Testosterone rise rate after stopping HT (Firmagon)

dw055 said:

For reference

Last Firmagon (1 mo) shot was January 14. So I assume I start counting from end of effectiveness mid-February. I had my Testosterone level checked last week and it was at 8  after about a month and a half. Null libido, and hot flashes every 40 minutes like clockwork still.

I get them every 28 days.  Pharmacist just said that I needed to het a shot on each side.  Bad news.  Anyhow Iam back to 1 injection every 28 days.  Hoping it keeps up the desired results as pain and swelling from these shots really hurts.

Knowing that it is going to fail eventually makes this treatment hard.  Not sure what is next, but I imagine it will not be better.  I know it will fail, but what a great time to live.  Really helps to visit friends, and travel to as many places as you can.

Mike

DW055

Thanks for the info. It is most helpfull to the ones in our boat.

Can you indicate the units of the test. Is it 14 ng/dL?

Some countries uses ng/ml which may confuse the folks reading your thread. It would be helpfull too if you add the levels of the PSA and your symptoms/experiences along the graph of the testosterone.

Best wishes for full recovery.

VG  

dw055 said:

symptoms and levels

Thanks,  The units are ng/dl yes. PSA is 0.7 but too early after RT to mean much. Symptoms have not changed in the 5 months since last shot. My testosterone level is at 10 two weeks ago, so it isnt doing much.

Symptoms are hot flashes every 30 min, ED, no libido, fatigue, insomnia, anemia. You mentioned earlier in the thread that the shorter the half-life the longer it takes for recovery? Which seems reverse but maybe not.  Firmagon seems to have a fairly short half life compared to Lupron and some of the others. I know its a different mechanism than the others.

It looks like that the testosterone is bouncing but rising continuously. This is a good sign meaning that your pituitary got its GnRH receptors “clean” and started to function normally.

Firmagon is an antagonist that “glues” itself to the GnRH receptors of the pituitary gland. By doing so it prohibits the gland from producing/sending down the luteinising hormones (LH) and follicle-stimulating hormone (FSH) that will promote the testis to manufacture testosterone (T). The mechanism of Firmagon is faster in turning down the production of T because it stops the source of the stimulation. Other traditional LHRH drugs (agonists) produce the stimulating LH in great quantities flooding the system and stopping the testis to demand for LH +FSH or stopping the pituitary from sending them, therefore stopping its function. This explains why there is a surge in T (and more PSA) at the start of taking agonists like Lupron.

In other words, in regards to testosterone production (that reflects in the hypogonadism symptoms), agonists work at the testis (factory of T) and antagonists work at the pituitary. That explains the logical of different times of recovery to start “feeling good”. Firmagon is faster in getting down the factory but the Lupron alike are faster in starting it. Both depend on our system’s capability in “cleaning” off the injected synthetic substances (androgens, etc)

Best.

VG

VascodaGama said:

Timetable for Hypogonadism

Dw055

There is no timetable for rising testosterone. The worst effect after a hormonal course is if our brain does not start signalling to the testicles to manufacture androgens. Though rare, one should think on the probability for such to happen.

I have risen this subject in another forum and got some replies all indicative that the average time to start “feeling good” again varied between two and twelve months. This relates to the period with a starting mark at the end of the effectiveness of any agonist (leuprolide, goserelin, triptorelin, etc.) or antagonist (Degarelix). It seems that the longer the drug’s half-life the quicker one starts feeling a relief from the hypogonadism symptoms.

The return to normal levels of testosterone is also dependent on the length one has been in a hypogonadism status.
The “feeling good” and hypogonadism are differ among patients but one starts gradually to feel relief while still on castration in terms on levels of testosterone.

In my case on intermittent hormonal administration with just mono-blockade of 3 times 6-month shots Eligard (total of 18 months of effectiveness), I start feeling good two months after the end of effectiveness of the drug. At that time the testosterone level had risen a fraction from <0.01 to 0.11 ng/ml (11 ng/ dl) which classified me still on castration (normal levels are above 2.5 (250 ng/dl).
Libido was back fully at the three month mark.

Surely we are different and so it will be the way our bodies respond but one can control the effect and quicker the process with TRT pads (testosterone replacement therapy).

Give time a chance and you will do fine.

Vgama 

My husband had his prostate taken out 5 years ago. His PSA level was fine for about 4 years.

Then his PSA started going up.  His new doctor told him he  had cancer again. He gave him 38 radiation treatments after getting a luprone shot.

He was just tested again and his testosterone level is way up, and so is his PSA(from 0.1 to 0.5.)

Can the PSA level go up because the testosterone level went up? So it may be a false PSA level?

artie said:

tetosterone

My teatoterone level has stayed low after 3years of taking 5 shots of degaralix in 2016.Has anybody had smilar experience?

Hi Artie,

Recovery is variable, most men that have been on Firmagon for six months or less recover in a few months, you are a rare example of a man that has not.
The longer you are on the stuff, the lower your testosterone level going in and the older you are the less likely you are to recover.
I will have been on the stuff for nineteenth months this September when I take my last shot, I reckon it is about a 50:50 if I recover or not and I think my testosterone level will be permanently depressed.

Best wishes,

Georges