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Zoladex and cialis

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User
Posted 01 Oct 2023 at 11:10

DH had brachy in 2015. All good. Psa 0.01 at lowest. 4 years later it started rising. 4 years on now has a doubling time of 4 months. Psa at 4.9 psma scan showed cancer in lymph nodes in his tummy. But dh thinks no cancer in his prostate I need to confirm this with consultant as dh only had phone consultation. The only treatment offered at the moment is casodex for 4 weeks. Then in 2 weeks zoladex, it says on the letter every 3 months going forwards. No idea if this is forever, or if something else can be done. DH currently takes cialis. The consultant didn’t say to stop taking it but dh didn’t ask.  Does anyone know whether it can be taken with hormones? I understand they may not be effective anyway once zoladex kicks in. But are they usually taken if they can still work? I have read cialis and sildenafil encourage the body to make more testosterone. In which case they probably shouldn’t be taken. DH will make an appointment with his gp next week to ask, but they aren’t always that knowledgeable on these things. First casodex taken this morn and I told dh not to take cialis. 

Also I thought I’d ask….is our sex life really doomed? DH has always had a much higher sex drive than me. He’s 15 years older than me. If he were my age now, I don’t think we’d be together anymore! It wasn’t so bad when I was younger. Of course as far as I’m concerned I’d much rather have him than sex. I just can’t imagine him never wanting it again. If he’s only on hormone’s temporarily then in a jokey sort of way I’ll be glad to just cuddle up instead. But if he’s on it forever it’s not going to be good.

I had to have zoladex myself 24 years ago. I couldn’t stand it and refused the 6th injection as the side effects were awful and I put on so much weight. So I will know exactly how dh feels. He won’t have the choice to stop like I did. 

User
Posted 01 Oct 2023 at 11:10

DH had brachy in 2015. All good. Psa 0.01 at lowest. 4 years later it started rising. 4 years on now has a doubling time of 4 months. Psa at 4.9 psma scan showed cancer in lymph nodes in his tummy. But dh thinks no cancer in his prostate I need to confirm this with consultant as dh only had phone consultation. The only treatment offered at the moment is casodex for 4 weeks. Then in 2 weeks zoladex, it says on the letter every 3 months going forwards. No idea if this is forever, or if something else can be done. DH currently takes cialis. The consultant didn’t say to stop taking it but dh didn’t ask.  Does anyone know whether it can be taken with hormones? I understand they may not be effective anyway once zoladex kicks in. But are they usually taken if they can still work? I have read cialis and sildenafil encourage the body to make more testosterone. In which case they probably shouldn’t be taken. DH will make an appointment with his gp next week to ask, but they aren’t always that knowledgeable on these things. First casodex taken this morn and I told dh not to take cialis. 

Also I thought I’d ask….is our sex life really doomed? DH has always had a much higher sex drive than me. He’s 15 years older than me. If he were my age now, I don’t think we’d be together anymore! It wasn’t so bad when I was younger. Of course as far as I’m concerned I’d much rather have him than sex. I just can’t imagine him never wanting it again. If he’s only on hormone’s temporarily then in a jokey sort of way I’ll be glad to just cuddle up instead. But if he’s on it forever it’s not going to be good.

I had to have zoladex myself 24 years ago. I couldn’t stand it and refused the 6th injection as the side effects were awful and I put on so much weight. So I will know exactly how dh feels. He won’t have the choice to stop like I did. 

User
Posted 01 Oct 2023 at 13:53
I’m on Decapeptyl for life with incurable cancer at 56. It’s in my lymph nodes and spine etc. I’ve been on it nearly 3 yrs and is still working thank god. I still have horny feelings and in honesty more libido than my wife. I take 5mg Cialis at night on Fri, Sat , Mon and Weds. It keeps things healthy down there. I get morning wood and can still manage intercourse for a short while. Saddest thing is that orgasm is quite elusive un less I watch porn on my own. Lack of orgasm does leave me slightly more stressed if I’m honest as it’s a release. Hope this helps 👍
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User
Posted 01 Oct 2023 at 13:53
I’m on Decapeptyl for life with incurable cancer at 56. It’s in my lymph nodes and spine etc. I’ve been on it nearly 3 yrs and is still working thank god. I still have horny feelings and in honesty more libido than my wife. I take 5mg Cialis at night on Fri, Sat , Mon and Weds. It keeps things healthy down there. I get morning wood and can still manage intercourse for a short while. Saddest thing is that orgasm is quite elusive un less I watch porn on my own. Lack of orgasm does leave me slightly more stressed if I’m honest as it’s a release. Hope this helps 👍
User
Posted 01 Oct 2023 at 14:11

Thanks for your honest reply. Sorry to hear about you. Hopefully decapeptyl will hold it at bay for many years. Maybe cialis can still be taken then. DH is convinced it’s it’s in his spine as his back is so bad. He’s had a bad back for years but it’s much worse.  But I’m sure it would have shown on his pet scan. 

