Prostate Cancer Survivors

 

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Re: hormone therapy

I think it would help to qualify what has been said already.

1. Having Zoladex 12 weekly is a doddle and painless (for most men)

2. When you are on hormone treatment at first you may be prone to some depression, really resulting from the position in which you find yourself rather than the treatment. This can lead to some lethargy and it is easy to put on weight. Fight it. Get fit. You can lose weight whilst on Zoladex. I did.

3. The is a risk of osteoporosis - true - but this is to do with being inactive. An active body enables calcium to be replaced naturally. Inactivity takes you down the slippery slope to skeletal problems. So again - get fit, keep fit.

4. Recent research shows that there's little difference between survival rates from those on intermittent and continuous hormone therapy. Don't be sucked into believing a general truth. Your needs reflect your own case. If you get your PSA under really good control a holiday may make sense - who wants to be on a drug unnecessarily? But be guided by your Oncologist. It isn't a disaster to be on the thing long term. I'm happy and my PSA is well controlled after three and a half years, starting from a pretty bad Gleason number and PSA score.

Above all, stay positive, get fit and stay active and you'll "keep buggering on" as Churchill said.

Good luck.

Re: hormone therapy

David's response is excellent. It reflects my experience with Zoladex (see my story at TERRY HERBERT and that of many others on the website - see TREATMENT EXPERIENCES

Like everything else in life, individuals will have individual reactions to any therapy including ADT. No odubt some men do have a bad reaction, but I believe the majority do not.

Good luck

Terry in Australia
Men need enlightening not frightening

Re: hormone therapy

HERE HERE TO DAVID'S REPLY. MY HUSBAND HAS BEEN ON ZOLADEX FOR NEARLY 3 YEARS AND HE IS VERY POSITIVE MINDED. HE HAS NEVER EVER EVER READ ABOUT ANY OF THE SIDE EFFECTS OF IT AND TOOK UP ACTIVE EXERCISE, EATS HEALTHILY,KEEPS HIS MIND BUSY AND HE KEEPS SLIM, HAPPY AND I LOVE HIM. SOMETIMES IT ISN'T ALWAYS A GOOD THING TO READ OR KNOW TOO MUCH ( I KNOW THAT DOESN'T APPLY TO EVERYONE) I DO THE READING AND WORRYING HE JUST GOES ON WITH LIFE AS NORMAL! OUT OF CURIOSITY DAVID WHAT WAS YOUR INITIAL DIAGNOSIS AND ARE YOU FROM THE U.K.
JENNIE

Re: hormone therapy

Jennie,

Sorry, I should have said UK based. I set out on this journey with 62.3 PSA, Gleason 9. The medicos wanted to classify me T4 on the basis of probability, rather than evidence, but all the tests, scans etc showed no escape from the prostate so we settled on T3 when I took my knee off the urologist's neck. I don't kid myself that the PCa isn't systemic, but it is under pretty good control with a steady PSA level of just above one. At the practical level, it doesn't affect my daily life.

David from the home of Rugby Football

Re: hormone therapy

David and others, thank you for your responses. They have given me much to think about while I ponder the next twist in this journey. I have been trying some lifestyle changes in order to better cope with whatever lies ahead. Diet and exercise to lose weight and tone up.

Thank you Terry for all you do with this website. I have lurked without commenting and learned much through the years. The information found here does a lot to help keep me calm and informed. I have recommended it to friends who are facing the scourge of Pca.

Re: hormone therapy

Mike ... on a lighter note, if you do experience hot flashes, don't expect any sympathy from females (smile).

This month I started hormone therapy due to a quickly rising PSA (in whole numbers, not fractions) and have been told that there will be "vacations" from time to time.

Take a look at my post below "Let the roller coaster ride begin" for details.

Good luck to you.

Re: hormone therapy

Phred:

On hot flashes - Every doc I complained to without fail got a big smile and said the very same thing:

"Now you know what the ladies have been going through all these years."

Actually, the hot flashes are more of an annoyance than anything else.

Also, I found them to be worse in hot weather.

Don

Re: hormone therapy

Bob Parsons, who posts here from time to time, sent in this bit for the TroopC page on the site TRADING PLACES ON ADT

But it's not all bad for all of us:-)

Re: hormone therapy

My husband started HT about 3 mos. ago. Is doing fine so far except for frequent hot flashes which don't seem to bother him that much. He is exactly like your husband in that he doesn't want to know side effects...so maybe he won't have them....I HOPE!! Only time will tell.

