side effects from zoladex & radiotherapy

No easy answers ...

When I had the hot sweats, I learned three things that helped. At least one may help you:

1. Hats. Get in the habit of wearing a hat. When the flush hits, taking off the hat has an almost instant cooling effect. (Similarly for night sweats; have a top sheet under the duvet, you can then throw of the duvet, but still have one layer so you don't freeze, especially if you fall asleep)

2. Zips. I went through 60 years of hating zip cardigans, now I love them. And zip jackets. When the flush hits, unzip one, two, or three layers in 10 seconds. Much easier than ripping clothes over your head or fumbling with buttons. You'll win no fashion prizes, but it works.

3. Count. Hot flushes generally last about 4 minutes. Count slowly to 240 and it'll be over.

Getting to sleep was a real pain. Increasing activity during the day did help, but not much. It did get easier over my three years on Zoladex, but was always a problem. Now, I'm out like a light and sleep like a baby. So there may be something to look forward to.

Finally, if this change has been quite rapid, get yourself checked out - it may be something entirely different that can be easily sorted.

HEINOUS  thanks for reply I will certainly give each one ago.Like you I keep busy during the day I cant sit around. I have two more zoladex jabs then finnised perhaps nice warm days will help as well  THANKS  davie b

You start to feel the difference soon after the first 'missed dose', three months after your final, but it's gradual.

Then after a few months you'll suddenly realise you're human again!

Good Luck!

Davie b. I’m unsure how long you will be on hormone therapy for. I’m on it for life now. Zipped jackets are great for flushes,  as @heinous points out some practical things.

speak to you GP regards depression, I’m on meds which help. I’ve also done various courses with the local hospital and a local charity, we hear you is a Wiltshire / Bath charity which offer mindfulness courses for local residents, check if there’s something similar locally to you,  the Bath hospital also ran a course on fatigue, this was funded through Macmillan called the hope course. Both help in their own way. It’s good to understand that what you’re feeling is not unique, it takes time to come to terms with longer term treatment.

The mindfulness course is based on the work done by Trisha bartley. Some elements help the course is based on the book

http://trishbartley.co.uk/

That's  sounds like something to look forward too thanks davie b

HI YOUNG MAN  I have two more jabs to go. Thanks for your advice theres a lot  stuff I can look into and read up on       on the depression front my memorys & music on YouTube of that era really help I would like to keep off meds but they are there if needed  thanks for reply  davie b

Hi young man

I have 5 more injection left of 3 yrs treatment, so another 15mths to go yet. I was reading on NHS and other apparently genuine sites that hormone injections are for up to 3 yrs only and they often lose their effect towards the end as the cancer starts to become immune to the treatment. I'm sure my oncologist told me after the treatment had finished they would monitor me for a while to see if psa rises again and cancer starts to increase again and if so I could have a little chemo or back on hormone jabs again for life. I have had 37 days of RT combined with 3 yrs of zoladex. My cancer was locally advanced, gleason 9 and aggressive and had spread to 4 lymph nodes. My psa after RT had decreased from 8.8 down to 0.001 which he was very pleased with. My concern is when I end my hormone treatment is if it comes back and I can't have more hormone treatment what next. I'm concerned as to how long life expectancy is after treatment. 

No worries! Really!

You have the initial three years, and that's fine.

Should you have to restart later, that'll be fine too,  and it could be quite a while before it became ' hormone resistant'. And then there will still be chemo options, and the way things are going, more.

The one and only good thing about prostate cancer is that it's fairly slow, not to fast even for those of us who had aggressive tumors.

With a bit of luck (and we all need that), we're talking years.

( I hope Youngman agrees!)

Heinous. Totally agree.  Hope is the only thing we have. We’re all different and beng biological beings nothing can be accurately estimated. I’ve just passed two years on hormone currently 52 so hoping it keeps working for a long time yet. 
Even after it stops there are plenty of options new drugs / treatments which help slow things down.

Every new ache can put me in a spin but giving in robs us and our loved ones of what we do have. It’s important to frame the positive as much as possible. I’m working (from home) I’m mobile, I have a lovely family and planned a dream holiday next year. Planning for the future is so important 

on the incurable group there is a three good things thread which has been going for some time. It’s important going through active treatment to hold onto good things