User
Posted 02 Oct 2023 at 09:13

Originally Posted by: Online Community Member
I’m on Decapeptyl for life with incurable cancer at 56. It’s in my lymph nodes and spine etc. I’ve been on it nearly 3 yrs and is still working thank god. I still have horny feelings and in honesty more libido than my wife. I take 5mg Cialis at night on Fri, Sat , Mon and Weds. It keeps things healthy down there. I get morning wood and can still manage intercourse for a short while. Saddest thing is that orgasm is quite elusive un less I watch porn on my own. Lack of orgasm does leave me slightly more stressed if I’m honest as it’s a release. Hope this helps 👍

 

I just looked at DH’s cialis dose. It’s the same as yours but he takes one a day. He’s booked an appointment with the gp to see whether it can still be taken. I thought it defeats the object of the testosterone blockers as cialis encourages testosterone production. I’m hoping the gp will know. But they often don’t know about more specialised things. 

User
Posted 02 Oct 2023 at 10:10

Lots of people take Tadalafil with Zoladex (or one of the other HT injections).

Only about 20% of men can get an erection on HT injections, and it's often short lived, and/or orgasm is elusive.

Tadalalfil certainly increases the number of men who can get erections on HT, but no one has researched by how much.

The doses to ask for are either 5mg daily low dose, or 2 x 20mg/week. They both give a continuous dosing background level, but the 20mg will give you a higher boost on those days, making them better for trying for erections on those days. Some men even manage to get both, some 20mg event dose, and some 5mg daily low dose for other days, although the 20mg takes some days to decay away to below the 5mg dosing level anyway.

User
Posted 02 Oct 2023 at 11:13

Hi Wiosal,

I am on 3 monthly Prostap injections and have absolutely ZERO libido. However with the correct foreplay I can still get erections, immense pleasure and even orgasm. I’ve tried Penetrative sex but it just does nothing for me nor my wife at the moment so we use other techniques such as  toys and oral for our pleasure. There is STILL a sex life on this debilitating treatment t but you HAVE to work at it. Pratap is an expert on the subject😊

All the best,

Derek

User
Posted 02 Oct 2023 at 14:31

Originally Posted by: Online Community Member

Hi Wiosal,

I am on 3 monthly Prostap injections and have absolutely ZERO libido. However with the correct foreplay I can still get erections, immense pleasure and even orgasm. I’ve tried Penetrative sex but it just does nothing for me nor my wife at the moment so we use other techniques such as  toys and oral for our pleasure. There is STILL a sex life on this debilitating treatment t but you HAVE to work at it. Pratap is an expert on the subject😊

All the best,

Derek

Thanks for this reply. DH’s sex drive has always irritated me, but especially now I’m heading towards menopause age. To the point where I’ve stayed downstairs hoping he will be asleep when I go to bed! But I can’t imagine life with him not being like that. He can’t imagine having no libido either. So we will have to see what happens. If sex is possibly occasionally we can cope with that. Let’s see what the gp gives him  

Thanks again.

User
Posted 02 Nov 2023 at 17:34

Anyone know how quickly psa starts to reduce on zoladex? DH had a letter today saying he must have a psa test before his phone consult next week. So he’s got to go on a 2 hour 40 mins round trip for a blood test as too short a notice for gp or our nearest hospital. The zoladex was only just over 2 weeks ago. Surely psa won’t be reduced yet? It’s annoying they didn’t tell him sooner as the gp or local hospital would do it. 

User
Posted 02 Nov 2023 at 20:05

The first Zoladex jab takes 2 weeks before it even starts working and 3 weeks to get to full effect (Testosterone suppressed). Then PSA comes down fast - a 10x reduction in the first 3 months is quite common.

It might be worth calling the department and explaining, and ask if they really need the PSA test. How long since his previous one?

Edited by member 02 Nov 2023 at 20:14  | Reason: Not specified

User
Posted 02 Nov 2023 at 20:20

Thanks for reply Andy. The telephone consult is to see how dh is getting on on zoladex. A letter turned up today asking for blood tests beforehand. I don’t think he’s been on it long enough yet to answer that one. I also think it’s pointless doing psa this soon. Especially as dh has to drive so far away for the test (to the hospital where the consultant is 55 miles away) Surely there won’t be much psa reduction yet. He will have been on it 2 weeks and 4 days by the blood test and 3 weeks by the time of the telephone consultation. Dh hasn’t got any side effects yet apart from being tired. He’s had tummy pains for 4 days though. Since stopping the bicalutamide.  Not sure if that’s related. 

User
Posted 02 Nov 2023 at 22:16
Wiosal, if your husband had started on bicalutimide before then he has had some sort of hormone therapy for longer than three weeks (at least from my experience, I think I had 2 weeks bicalutimide both before and after Zoladex). So possibly some sort of effect on PSA may show, though it is early to be checking it.
User
Posted 02 Nov 2023 at 22:33

Originally Posted by: Online Community Member
Wiosal, if your husband had started on bicalutimide before then he has had some sort of hormone therapy for longer than three weeks (at least from my experience, I think I had 2 weeks bicalutimide both before and after Zoladex). So possibly some sort of effect on PSA may show, though it is early to be checking it.

Thanks, Yes, he had 2 weeks of bicalutamide before the zoladex, then stayed on it 2 more weeks. So does that mean psa should have reduced? He hasn’t got any side effects yet,or signs testosterone is reduced, he thinks he’s getting away lightly, but I think it’s too early for side effects. Having had zoladex injections myself, I had no side effects for the first injection, I an injection every 4 weeks. 

 
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