Hormone therapy and feelings

Hello Dj manic, I’m sorry that you’re having a tough time with the HT. we had a tough time with it too! Easier said than done, I know, but try to look for the positives.

The HT is preventing those darned cancer cells from getting a bigger hold  - the ht is actually buying you life. 

As we were growing up, little boys were made to feel that tears are shameful - ‘brave boys and men don’t cry’  was the message. Well, that’s a nonsense. Tears are an expression of our very human emotion - just as a smile, laughter, shrugged shoulders or raised eye brows! Let the tears flow - this will be both an outlet of your pent up emotions and show that you are human!

Tadalafil is not the only option for ED. For is, there was good NHS recognition of the problem, sensitive discussion and options of the various tablets, penile injection or a pump. However, the tablets were not advised given my husbands medical history, he turned a sickly green at the thought of injections and the pump remains work in progress :( BUT , as I said to him , he is much more to me than ‘just a penis’. )

For chronic diarrhoea , I suggest you have a word with your medical team if it really is chronic - ie been going on for a long while and not just a few days. 

I hope you feel better soon. 

Thank you so much for your kind words.  It made me feel uplifted. I knew the journey  was going to be difficult. Like you said us men were  brought up to not cry etc.  Thank you again for your reply  it has helped all the best to you and your husband 

Hello Dj manic 

I have been just where you are now - and indeed I have a good cry at a couple of small things most days (and I completed HT last December!) Mrs Millibob has told me she's aware of how emotional I get and loves me for it!!

I treated all the side effects as a challenge - they aren't going to get the better of me. Sage tablets for hot flushes, cream for my itching, cuddles and hugs for my ED, weight gain, bigger trousers and fatigue-get up and take the dog for an extra walk(he loved it!!). Yes I did have 2/3 "dark days" but I came on here for the support I needed and told myself it was all for those 2 magic words - "curative pathway".

All I can suggest for the head and stomach ache and diarrhea is to stop the pills and have a word with your team regearing other medication.

I hope this helps and you are back to the new normal soon.

Best wishes - Brian.

Hi Dj manic ,

There are many problems with side effects. 

The hormone therapy causes different problems for different people. 

I had just about got to grips with the fatigue when I went on my radiotherapy. That added to the fatigue. I then had a herniated disc which is now receding but caused me a stack of problems. 

Right in the middle of some serious despondency I had a really good PSA result. 

So, I thought to myself:

• I'm knackered. 
• Everything hurts. 
• That makes me miserable. 
• My hot flushes continue. 

BUT my oncologist seems to have been right. 

So now I am getting a plan together to get back to where I want to be. 

It will take some time - about a year I think - and some parts of it will be really boring. But the idea of the plan has taken hold and the third point is pretty much under control.

Other people will come in with their own ideas, but for me the idea of a plan works. 

I am lucky in that the ED has not caused me a problem. My wife has her own problems, and we just want to be with each other, so I have not requested and drugs or other assistance. It just doesn't matter enough. 

Watch out from the ideas from others, and then make your own plan. 

You are being given treated for a form of cancer where your life can be extended, even if the cancer can't be cured. 

You are already winning.

Thank you for your wise words. I have got to try and be more positive which is hard sometimes

Thank you for you reply it helped me a lot.  positive is the word even though its hard sometimes   all the best to you

Hi Dj manic,

The tearfulness got me too on HT.  I went through a period of being depressed and no interest in many things including sex - so I worried less about the ED in itself but more about why I was not worried about ED (if that makes sense).

HT is an effective treatment and that's really important in helping you survive.  The side effects are so-and-so's.  If you find then difficult to cope with them then reach out and get help (I needed a lot of support and am very grateful to Macmillan / NHS etc.). 

The headaches / stomache ache / diarrhea sound like something to get checked out with your support nurse / gp.

And HT doesn't last forever and things do come back to normal. I had almost three years of HT, stopping just over four years ago - PSA is still low and prognosis as good as I could have hoped for (and mine was fairly crap initially Gleason 9, PSA 141, Grade 4).

Good luck 

Thank you so much for your reply, everyone on here has been really helpful. it is a long journey but it helps having such great people on here who knows how it is  all the best to you