Hormone treatment
I have two Gleason 9 and one Gleason 8. Thinking about radiation with hormone treatment. How bad are the hot flashes and mood swings?
Hi
I am glad you have reached out. While I do hope our community members respond here with their personal experiences with this, I am sending over a forum discussion that talks about side effects: https://prostatecancer.net/forums/will-soon-start-hormone-therapy-then-radiation. I hope this is helpful. Jill (team member) i will tell you i had 28 treatments of radiation then hormone therapy ( lupron) . The hot flashes were horrible. Couldnt get sleep because of them keeping you awake from the hot flashes were so bad.. finallt talked to my primary doctor and he orescribed paroxitine. It did absolutely nothing after being on it for 3 weeks. So he prescribed venlafaxine. It helped on the first day. What relief finally. But they were starting bsck up so he upped dosr to 150 mg from 75mg . It has been better. Nit gone but better. Then receivd 2nd dose of lupron and started back up. The hot flashes are unbearable to me. Good luck I can hear how hard this has been for you. I wish you were not suffering through all these hot flashes. Is your doctor considering upping the medication or offering a different medication? Jill (Team Member)
Thank you.
Unlike hormonal therapy, the radiation itself typically has few side-effects aside of during the sessions, so only for a few weeks. Those are most often extra fatigue (though not as pronounced as the one caused by ADT/Hormone therapy) and a more pressing urge to go the toilet.
Symptoms like hot flashes and mood swings are associated with the ADT and will vary from men to men and also across different drugs. I can't recommend any as having less side-effect than others because what is true for me might not be true for you. But part of the hot flashed and mood swings comes from how out of balance your hormones get when you block off testosterone. Its basically near-instant andropause/menopause. I find that Norwegian Kelp, which is a supplement available over the counter and even on Amazon, has helped me with hot flashes quite rapidly, after only 3-4 days of using them. My wife and sister, both going through menopause, have both felt relief too when they tried it.
Best of luck to you!Thanks for the reply. It is helpful.
