Side effects. The horror!

The posted side effects possible for the drugs I'm taking are a scream. They cover just about every possible problem someone might have while taking the drug. For example, diarreah and constipation. How does that happen?  Well, let's move on.

Almost as soon as I started taking the bicalutamide I had horrible headaches.  But because I have a lot of headaches on my own, it was hard to discern if it was me, or the drug. I finally decided it was the drug because the headaches were in the same place (felt like they were in my eye muscles, so it hurt to move my eyes) all the time, the same intensity, and the same general feel. Then, I found out that extra strength Tylenol cut them... which was another clue that they weren't mine: Tylenol doesn't normally come close to relieving my regular headaches.

And then my daughter (Tracy) helped even more. I was complaining about getting up at 3 AM to take some Tylenol and she asked why I didn't just take it when I take the bicalutamide.  Great question... so I tried that.  It worked.  So now, I take the bicalutamide around 9PM, and about 9:30 I take 1 extra strength Tylenol... and that knocks out the headache before it hits... for the whole next day.  Woot!

I have had some hot flashes, I think.  It's hard for me to tell exactly. At night, I seem to have some trouble regulating my temperature in bed, so I'm going from covers on to covers off all night.  No sweating or that kind of thing, just a warm wave that goes across my head and chest and from there down my legs.  During the day I haven't noticed a thing in that regard.  I recently had a friend confirm that this fits in with what she experienced as her hot flashes.  So, I usually go half in the covers, half out... until the one half complains of being cold, and the other half is going the opposite... and then I flip over and try to go back to sleep.  At least it's not the summer!

There are some reports of bone pain as a result of the hormone therapy.  I have had some back pain, but really, I'm not sure that's a result of the hormones or not.

I recently read an article that indicated some increased risk of heart disease as a result of removing testosterone from the system.  While I'm not really in the profile for heart disease, it's an interesting read. Ah... here's the link to the WebMD article.  Not that I can do anything about it... because I'm not changing the course of this therapy now... but worthwhile being aware of.  That, and lack of testosterone means I should be actively taking calcium (which I continually forget to do!) because men need testosterone to promote bone health.  And right now, between the agonist and the antagonist (see other post) I'm getting no testosterone... assuming the theory is working as planned.

I think the next post will pull together some of the reading I found helpful, as well as a couple of the papers that helped me.