ADT now diabetes

ADT can also cause a rise in blood sugar. The real problem is prednisone can also do it.

At one of the conference a doctor talked about his prostate cancer problem with Zytiga. It made him very tired so he went to 7 1/2 mg of prednisone instead of 5 mg but that made him pre-diabetic so he had to cut back.

Were you prediabetic before going on these drugs? What was your A1c before going on the drugs? You should’ve been warned about the chance of diabetes. They could’ve put you on a different drug and not had you on prednisone.

About 10 years ago, my A1c hit 5.8 and they told me I was pre-diabetic. I changed my eating habits and have been below 5.6 since then. Didn’t Have a problem while on Zytiga and prednisone Because I carefully watched carbs.

I know it’s a real pain to lose weight when you have almost no testosterone. It’s a well documented issue. It has taken me three months of cutting back to lose 6 pounds. Still not there, 2 to go. Very frustrating since I cut back eating a lot, I do eat almost all the regular 3 meals, otherwise, you end up with different problems, losing muscle instead of fat.

How well is Ozempic working for you? Has it reduced your appetite noticeably?

Hi Jeff,
Just started Munjaro and it takes 4 weeks at a low dose to get you acclimated. So far no side effects. Don’t have numbers for you, but my visits with ADT doc involved blood tests every visit. The level creeped up over time and shot up very high last test. Docs reply was “I told you to take care of yourself during treatment”. Thanks Doc.
I was pretty surprised by the whole thing so thought I would post for others. I read it happens but thankfully does not happen to everyone. I am Gleason 9 and have been on adt for just over a year. So that is a factor as well I assume. If all goes well I will be done with ADT in January.
I have spoken to people on glp-1s and they say yes, my appetite will really fall off and I have to be careful with proteins and hydration.

@ej4902
I am really sorry to hear that and it is not your fault completely, those drugs cause sugar to go up (ADT and prednisone).

Yes, exercise and diet would help but I am sure that for some people who go into treatment with glucose resistance already present those drugs easily tip the balance in wrong direction. If it is of any comfort, many new papers point to the fact that GLP drugs might help with cancer control or even enhance PC treatment effects.

Once that you are off those drugs I am sure that your diabetes will improve a lot and for now just try to do some extra exercise and watch your diet. You are half way though your treatment 👍 !

Wishing you all the best and thanks for warning other members to watch their glucose levels while on ADT .

@surftohealth88
Thank you!

Not to worry. You will die of PCa or something else long before diabetes gets you. The kick for me was being diagnosed with PCa the month after diabetes. Diabetes is chronic and the people who lose limbs have had it for decades. Main danger when you get it late in life is hypoglycemic coma (low blood sugar) due to overdose of insulins and sulfonylureas. Easy to do since dose required can be variable based on what you eat. Stay away from those and you should be okay. Mounjaro lowered my A1c by 2 points so should bring your glucose back to normal. Can combine with other meds if needed.

You should have no problem losing weight on Mounjaro and ADT. I had to stay on lower doses longer since I did not want to lose too much weight knowing that ADT was bad for bone and muscle. You will need to do resistance training since our bodies have a use it or lose it decision on metabolizing fat or muscle. I managed to increase my percent of muscle while losing 40 pounds on Mounjaro and ADT (Orgovyx). You can expect to lose most of the 30 pounds gained; however, without resistance exercise your body composition will not return to its prior state.

Besides reduced appetite the other mechanisms that cause weight loss with GLP1s are nausea and heartburn. If you eat too much you will get nausea. May also get that on the day after an injection when dose peaks. I use a PPI (Nexium, Prilosec) to minimizes this. If you eat too late you will get heartburn (never had that before GLP1). GLP1s slows digestion so food is in your stomach longer and produces more gas there. When you sleep this combo will rise up and burn your esophagus (heartburn). Gravity prevents any issues during the day. My worst nausea occurred at 5mg.

Unfortunately besides ADT possibly causing diabetes it can also have adverse effect on the heart.