Side effects of Bicalutamide

Chris, did you suffer from any form of sleep disturbance when you started the Bicalutamide? My partner has been on it just under three weeks now and is waking early hours of the morning which he never did before. Im unsure of this is just another side effect or if it could be depression. 

Hi Cheshire Chris, Yes I sat and read through your posts over the weekend and thank you for sharing your journey :) 

Having had cancer myself I have experienced the fatigue which is what makes me wonder if the sleep disturbance is due to the bicalutamide or if it is more related to getting his head around the latest diagnosis and all that going onto HT entails. :) 

Edited by member 11 Mar 2020 at 18:46  | Reason: Not specified

Im afraid it's all a bit like treading water for me at the moment James as I am trying to support my partner by finding out as much information as I can. We haven't been together as a couple very long although we have been friends for some time as I was recovering from the after-effects of colon cancer when he was diagnosed in 2017 with his. 

I found myself having to deal with my own cancer journey very much on my own and so want to support my partner as much as I possibly can. We do have a local support group which we visited last week and chatted to a great guy who has been on HT for the last 14 years which made us feel a little better. 

I think what's taken us both by surprise really is how quickly the HT has kicked in but as I read on someone else's post I guess it means the bicalutamide is doing its job.  Within a couple of days of starting the HT, the fatigue began and he had an upset tummy for a couple of days but that seems to have gone now. His libido has now disappeared and the sleep disturbance has really only been the last few days and although as Chris says this may be due to him having night flushes he hasn't mentioned feeling flushed so not sure. He said to me on the way to the support group the other day that he just feels very odd. 

Yes Cheshire Chris, Having had colon cancer myself I can totally understand the effect the diagnosis has on anyone. My partner was first diagnosed in 2017 and underwent a radical prostatectomy followed by 20 sessions of radiotherapy. A CT scan showed he had an enlarged lymph gland in his pelvis with a further psma pet scan showing spread to 20 lymph nodes from the pelvis to shoulder. It is this that hit him hard I think because the letter from the oncologist to his G.P following the CT and before the pet scan suggested it was just one lymph and that it maybe possible to treat with some more radiotherapy so long as it wasn't in the same site as the original radiotherapy, I suppose looking back we were a bit naive in thinking that it would just be one.