Started Hormone Therapy Today

Firmagon is a great thing to start with, But after the first month, you can move to one of the other ADT drugs, and they are much easier to deal with than Firmagon. So many people have reported pain from having those firmagon shots in their stomach and having to go once a month is ridiculous. I used to get six month Lupron shots and only had to come back twice a year. I am now on Orgovyx, which is preferable since it’s a pill you take once a day, And when you stop taking it your testosterone comes back quicker.

You need to be on ADT for three years, not Firmagon for 3 years. All of these drugs are ADT Orgovyx, Firmagon, Lupron, Eligard, Prostap, Camcevi, Lucrin, Zoladex, Trelstar, Pamorelin, and Decapeptyl. They all do the same thing which is reduce your testosterone quite low.

Zytiga can cause some serious fatigue problems. If you have them, come back, we can give you some solutions. I was on it 2 1/2 years and it kept my PSA low (not undetectable).

What kind of radiation are you going to have and how many sessions do they say you need?

Are you in Canada?

Hey Jeff,
Doctor put me on Firmagon for 2 reasons: 1) would drop my PSA the fastest with no flare up. 2) she wanted to start me on ADT as soon as possible and felt that there could be insurance related delays with Orgovyx. She did say I could switch anytime later on.
Radiation will be ERBT for 39 sessions (I think). I’ll know more on Aug 20th.
I live in Rochester, New York and treated at the Wilmot Cancer center at the University of Rochester. Only side effect so far is injection site pain but not too bad. I got two shots, one on each side, and they are both sore.

wow. 39 fractions of radiation is a lot.

As far as I know it is "conventional dose". It can go up to 45 - @jeffmarc will know about that part more than me , but I think it is not unusual. John is very young and doctors do not want to take any chances with his cancer.

This turns out to be more complex than one would hope. They want to give a certain number of Gy Over a certain number of sessions. The thing is, there’s no real consistency to the exact treatment since they use a formula to figure out the Gy and session, and there can be variation to receiving the same result.

How do radiation oncologists make sense of these numbers? First, it is important to note that both the total dose and the dose-per-fraction influence the overall intensity of the treatment. In fact, there is a formula that takes these two factors and computes a single number that quantifies the overall strength of the treatment. For instance, this formula predicts that for breast cancer, giving 45 Gy over 25 sessions is about equal to giving 40 Gy over 15 sessions. In other words, even if radiation clinic A uses the first combination of dose and session number while radiation clinic B uses the second combination, the overall effect of the treatment on the cancer is the same in both cases.

Thanks Jeff for explaining : ))

Jeff didn't you say you take nubeqa

Re @asolidrock

I am on Nubeqa and Orgovyx.

I was never on firmagon, but it prevents the testosterone flare you would get with Lupron unless you start with 2 weeks of biclutamide. Firmagon is therefore more effective immediately, though orgovyx is equally effective.

I can now personally attest to the pain and swelling of Firmagon shots. I hope it’s at least working.

It will work. Avoid the next one. Get Orgovyx, or if your insurance company is delaying it get a 3 Month Lupron or Eligard shot. It has no more side effects, I got them for six years and never really noticed the shot, unless I pressed right on the spot they put it in the first day. It goes in your upper thigh/hip.

That way after three months, you can probably get yourself on Orgovyx.