Starting hormone treatment for prostate cancer: How did it go for you?

That’s why both of my docs want me to wait to start hormone therapy .

Where did you have the radiation done? How many sessions?

I was treated at Beaumont Hospital in Troy, MI, now called Corewell Health. I had SBRT proton radiation, a total of 5 sessions. They were not bad and the side effects have been minimal. The nurses and doctors were great and very supportive and there for anything that I needed.

I did 18 months of Lupron from Jan 17 to May 18 and now on 6-12 months of Orgovyx (see attached chart).

You can do a literature search and find all the side affects possible.

That would be a starting point...think statistics and the Bell Curve. SOme men will have some, some all, doubt any have none.

My experience...

On Lupron:

Hot Flashes
Muscle and Joint stiffness
Penile and testicle shrinkage (my urologist euphemistically referred to it as "taking me back to my pre-pubescent days...ouch!).

I did not have other SEs such as loss of libido, depression...

On Orgovyx, so far, two months in, hot flashes and shrinkage.

What can you do, well, if the hot flashes become too severe your medical team can provide a measure of relief with a prescription.

The other best thing you can do is nutrition and exercise to counter the metabolic syndrome - https://ascopubs.org/doi/10.1200/JCO.2006.05.9741

If you may be on ADT for some time, consider:

Getting some baseline labs done, CBC, Chemistry, Metabolic, Lipid...
Bone density scan
Cardiologist on your team

That way as you go through ADT, you have something to compare to and decide accordingly on what if anything, to do.

Kevin

I had 13 months of lupron and Erleada and had mild manageable side effects. Little issues of daily hot flashes, muscle loss, weight gain, low energy, but they were all manageable. I have been off of meds for 6 months but they are probably still in my system. My testosterone is 9, my PSA is .01 my cancer is sound asleep, I tolerated the meds and RP and living with my Gleason 9, CR, advanced PC and thankful for the care at UCLA and hopeful for a long journey. Good Luck to you all!