Long Term Effects fro Hormone Therapy

frazie and artie,

Vasco is the recognized expert on HT at this Board.  He will no doubt respond soon, or you might try a PM to him (that is, use the Personal Message function).

Frazie,

According to the forum’s data I see that you have being participating in this board since 2004. This entry is your second as a survivor of PCa. Congratulations.

Regarding your inquire on the long term effects from hormonal treatment; I would say that your experience could be considered as normal because you are now on your one year mile stone post the end of the treatment, which is a reasonable period to expect the body to take to return to normal function.

In fact there is no typical time frame in returning to normalcy as the effects are experienced differently by each patient (mild in some and nasty in others) because, apart from the consequences in being under treatment during a long period, many other factors are in play when the endocrine system gets disrupted. Surely the time spent under treatment affects the recovery and yours four years would be considered too long by many medical oncologists. The famous Dr. Myers has point out that keeping a patient in chemical castration over two years could lead to permanent loss of some functions of the endocrine system. He was a supporter of the intermittent approach in hormonal therapies.

The common goal of the hormonal treatment using LHRH agonists (Lupron, Zoladex, Eligard, etc) is to disrupt the function of the pituitary causing havoc in the system preventing the pituitary from sending down the regulating signals (to organs and glands) to produce other hormones and androgens. The testes stop producing testosterone as much as the Thyroid stops producing the T4 hormone required in metabolisms. Apart from the Pituitary, other parts of the endocrine mechanism also become disrupted and unbalanced. These are the thyroid gland, parathyroid glands, adrenal glands, pancreas, ovaries and testicles. Any function involving the good work of the above parts will be affected and it will take several months to return to a normal state once the pituitary returns to its proper functionality.

Some guys never return to normalcy. One can verify if one got Pituitary Gland Disorder or if the presenting symptoms are related to the loss of the functionality of one of the endocrine parts alone. For instance, one can check the levels of Testosterone (Testis functionality) as well as one can check the level of T4, T3 and TSH (Thyroid functionality). Hot Flashes is a cause of disruption of our body’s temperature clock. It can be a cause from an unbalanced endocrine system.

I wonder about your present PSA level. Have you done a testosterone blood test?

Please note that I have no medical enrolment. I have a keen interest and enthusiasm in anything related to prostate cancer, which took me into researching and studying the matter since 2000 when I become a survivor and continuing patient.

Best wishes,

VGama