Tiredness with HT

User

Posted 01 Jan 2019 at 17:28

I would like to hear some experiences of tiredness and ask if what i have experienced over the last couple of weeks is standard for someone on HT.

i started HT on 22nd november with a four week course of Bical then halfway through had my first Prostap injection that was a one month dose to be followed up 7th Jan.

The sunday before Xmas just under 2 weeks (mid way) after the jab I started to get tired it got that bad that i lost my appetite and ate hardly anything from Xmas eve for about 4 days.

my appetite then started to return and the severe tiredness seems to have subsided. As of today i have taken my dog on 3 long walks and feel absolutley fine.

My question is do the side effects of HT tend to peak mid cycle if so it makes life a bit easier being able to predict when the bad spells are coming.

Hope all this makes sense. Find it hard to put into words what is in my head.

Bob

User

Posted 02 Jan 2019 at 15:13

Hi Bob, if you had a virus or combination of drugs you might be lucky enough to not get the fatigue. I’ve been on Prostap since last February and havent had any fatigue at all. just walked in from a serious gym session with my 31 yr old son plus 30min run and feel fine.

Fingers crossed you dont get the depression that i do get unfortunately and i know a few others on here do as well. Everyone is different with regards the side effects, so hope for the best.

Phil

User

Posted 03 Jan 2019 at 04:55

I have been on Prostap for around 14 months now. I started 3 months before salvage RT and the Oncologist has kept me on it because he believes it will add benefit to the RT.

I was informed at my last Onco appointment that my 3 monthly Prostap injection at the end of this month will be the last for now.

This will be followed by careful monitoring of my PSA which currently is at < 0.02.

I have had all the classical physical side effects of HT except for the hot flushes which luckily passed me by. The other physical side effects have not bothered me unduly as they were expected.

However I have recently been affected adversely by tiredness, depression, paranoia and anxiety attacks.

I am very tired when I get home from work and just go to bed around 7 or 8 every night. I feel so exhausted that all I want to do is sleep and sleep and sleep some more. Even if I sleep for 12 hours or more I am never ready to get up in the morning.

I also feel quite depressed most of the time and all I want to do is lie down alone in the dark.

I also get paranoid where I feel that everyone at work hates me and this sends me into a downward and dark spiral. I lie in bed going over repeatedly what people have said to me and my imagination goes into overdrive but not in a good way.

A couple of times at work I have had what I would describe as anxiety attacks where I have gone into meltdown and just needed to escape. On these occasions I have just gone home and stayed in bed all day - and then the guilt follows.

So I am not having a great time right now and will be glad to be free from HT soon.

Edited by member 03 Jan 2019 at 06:26 | Reason: Not specified

User

Posted 01 Jan 2019 at 19:35

Not usually something that peaks and flows like that - perhaps you had a bit of a virus as well?

"Life can only be understood backwards; but it must be lived forwards." Soren Kierkegaard

User

Posted 02 Jan 2019 at 15:07

Thankyou Andrew.

I will keep an eye on how things go over the next couple of months.

I think that you are right that there was outside factors making it worse than normal, the biggest one being myself i.e. in as much as I just over did everything on the lead up to Xmas and refusing to believe that I was going to be effected.

I am now restricting myself in my activities and only playing 9 holes at a time at golf and the poor dog will have to manage with slightly shorter walks.

Bob

User

Posted 03 Jan 2019 at 08:31

Hi Pete.

Sorry to hear you are having a rough time at the moment but hopefully this will improve and the depression and anxiety disappears once the Hormones are out of your system, hang in there.

With any luck I hope to be off the HT soon after my RT as I was diagnosed localised T2a N0M0.

Bob

User

Posted 03 Jan 2019 at 11:12

Symptoms do seem to vary considerably from person to person. I've been on 150mg/day bicalutimide for coming up on 5 months now (I start my RT in a month's time). For the first few weeks I felt completely "out of it". Then I had a couple of months of feeling fuzzy-headed and very tired. Now the physical side-effects have all but disappeared and I feel absolutely fine.

Chris

User

Posted 03 Jan 2019 at 13:02

Hi Pete, I just had my last (for now) PROSTAP 3 injection this morning after salvage radiotherapy in March/April 2017.

I totally relate to all you've said about how your feeling.

I retired early because i wasn't living, I was existing.

Like you i was in my bed by 8 after a day at work and spent the weekends recovering enough energy to be back at work Monday.

I also felt vulnerable at work. Feeling guilty about reduced energy levels and wondering what people thought, imagining the worst.

I hope you are feeling better in a few months time once the PROSTAP leaves your system.

Take care,

Ian

Ido4

User

Posted 28 Jan 2019 at 18:11

I have put weight on but the composition is different, more fat around my middle.

Like you no idea what the future holds but i dread having to go back on HT later this year or early next year.

Wishing you all the best going forward.

Ian

Ido4

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User

Posted 01 Jan 2019 at 19:35

Not usually something that peaks and flows like that - perhaps you had a bit of a virus as well?

"Life can only be understood backwards; but it must be lived forwards." Soren Kierkegaard

User

Posted 02 Jan 2019 at 12:22

If it had been hormone-related tiredness, you would probably not have seen the quick recovery that you had.

When you start HT, it all takes a while to build up to maximum levels (a month or two) and while I experienced the tiredness vary, it certainly wasn't by much.

I think you need to look at other, probably unrelated causes.

With all medicines, there's a 'therapeutic minimum', below which you cease to get the benefits, and a maximum, above which you are much more likely to get side effects / overdose. The doses prescribed are designed to keep you neatly between the two; and while it's conceivable that you require a different dose than others to keep within the boundaries, I suspect its pretty unlikely - see how it goes next time. Also worth noting that your maximum tiredness was at the end of the Bical, just as the Prostap was nearing it's peak, so the combined effects may have hit you, with recovery as the Bical left the system over the next few days.

This picture illustrates the therapeutic window:

https://goo.gl/yKWuQk

The duration of action is long enough for the next dose to lift levels before they fall too far.

And, sadly, as you'll find over the coming months, tiredness is a feature of HT that just doesn't completely go away. I finished mine a year ago, and I gradually felt energy return over several months.