Prostate Cancer :: Unexpected Weight Loss During Hormone Therapy


May 27, 2016

My 65 yr old brother was diagnosed with PC last December and has been receiving hormone therapy injections since then.

He recently commented that he’d lost about a stone in weight since January and I started worrying.  Since doing some research on the net, I’m still worried as I can only find weight gain mentioned  as a common side effect of this therapy. 

The only mention of weight loss is in connection with other symptoms such as loss of appetite due to sickness, bone pain etc in more advanced cancer.  So far he hasn’t had any of those and his only symptoms, apart from a few hot flushes, are an increased need to pee and taking longer to do so.  He hasn’t been on a strict diet and, although he’s been more careful in what he eats for several years, he hasn’t been able to shift much weight until now.  He still has a healthy appetite.

I don’t know whether we’re worrying unnecessarily or whether he should have a word with the doctor.    

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Prostate Cancer :: Hot Flushes - Hormone Therapy

 Here are my own observations at week five into LH hormone therapy.

> After a faltering start I settled into three or so mild hot flushes a day with some at night.

> The worst part for me is that shortly after the onset of a flush my memory is impaired and logical thought becomes confused. I could live with the fuzzy feeling in my head if that was all. This impairment lasts about one hour after the flush subsides. So I cannot do much sensible work or play the piano without making a hash of it and frequently forgetting how to continue the piece I am playing.

> I have found the advice to keep cool helpful. So I wear lighter clothes than formerly and try to keep a feeling of being slightly cold. I don't like that but it is better than a flush.

> I have accepted the advice of many that exercise is helpful. Amongst other benefits it is held to assist in limiting hot flushes. So in addition to my afternoon stroll with my wife (I.5 to 2 mph) I now take two brisk walks a week on my own. (3 to 3.5 mph - I used to manage over 4 mph). Again picking up on advice relating to hormone treatment I have added home devised power exercises with chest expander spring and hurrying up and down the stairs six times in succession. Plus, pelvic floor exercises in anticipation of radiotherapy.

> I found that stress, warming exercise excluded, frequently brings on a flush. 

DISCOVERY or just something I had missed.

> I have found that if during a flush if I do some exercise that I know from experience will be enough to warm me, when I stop I cool down normally and so cut short the flush. (I must cool down. If I stay warm the flush takes off again within a few minutes.) My flushes normally last about 90 minutes. For me the effective exercising is

>> six  times rapidly up and down stairs.

>> five minutes brisk walking

> If I do this exercising within about 60 seconds of the start of the flush I avoid the memory and logic problems. (Any delay and the problems last the usual hour after the end of the exercising / flush. )

Does anyone use a similar "cure" for a flush? Does it work for anyone else? 

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I think their logic was that surgery gave the greatest chance of 100% cure.

However I am very apprehensive about surgery and really struggling to make up my mind....

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2. If I have orchiectomy surgery, would I STILL need to take Casodex to keep the PSA down?

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Is this really temporary?

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Are hormone replacement therapy doctors are doing the job of an endocrinologist, or is it the same, or is there an advantage of one or the other?

Since year 2000, at the age of 50, doctors and blood tests I have told me I have low testosterone?

(at the time I went to an Internal Medicine doctor for low energy and exhaustion and he said testosterone was below 200)
I am looking into finding a doctor that will prescribe something more effective than a 150 mg testosterone cypionate injection 1 x each 2 weeks, that I get from a conservative family MD.

I recently looked into getting help through the Internet for hormone replacement therapy.

At this point, I am not sure what to do.

Does anyone have good solid advise, not strongly influenced by money profit?

I have read some about the side effects, however, can anyone advise me or comment on any of the following medicines recommended for me by the online HRT clinic doctor?

Here is the list:

150mg testosterone cypionate 1 x a week
Anastrozole 0.5 po 2x/week
HCG 500 IU SQ 2x/week
Sermorelin Forte 18mg for GH deficiency
DHEA 5mg
Fish oil 3,000mg
vitamin D3 5,000IU/day with vitamin K2 45 mcg take with fatty healthy food.

This online HRT Clinic cannot use medical insurance, because of the prescriptions.

I have not found any negative feedback on this Clinic, as I have with some others.

At this time, unless something else comes up, I am going to get an appointment with an Endocrinologist.

However, my concern is that doctors will not prescribe medicines and doses of medicines, (medicines that will work for me) that are not approved by the FDA and that are not covered by insurance companies.

Now, I feel exploited by the online HRT MD's, because of the costs, and cut short by regular MD's, because of the FDA laws and the insurance companies.

My other position is (the position some are counting on) to pay whatever it takes to feel better, and I will if I cannot find another solution. I want to increase the quality of life for myself and others, without anymore physical suffering/mistakes, and without anymore financial suffering/mistakes.

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