Issues with hormone treatment

User

Posted 17 Jul 2019 at 11:02

My father, who is 89, has been diagnosed with prostate cancer and has been undergoing hormone treatment - via injections, since March. Since then he has experienced various effects - these include among other things, extreme lethargy, fatigue, low energy and mood, digestive problems including nausea and inability to swallow solid food, sleep disturbance, increased urination particularly at night, general aches and pains in the back and shoulders. He has visited the doctor, but is not getting any clear indication if the above are side effects of the treatment or not, in particular the digestive problems.

He is due to have his PSA level checked again in August to see what, if any, effect the treatment has had. He feels extremely unwell and has little quality of life at the moment due to the above. It would be helpful to know if these are side effects of the treatment. If so, I guess the question becomes whether to continue with the treatment. He is beginning to think it is not worth feeling this unwell.

It is also very distressing for his family to watch him suffer in this way. I would be very grateful if someone could let me know if they have had similar experiences to know if this is related to the treatment.

Edited by member 17 Jul 2019 at 14:34 | Reason: Not specified

User

Posted 17 Jul 2019 at 17:12

Rebecca,

Sorry to hear this. Some of these are probably hormone treatment, some are probably not.

Extreme lethargy, fatigue, low energy and mood - quite possibly hormone therapy, but may also be in part due to not eating properly due to...

Digestive problems including nausea and inability to swallow solid food, sleep disturbance - this doesn't sound like hormone therapy to me.

Increased urination particularly at night - sounds like prostate cancer side effect, which the hormone treatment should reduce. Is it new since hormone treatment started?

General aches and pains in the back and shoulders - this could be hormone therapy, or prostate cancer, or not related to either.

It would help if you could say what diagnostic tests he's had, what the results were, PSA levels and dates. The answers to the above could be different if he has metastasised prostate cancer, or if it's confined relatively locally to the organ.

User

Posted 17 Jul 2019 at 23:03

Hi Andy

Thanks very much for your helpful reply. The cancer is confined at the moment. We have persuaded him to go to the doctor to ask about the eating issues, so hopefully that can get diagnosed. It’s all a bit of a rollercoaster!

Thanks again

Rebecca

User

Posted 17 Jul 2019 at 23:33

Some men experience more side affects from HT than others and severity can differ. The body has to accept and become accustomed to a rapid drop in Testosterone and this can take time, so suggest Dad perseveres for a while and only stops HT if symptoms don't ease to the point of acceptability. If Dad does stop and then decides to resume HT again much later on, he risks going through the accustomization process all over again.

Barry

User

Posted 18 Jul 2019 at 06:32

One other thought...

Urinary Tract Infections (UTI) or prostate infection could have been caused by the tests (you didn't say what tests he's had, but cameras and biopsies can cause this). The symptoms of a UTI can can vary and are not the obvious things you might guess, and including things like confusion. Often, there's no pain or it's referred (e.g. back or general pelvis pain). It's worth getting urine checked for this, and it sometimes causes raised temperature, but not always.

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