The end of two years of hormone therapy

User

Posted 12 Dec 2024 at 19:39

It's now been 3 months since Gee's last Prostap3 ran out. He was slowly starting to feel better, as in less achy & stiff, until Covid paid us its first ever visit on bonfire night. The Friday before, he'd called at the chemist that's attached to the GP surgery, to pick up his Tamsulosin, and on coming out, he mentioned that there was an unsavoury character in there coughing their head off, and effing & jeffing in everyone's faces. The following Tuesday, he awoke with a red raw sore throat, the reddest I've ever seen. He could hardly swallow, couldn't eat at all, and said he felt dreadful. I bought some covid tests, and his immediately showed positive. The next 3 days he spent asleep in bed, only waking occasionally for a sip of water or a wee.

We all eventually tested positive, with our eldest & I just having a slight cough, and our youngest having no symptoms at all. The last time any of us had a jab was December '21.

After 7 days he did another test, which was negative, but he was left with a relentless, hacking cough.

The following week he noticed that his heart was beating faster than usual, but put it down to his body still fighting the remnants of covid. Then on the 27th, he awoke in a terrible state. He was shaking, said he couldn't breathe, and felt like he was going to pass out. As it didn't seem to be passing, we went to A&E. They did 2 ECG's, a blood test and a urine test. All came back fine, and he was sent home with a prescription for 3 diazepam, which he didn't want, and was told it was 'just' a nocturnal panic attack.

Two days later, after a spot of Christmas shopping, he got a stabbing pain in his right side, which, in the space of 15 minutes, got worse and worse til he was doubled over in agony. Another visit to A&E, and he was told it was costochondritis, caused by the coughing of covid. He was sent home with a prescription for 5 days of 400mg of ibuprofen.

The pain in his side has now almost gone, but the high resting heart rate has started to worry him, as it's between 95 & 120 when doing nothing.

After seeing his GP today, he's been prescribed a month of Propranolol & Sertraline. He has to go back for another ECG tomorrow, and has an appointment for a blood test next Tuesday that the referral letter says will test for, tfgps thyroid not on t4, nfl lipid profile non fasting, and (a1c) hba1c. (I'll Google what they are later).

He's had 2 Propranolol so far today, and 1 Sertraline, and he says he feels somewhat calmer, though I doubt either have worked that quickly.

Hopefully it won't be a long wait for the blood test results. Then around the 18th of January, it's the dreaded first PSA test since coming off Prostap3.

Best wishes to all.

Elle & Gee xx

User

Posted 12 Dec 2024 at 22:13

My word Elle&Gee, what a story. I hope things are now on the up.

To be fair, propanolol should have positive effects on fast heart rate pretty quickly, so improve calmness. (Sertraline not so immediate).

I also had some of those tests after finishing HT and (salvage in my case) RT. HbA1c (test for type 2 diabetes) was no problem, but the doctor recommended taking a statin on the basis of a cholesterol reading that had stayed the same for over 20 years. (I went with it after reading that it also reduces your risk of dementia).

It may only have been an impression, but the HT/RT combination did seem to make me suffer worse from even minor infections. It would be worth Gee getting up to date on his vaccinations. Even two years later I still need more sleep than I used to, but other consequences of HT have very slowly reduced.

User

Posted 15 Dec 2024 at 19:29

Does anyone know if it's ok to take Sertraline whilst on Tamsulosin?

Gee took 1 tablet, then saw on Google that it might not be wise to take them together.

He's not taken anymore since, as he wants to speak to his GP again, and confirm with PEASS.

Any advice would be greatly appreciated.

Elle xx

User

Posted 15 Dec 2024 at 22:10

As far as I can tell (from the patient information leaflets which are published on the web) there is not an established interaction between those drugs.

The best and quickest way to get advice is to ask the pharmacy which dispensed the medicines, it is exactly the sort of thing pharmacists are expert in.

User

Posted 09 Feb 2025 at 21:10

Since my last post on this thread, Gee decided not to take the Sertraline, even though he was told it was ok. He continued with the Propranolol, and said he felt a lot better. That is, until 3 weeks ago, when he started to feel faint, and ended up in A&E again, when his heart rate dropped to 30 bpm. He was given an ECG which was fine, and told to go see his GP the following day, with an email from the A&E doctor, requesting that he come off the tablets. He reduced from 3 per day, to 2 for 5 days, then 1 for 5 days, and then stopped.

His results from the blood test had come back negative for diabetes and thyroid problems, but showing that his cholesterol was up, so he was put on Statins. After a bit of googling about the relationship between testosterone & cholesterol, (the testes synthesize testosterone from cholesterol). He decided not to take the statins for the time being.

Two days after he started weaning himself off the beta blockers, we got a nasty flu virus that's been going around. Sneezing, wheezing, breathless, and a persistent chesty cough that seemed to take an age to clear. Out of the four of us, Gee's took the longest to get better.

He went for his PSA test last Thursday, and asked why they'd taken 3 vials of blood. She said one was for PSA, one was for testosterone, and one was for a full blood count, liver function, and something else (he's forgotten what she said).

The results were:

PSA 0.5 (previously 0.3)

Testosterone 0.7 (previously 0.6)

There was no mention of anything else in the email, so we are assuming everything is fine.

Hopefully he's back on his path to feeling stronger, and will be able to ride his new bike when the weather is a bit warmer.

Thank you for reading.

Elle x

User

Posted 09 Feb 2025 at 22:01

Thanks for the update Elle, poor Gee has had a lot to deal with just as he should be starting to feel like his old self again😩 Hopefully it will be onwards and upwards for his testosterone, and onwards and downwards for the PSA…or at least it stabilises. I’m at squeaky bum time now that I know my testosterone has started to return…up to 0.59 from undetectable at the previous test but still PSA undetectable…all we can do is hope🤞🤞🤞

wish Gee all the best for the future from me,

Derek

User

Posted 09 Feb 2025 at 23:15

My word you've had some ups and downs. Heart rate of 30 is very very low, definitely going to make anyone feel faint. I hope the new drug regime works.

There is an annoyingly persistent cough going round (don't I know it!) but other tell me it goes away eventually.

Good luck going forwards.

User

Posted 25 Jul 2025 at 11:26

PSA day today, and not the results we wanted.

PSA 1.32 ug/L (0.5 in February)

Testosterone 6.6 mmol/L (0.7 in February)

He received his results by phone rather than the usual email, as they wanted to tell him not to worry, and that he should get another PSA in three months, rather than six. How you're not to worry is beyond me.

Thankfully he's been back out on his bike since March, and building up his strength. Anyone who rides a motorbike knows it massively helps mentally, and his 1250 Bandit makes him feel like his usual hooligan self.

Best wishes to all taking the time to read this.

Elle & Gee xx

User

Posted 25 Jul 2025 at 12:28

Coming off HT is a worrying time. Relapse will be defined as 2.1 I think you just have to accept anything below that is OK. The recovery of testosterone has definitely woke up his prostate cells, just hope that they are healthy cells.

Dave

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