Lupron Injections

ob66 said:

Lupron
Thanks Dr. Jeff.....Had the injection, climbed on a plane for a 3 week vacation and nothing. I mean nothing. Some mild hot flashes a couple of weeks after the injection, but not that often, and not that bad. Have been taking extra calcium as well. All is well in this dept. Now just to get healing complete with the AUS and I will be a happy camper.

erisian said:

Muscle pain
You will have MUCH less pain if the muscle that it is injected into is completely relaxed during the injection. I got the 'Lupron Limp' a couple of times before someone clued me in on relaxing, and it has worked every time since then.

Samsungtech1 said:

Treatment
Sounds like your dad and I are on the same path. My cancer metastisis was to lungs. I am 66 years old now and have to admit that quality means more than years. I hope your father gets through this and lasts as long as his health insurance. Just kidding. Metastic cancer is never good, but it sure makes you appreciate life. I am going trout fishing with my son, in the Kenai penin, AK in October. Why. Not? It is all catch and release, but usually I fish for salmon up there. Never been up there in October, but this disease seems to make you want to do things out of the ordinary. The rainbow trout record out of that river is over 42 pounds. Wow! When your life is winding down it would seem that you would want to enjoy all you can. Going to Europe next spring, but going to Cuba this year. Cigars are worth it. I quit smoking in 1985, but every doctor I met said the nodules in lungs were from smoking. Biopsy said prostate cancer. Do not tell Dr.s that you ever smoked, no matter what it was. Seems like they give the impression you deserve to die.
Good luck to your dad. Hope he gets to enjoy it all.

Mike

2ndBase said:

Lupron
I took a lupron shot to shrink my prostate before radiation. The cancer had already spread. If I had it to do over I would have not taken the shot as I still refuse to take more. I'm doing fine and though my psa is over 100 and I was given two years to live at age 52 in 2004, I am glad I no longer even consider such a treatment. Do what you want and deal with it as you must. Lupron is certainly not a cure and does nothing to improve your lifespan. I know.

My dad was diagnosed last year and had since been on the lupron. After the first shot, his psa dropped significantly and after the second or 3rd, it was already zero and had been zero since. The doc didn't want to do surgery on him because he is 82 and very frail from other neurological conditions, but we were told that the lupron is best and I believe it is, because it has been known to work for a long period of time and it takes care of other cancer cells that may be present in other cells but are too small to be detectable. My take on this is this. It beats chemo, radiation and surgery, and so far, it's been working with my dad and my fear is for him to stop for comparing it to antibiotics that one is supposed to be on to completely subdue the "enemy", I fear that if his shot gets delayed, the enemy would develope resistance to it.

Samsungtech1 said:

Treatment
Sounds like your dad and I are on the same path. My cancer metastisis was to lungs. I am 66 years old now and have to admit that quality means more than years. I hope your father gets through this and lasts as long as his health insurance. Just kidding. Metastic cancer is never good, but it sure makes you appreciate life. I am going trout fishing with my son, in the Kenai penin, AK in October. Why. Not? It is all catch and release, but usually I fish for salmon up there. Never been up there in October, but this disease seems to make you want to do things out of the ordinary. The rainbow trout record out of that river is over 42 pounds. Wow! When your life is winding down it would seem that you would want to enjoy all you can. Going to Europe next spring, but going to Cuba this year. Cigars are worth it. I quit smoking in 1985, but every doctor I met said the nodules in lungs were from smoking. Biopsy said prostate cancer. Do not tell Dr.s that you ever smoked, no matter what it was. Seems like they give the impression you deserve to die.
Good luck to your dad. Hope he gets to enjoy it all.

Mike

I think we should give only true information to the doctors because even if it isn't for us, those might help others in knowing the real deal about this illness and possibly be able to improve treatment regimens, if not find cure.

still above ground said:

Treatment
I am 63 and been on the bus since 2005 and had the big surgery that October. All was well till 2009 when a new tumor was found in the bed. I then made 42 trips to the microwave for radiation. Thats when the fun really began as I had some major problems at the end. I had a stricture and could not pee. It was the worst pain ever. They roto rooted me and it got better for a while. Fatigue, spasms, etc., and I was miserable for a while. I got somewhat better for a few months then my PSA tripled in 30 days so they started me on Lupron, megestrol, and Casodex. I am now really having fun as i am weak as a day old cat, feel sick after eating, have sweats and or hot flashes, do not sleep well at all, and have depression. The good news is that my PSA is now 2.4. I have found on the net that Lupron is a Chemo treatment which none of my Doctors has mentioned. Have any of you guys on Lupron been told that it is Chemo? I fully understand that Lupron does nor cure anything but slows progression in advanced cancer.

