Bicalutamide

Hi Penny Welcome to the club no one wants to join. I had 28 days on Bicalutamide and had no side effects whatsoever. I am now on 6 monthly injections of Decapeptyl (22,5mg) - hormone treatment. I am nine months into my journey and its only now the side effects have kicked in with a large kick!

Hot sweats, boobs growing, weight gain and tearful days - but I am positive and everyday is a new day. (I now know how you ladies feel!).

For me - and this is me - I think of the positives - my grand children and my adult kids and am glad that I am still able to enjoy and active life.

We are all different and I hope your husband can cope with the initial problems and his treatment works.

Best wishes  to you both for the future and remember there are plenty of people willing to give advice and details of their own challenges, as I said above we are all in the club but all different.

Kind regards - Brian. xx

Brian, Penny,

Like Brian I was on Bicalutamide for 30 days, then onto the 6 monthly injections of Decapeptyl.

My hot flushes started after about 3 weeks, just the odd one now and again.

After the Radiation treatment and 2 Decapeptyl injections I am in Remission.  Nobody has told my hormones though.  Last injection was on Christmas Eve, and it could be another 6 to 8 months before they are out of my system.

Hot Flushes worse than ever now.  It was only the Hot Flushes and Fatigue I got for side effects.

Hi Penny

Similar to the others, I started on Bicalutamide and then onto to 3 monthly Prostap injections.

As far as I can recall, I had no side effects from the Bicalutamide. Prostap is a different story. Tiredness,  fatigue, fitness levels fell off a cliff, no libido whatsoever, weight gain, hot flushes and type 2 diabetes.

Like Steve, I had my last Prostap in December last year and the hot flushes are still with me. I keep telling myself they are tailing off but I'm not sure ! 

Anyway, in summary, the effects of the Bicalutamide were not noticeable, but the Prostap, itself, most definitely was.

You havnt mentioned what further treatment he is going to have, so if you let us know, then I'm sure there will be others who can help

Regards

Stuart

Hi Penny, I had bicalutamide for 28 days from January and then a six month decapeptyl jab on 7th Feb. For me the bicalutamide wasn't a big problem but the Decapeptyl has been, and still is horrendous, so much so that I've delayed my second injection. But will be starting it again soon. Firstly from the replies you've had already you can see that everyone is affected differently and only a few of us seem to have extreme reactions to the hormone therapy.  The main recommendation which I have followed is to take 100 mg of sage oil each day in capsule form, but this can take 4 weeks to take full effect. Meanwhile ask the oncologist for a prescription of Cyprotene acetate, this definitely helped me until the sage oil kicked in. If hubby continues to suffer from the side effects, please keep a close eye on his mental health and if worried speak to your oncologist or GP for anti depressants. Believe me it's very hard for some of us to ask for help with our mental health, but better and extra tablet than unbearable long term suffering. Work together to get him through this and it will be all worthwhile in the end.

Thank you everyone for sharing your experiences. Think I was possibly over reacting to every little thing. Every time he says I feel a bit of colour, I automatically think it’s a side effect. 
my husband has his first injection next Tuesday, which is zoladex I think. Very confusing because the paper work says “or prostap or decapeptyl”. Basically he starts having his jabs.  Again thank you the advice. It’s very helpful. Xx

Penny, you weren't over-reacting.  It shows how much you love your husband.

As you saw, so many people with the same thing in common.

That's the beauty of this forum.