The end of two years of hormone therapy

 Hi Elle and Gee,

Yep. Yep, Yep, Yep……..to all those side effects….Prostap3 is awful stuff😩

I had my last Prostap on 4/4/2024, a date that will be imprinted on my mind forever. I too had 2 years of it as well. 6 months on(3 months since it ran out supposedly) and I notice a difference, flushes much better, joint aches and pains getting better but I’m working hard to regain that. I’m on sertraline for the anxiety and am staying on it until I know treatment has worked. Brain fog getting better and much more motivated t get on with life.

And I know what Gee means about being off it lifting his spirits, it certainly did for me on 4th July when I was due my next injection which I’d didn’t get, I couldn’t stop smiling especially as my PSA was undetectable.😊

I am keeping a monthly diary on journey thread so we must compare notes. I have also sweet talked my GP into giving me testosterone tests at the same time as my PSA…might be worth a shot for Gee and compare readings with Andy62.

Good luck to both of you😊

Derek

Hi Elle & Gee.

I am on Zoladex for my HT and have experienced most of those side effects. I think they are pretty much unavoidable. I was given 14 sessions of acupuncture that some people seem to benefit from but, alas, not me. One thing that has helped is Medroxyprogesterone. I still have most of the side effects, but my hot flushes are much less frequent. This helps a lot at night, and now I am only awoken with hot flushes a couple of times, rather than the four or five times before, and my insomnia has almost ceased. The Medroxy does take some time to kick in - nearly three months for me - so I'm glad I persisted with it.

Good luck and best wishes with your treatment.

My last HT injection (zoladex) was late Jan 2020. That means the pellet had dissolved away by April 2020. I think that is the time you can say the drug has cleared your system. However the effects of the drug take longer to clear your system. In my case my testosterone in August 2020 was 1.3 so above castrate level, but well below normal. I had me first morning erection on Christmas day 2020. By April 2021 my testosterone was 17.9 so back in the normal range. So for me the thing to note was that testosterone had barely recovered after four months, was probably recovered after 9 months and definitely recovered after 12 months. It seems we are all different, but I think my recovery was fairly normal.

Edited by member 08 Oct 2024 at 23:31  | Reason: Not specified

7 more monthly degarelix and I will join you on the same journery , look forward to updates .

Best wishes

                    Mike

Thanks Mike,

Fingers cross mine stay the same too, currently the side effects are not pleasant but are manageable. I'm on 12 week Zoladex after the initial first 4 week one. We have all the dates listed on our blackboard in the kitchen. I'm taking great satisfaction in crossing them off, admittedly only two crosses so far 😁 next one beginning of Nov

All the best for your remaining ones

John

That’s interesting Elle….I had mine in my belly(alternate sides) and aches and pains mainly in my hips🤔🤔🤔

Edited by member 11 Oct 2024 at 16:41  | Reason: Not specified

It's now been 3 months since Gee's last Prostap3 ran out. He was slowly starting to feel better, as in less achy & stiff, until Covid paid us its first ever visit on bonfire night. The Friday before, he'd called at the chemist that's attached to the GP surgery, to pick up his Tamsulosin, and on coming out, he mentioned that there was an unsavoury character in there coughing their head off, and effing & jeffing in everyone's faces. The following Tuesday, he awoke with a red raw sore throat, the reddest I've ever seen. He could hardly swallow, couldn't eat at all, and said he felt dreadful. I bought some covid tests, and his immediately showed positive. The next 3 days he spent asleep in bed, only waking occasionally for a sip of water or a wee. 

We all eventually tested positive, with our eldest & I just having a slight cough, and our youngest having no symptoms at all. The last time any of us had a jab was December '21. 

After 7 days he did another test, which was negative, but he was left with a relentless, hacking cough.

The following week he noticed that his heart was beating faster than usual, but put it down to his body still fighting the remnants of covid. Then on the 27th, he awoke in a terrible state. He was shaking, said he couldn't breathe, and felt like he was going to pass out. As it didn't seem to be passing, we went to A&E. They did 2 ECG's, a blood test and a urine test. All came back fine, and he was sent home with a prescription for 3 diazepam, which he didn't want, and was told it was 'just' a nocturnal panic attack.

Two days later, after a spot of Christmas shopping, he got a stabbing pain in his right side, which, in the space of 15 minutes, got worse and worse til he was doubled over in agony. Another visit to A&E, and he was told it was costochondritis, caused by the coughing of covid. He was sent home with a prescription for 5 days of 400mg of ibuprofen. 

The pain in his side has now almost gone, but the high resting heart rate has started to worry him, as it's between 95 & 120 when doing nothing.

After seeing his GP today, he's been prescribed a month of Propranolol & Sertraline. He has to go back for another ECG tomorrow, and has an appointment for a blood test next Tuesday that the referral letter says will test for, tfgps thyroid not on t4, nfl lipid profile non fasting, and (a1c) hba1c. (I'll Google what they are later).

He's had 2 Propranolol so far today, and 1 Sertraline, and he says he feels somewhat calmer, though I doubt either have worked that quickly.

Hopefully it won't be a long wait for the blood test results. Then around the 18th of January, it's the dreaded first PSA test since coming off Prostap3.

Best wishes to all.

Elle & Gee xx

The best and quickest way to get advice is to ask the pharmacy which dispensed the medicines, it is exactly the sort of thing pharmacists are expert in.

There is an annoyingly persistent cough going round (don't I know it!) but other tell me it goes away eventually.

Good luck going forwards.