Guest guest Posted July 20, 2007 Report Share Posted July 20, 2007 Coach Barken May I thank you for your words of wisdom on the group. In the UK the equivalent drug that is injected under the skin 3 monthly or monthly is Zoledex I have been on it over 2 years on a monthly dose and have not suffered great mood swings, though I have been prescribed Effexor a serotonin enhancer for many years to help with fibromyalgia. A friend had 3 monthly dose and suffered greatly from mood swings. I know he was asking for a move to monthly, but I haven't had a recent update. I suppose I opted for monthly "shots" as I thought I would have a lower dose more and thus may have less side effects. I have recently added Casodex 50mg/d but have stopped taking it twice when I got stomach and bowel problems. I'll go back to taking it after a week or two and try to rule his out as the cause as there have been some summer bugs going round. Best wishes to you all Group owner Re: Re: Paranoia Hi Fuller What you describe is very very real. I got to know my patients when I used to be in practice , very very well. Some of them were my patients years before they were diagnosed with prostate cancer. Being on Lupron did affect some of the patients really drastically. I even had one patient who refused the Hormonal Blockade and preferred the Chemotherapy. Emotional lability is not something people are proud and feel comfortable talking about it, especially Men. The labile emotional manifestation is miss by physician and is probably under reported , because we tend to blame it on the emotional distress of the diagnosis. When you ask the patient in a follow up , how are you doing? The answer invariably , I am doing ok. They are happy with the decline of PSA due to the Lupron. If you bother to ask the wife accompanying the patient, you hear so often a different story. The wife will tell me that the emotional situation is like a roller coaster -Depression, Anxiety or Self Pity , Crying, Nastiness and insomnia are really taking a toll on the patient and his family. As someone who started the first support group in 1986 ( First meeting took place in my office over coffee and donuts- I probably should have used Green Tea, Pomegranate Juice etc) I know the tremendous benefit and support that patients get from support groups. As someone that was in the first class of e mail lists on the Internet ( AOL on Ralph Valle group) I know how important and very valuable are the e mail lists and web sites like Herbert's YANA web sites. As someone in touch with so many patient on the Net on the Phone and day to day interaction, I think that the psychological support is a daily battle and I think that there is a place in some cases to get help from Psychologists and even consider some mild medications. Just to help the guy going through overwhelming tight spots. As a rule I am against medications and I am all for self reliacne, but we need sometimes more intensive help. It is true that we can walk, but sometimes we need temporary crutches. Although the world is full of suffering, it s full also of the overcoming of it Helen Keller Coach Barken .. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted July 20, 2007 Report Share Posted July 20, 2007 Interesting discussion. When Bill went on hormones he became very irritable and moody. We talked about it and I think that he honestly did not realize what he was like to live with. After about 3 months on the medications things seemed to even out. I do not know if his body adjusted or if he was aware and compensating. Kathy From: ProstateCancerSupport [mailto:ProstateCancerSupport ] On Behalf Of Metcalf Sent: Friday, July 20, 2007 3:31 PM To: ProstateCancerSupport Subject: Re: Re: Paranoia Coach Barken May I thank you for your words of wisdom on the group. In the UK the equivalent drug that is injected under the skin 3 monthly or monthly is Zoledex I have been on it over 2 years on a monthly dose and have not suffered great mood swings, though I have been prescribed Effexor a serotonin enhancer for many years to help with fibromyalgia. A friend had 3 monthly dose and suffered greatly from mood swings. I know he was asking for a move to monthly, but I haven't had a recent update. I suppose I opted for monthly " shots " as I thought I would have a lower dose more and thus may have less side effects. I have recently added Casodex 50mg/d but have stopped taking it twice when I got stomach and bowel problems. I'll go back to taking it after a week or two and try to rule his out as the cause as there have been some summer bugs going round. Best wishes to you all Group owner Re: Re: Paranoia Hi Fuller What you describe is very very real. I got to know my patients when I used to be in practice , very very well. Some of them were my patients years before they were diagnosed with prostate cancer. Being on Lupron did affect some of the patients really drastically. I even had one patient who refused the Hormonal Blockade and preferred the Chemotherapy. Emotional lability is not something people are proud and feel comfortable talking about it, especially Men. The labile emotional manifestation is miss by physician and is probably under reported , because we tend to blame it on the emotional distress of the diagnosis. When you ask the patient in a follow up , how are you doing? The answer invariably , I am doing ok. They are happy with the decline of PSA due to the Lupron. If you bother to ask the wife accompanying the patient, you hear so often a different story. The wife will tell me that the emotional situation is like a roller coaster -Depression, Anxiety or Self Pity , Crying, Nastiness and insomnia are really taking a toll on the patient and his family. As someone who started the first support group in 1986 ( First meeting took place in my office over coffee and donuts- I probably should have used Green Tea, Pomegranate Juice etc) I know the tremendous benefit and support that patients get from support groups. As someone that was in the first class of e mail lists on the Internet ( AOL on Ralph Valle group) I know how important and very valuable are the e mail lists and web sites like Herbert's YANA web sites. As someone in touch with so many patient on the Net on the Phone and day to day interaction, I think that the psychological support is a daily battle and I think that there is a place in some cases to get help from Psychologists and even consider some mild medications. Just to help the guy going through overwhelming tight spots. As a rule I am against medications and I am all for self reliacne, but we need sometimes more intensive help. It is true that we can walk, but sometimes we need temporary crutches. Although the world is full of suffering, it s full also of the overcoming of it Helen Keller Coach Barken .. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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