My dad's doc didn't say the word chemo when he prescribed lupron. We were told this is a hormone which made me feel like it is "organic" or natural. Found out today that it is "man-made" but I don't think there is a natural one in the market. Anyways, so far we are satisfied with lupron as my dad's psa had significantly dropped and went to nil in only a few sessions and we want him to receive it for as long as he could. Dad's been having depression, but then again, he is 82 and had been wheelchair and bed bound for many years before even being diagnosed. We have not noticed any thinning of hair nor nausea such as commonly seen in those receiving chemo. He's had bone pains from even before being on the drug, from pre-existing osteoarthritis, and they have been no worse than prior to lupron . Actually he has very rarely complained of bone pain since he started on drug.

Hey there my name is Gregory longmire, aka socks. Had prostate surgery 4yrs ago. Then had to have radiation traetments.  (32wks off on weekends). Now i'm on Lupron.

I'am now 65 and still employed. I'am off work for now to see what this Lupron stuff does to me. After taken it,it cause my ankles to swell, i do get hot flashes, but nothing 

to sweat over. ( oh that's funny.). Just got back from Myrtl Beach South Carolina yesterday. It was Beautiful. Took my clubs but couldn't play problems wit a little back pain.

Hopefully this Lupron plan works cause really don't want to be radiated.  But my experience has not been really bad at all.  PS: if this is all it does to me.  oh yeah plus was

i was taken steroids,morpin,and some more stuff. i forget.  Ok holla back! 

A year ago, I was diagnosed with Stage 2B prostate cancer (PSA 5.5; Gleason 7--all on left side only). As part of proton beam therapy protocol, which was highly effective, I was put on Lupron for two months prior, two months during, and two months post proton treatment, I was intent on getting the first 3-month shot ASAP to stop progression of the cancer, but dreaded getting the second 3-month shot. The second and last 3-month shot timed out four months ago. Here are my observations on this drug.
1) For the first 3 weeks, I began to wonder if they gave my the wrong shot. Then during the fourth week it started to hit me pretty hard. Following were my side effects.
2) Rapid loss in libido and sexual function starting week 4. Testicular shrinkage. Semen production dropped to zero. No sex for many months. I expected normal function to return about a month after the last shot timed out. It took four full months for the effects to even START to wear off. I expect it will be six months from the time-out before I get to 80-90% recovery from side effects.
3) Hot flashes typically 2 X per hour. In the end, I did not get a good night's sleep for a YEAR. The hot flashes were so frequent and intense, I was lucky to sleep for an hour at a time--and often less. Four months from the time out, the hot flashes are just starting to be manageable.
4) Impaired vision, which took months to recover from.
5) Joint pain, which still lingers.
6) Weight gain (+15 pounds) to a weight I have never even come close to in the past. Still struggling to get the "baby fat" off.
7) Increased cholesterol, from 160 to 237 in just a few months, under the same diet.
8) Liver damage (GGT came in very high at 130), with no prior liver issues and very low alcohol use. A liver test and cholesterol test should be mandatory every several months while on this drug.
9) Notable breast growth. If I stayed on this much longer I would have been a C-cup.
10) Tiredness and general malaise; shortness of breath on modest exertion.
11) Even with devoted exercise, my body responded weakly to maintenance of muscle mass, strength and endurance.
12) Notable reduction in facial hair growth, which has returned four months post, and body hair, which has not returned.

Overall, I'm not sure if the Lupron was a positive net contributor to curing my cancer, relative to impact of nine weeks of proton therapy, but I have no desire to ever take it again--for any reason.

Was on Lupron for 16 months. Took myself off. Tired of joint pain, no sleep, mood swings, hot flashes, mild amnesia, weight gain, fleeting chest pains.

PSA hovered around 4 for a low. Was off Lupron for one year and feeling very good. But that all turned ugly real quick. Two trips to ER with metastatic hip and spine pain. Given oxy, valium and steriod. Then urine retention started with swollen prostate constricture to urethra. Bad shape when I got into see Urologist. Voided 1.5 liters of urine. Given the option of green light laser to vaporize prostate tissue where needed. I opted to self catheter for the time being. Back in a week for second monthly Lupron shot. Yes this PC w/mets is a tad more than 'inconvenient'. The bone pain is off the scale and you do not want to go there.

How to shrink prostate naturally and find natural remedies for bone pain and bone health is the challenging question for me today. Major lifestyle changes needed to effect the 'remission' to slow cancer progression. Chemo cannot work because cancer stem cells survive and the cancer returns with avengence.

Now back on Casodex and Lupron. I should have hit this cancer hard during the period of the "Lupron vacation'. Natural healing therapies are difficult to navigate while on Lupron.   Chemo and radiation stir up free radicals and can make the cancer even worse. Truly it is about QOL and nothing more.

How long the side effects last after Lupron therapy has been discontinued depends to an important extent on the length of the therapy. Just from reading other people's findings, most seem to recover in about a year if the Lupron period was 1-2 years.  If the Lupron therapy was longer than that, the recovery will be longer as well and sometimes complete recovery will not happen. Age may also play a role.

It may not always be straightforward to differentiate the side effects from Lupron from the effects of aging.

I was on Lupron for 18 months and recovery (no more side effects and back to a 'normal' testosterone) took about a year.