Re: hormone therapy

Carolyn- husband doesn't want to know about side effects, so maybe he won't have them. (LOL) Seriously, do you think that flies in reality?
I think, therefore...I won't (vs.) I think, therefore I am!

Good luck, over enough time checkout these clues that even lay people might notice: weight gain, muscle aches/pains, fatigue/weakness, hot flashes/sweats, crying spells/depression, loss of libido, eventually these fine things: memory loss, bone density losses (severe enough to need zometa or assistance, or risks towards fractures and skeletal events). But, alas those are all minor side effects and we can wish them away. Meanwhile your doc provider is making a very nice profits off the patient, my uro-doc wanted me on Lupron for life only he got fired in 2004-5... Gee I really miss being the cash cow, now he has a side effect of being fired. (LOL) Apparently he was an expert in all phases of PCa. (LOL-LOL).

Re: hormone therapy

I know that the side effects will come whether he knows or not (and I'm very observant and extremely well-educated about all this - so we won't miss anything). He just doesn't want to sit around and think that every ache or pain is caused by the HT. He is on a 6-mo. regimen and the dr. indicated that might be all that is needed. We are definitely hoping it won't be a long-term thing. We've heard about so many very scary problems and are just taking one day at a time and will deal with them as they come. There is much to be said for having faith and a positive attitude!!!

Re: hormone therapy

Carolyn,

That was a somewhat crass post from Bob Parsons and while it may reflect his personal experience, as I, and others have said on this thread, it does not reflect ours. Having known Bob for some time, I realise that it reflects his sense of humor, but humor is an odd thing on the Internet and is not always understood as such.

I think you and your husband have the right idea - wait and see what happens and then deal with it: don't assume the worst. The side effects, if any, are not life-threatening so you don't have to know what they are and prepare for them.

Good luck to you. Let us know how it went.

All the best

Terry in Australia

Re: hormone therapy

Gee Bob you left out one other side effect that doesn't seem to get much attention, genital shrinkage, when my balls withered away, in a panic I called the oncologist who informed me that this is common??
Seems I missed reading that one anywhere else.

Warwick in Oz

Re: hormone therapy

Hot flashes, I found were best treated with humor the biggest pain in the but were the mood swings, but they only seemed to last a couple of months. Good luck Bob

Re: hormone therapy

A 10-year study has discovered a new treatment approach that doubles the survival chances of men with locally advanced prostate cancer.

Published in the latest edition of The Lancet Oncology, the University of Newcastle and Calvary Mater Newcastle research showed that combining radiotherapy with six months of hormone therapy significantly reduced the death rate of prostate cancer patients.

The trial included 802 men from Australia and New Zealand with locally advanced prostate cancer (cancer that has not spread to other parts of the body). Participants were randomly assigned to three treatment groups: radiotherapy alone, radiotherapy with three months of hormone therapy and radiotherapy with six months of hormone therapy.

The rate of prostate cancer death for men receiving radiotherapy with six months’ hormone therapy was reduced to 11 per cent, compared to 22 per cent for men receiving radiotherapy alone.

Lead researcher Professor Jim Denham said hormone therapy was used to lower the levels of male hormones that can promote the growth of prostate cancer.

“Prolonged hormone therapy carries many side effects including erectile dysfunction, hot flashes, fatigue, osteoporosis, high cholesterol and anaemia. Associated cardiac problems have also been fatal for some patients.

“The challenge has been to determine the right length of hormone therapy that treats the cancer but produces minimal side effects. With this research, we now know that six months of hormone therapy with radiotherapy will provide a very effective treatment for locally advanced prostate cancer over the next decade.”

Another key finding by the Trans-Tasman Radiation Oncology Group (TROG) 96.01 trial was that six months of hormone therapy with radiation for locally advanced prostate cancers reduces the total death rate of all men by one third. The results also showed that a treatment of radiotherapy with three months of hormone therapy did not prevent the cancer from spreading and had similar death rates to radiotherapy alone.

Re: hormone therapy

Good to see this is confirmed by 10 year study. I had the fun of trying to figure out my best treatment scenario back in 2002 with less information on the internet and more of the jungle and mushroom effect information from conservative 'evidence' based medicine types whom had little to no inputs or suggestions on what might even be best to do, glad I saw that for what it was, of course I had influences like Dr. Strum, Leibowitz, Barken, Myers and PaactNewsletter, beside the local 8 opinion guys whom had very little concepts to offer. Sure glad I read about the Bolla abstract studies from back then...and decided to do just that.

Many things to look at when considering your own fate in this, even if you cannot win the war...winning some battles is priceless enough.

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