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Hot flashes 3 months after Eligard?
About 10 days before Christmas, I had a 4-month Eligard injection with 3 weeks of Casodex. I then had BT in February and 23 IMRT treatments starting in March that ended last Wednesday.
Throughout the entire time, I maybe gained about 5 pounds, have been getting up more often at night to urinate, and have had a little more fatigue. I did notice that my alcohol tolerance was zero for a couple months, as was my libido. But that has been the extent of my side effects...
Until the past couple nights, when I woke up around 3AM needing to peel back the covers as I had started to sweat. Each incident lasted about 5 minutes, as I was able to cool off and go back to sleep each time.
My question is whether others here have had such a well documented side effect be this delayed.
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After a 3-month injection of Lupron, I had hot flashes day and night. My face turned noticeably red and I would pick up something, anything, to fan myself.
With some research, I found an article detailing a man my age with prostate cancer, a Lupron injection and hot flashes. His doctor prescribed Venlafaxine, an antidepressant, which relieved the hot flashes.
My PCP switched my antidepressant to Venlafaxine, 37.5 mg 2 times per day. It worked!
Here’s the article: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3184578/
Good Luck!
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2 ReactionsThanks for the note. Sorry you had the side effects from the start, but happy that you were able to get quick relief.
I was sort of expecting the hot flashes from the outset. However, after the Eligard (alternate drug for Lupron, so I was told) shot, I had no hot flashes or night sweats at all. Nothing after the BT, and nothing through the IMRT treatments. It was only on this Monday and Tuesday mornings that I actually woke up in a sweat. Also noticed my undershirt was damp this morning, but I must have slept right through it. I might not have noticed it if I hadn't had to get up to go to the bathroom (still at least twice per night) around 3AM, since I was dry when I finally woke up.
So, here I am, a full week removed from the last treatment, and now I get the night sweats? I'm expecting a follow-up call from my RO's office today, so I will mention it to them to see if anything can or needs to be done. Perhaps the hot flashes are a side effect of the Eligard wearing off and my testosterone returning to normal?
Hope you are doing well with your therapy or feeling good if you've completed it.
Hot flashes are due to low testosterone levels. They should be kept at castration levels (less than 50 mg/dL) to keep the cancer under control. I am off Eligard . Still have hot flashes. Reason? My T levels at 21.
My urologist said to expect hot flashes after starting Eligard and Abiraterone. Somewhat delayed but, sure enough, they occurred. Uncomfortable but tolerable since I otherwise feel good. Energy and stamina levels seem fine for an 82 year old.
I did express my concern to the RO staff yesterday. I was told that the Eligard will still stick around in me until about June, so the T level will remain low and I guess I'll be prone to the hot flashes until the summer, as the level returns to "normal".
My concern was not that I was having them, which I fully expected. It was more of a "why now after all this time" thing.
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