally prescribed them before I had Decipher test. My Decipher came back low risk not original intermediate risks biopsies result gave so the hormone treatment recommendation was removed.