Dementia and ADT treatment

mike tawfiq

New member
Sep 2, 2019
4
0
Hi, my father in law is living with us (has been for the last 4 years) and has dementia, he has been declining steadily but not too bad. He was diagnosed with prostate cancer a few months ago and was prescribed hormone therapy as he is 86 and may not tolerate surgery/radiotherapy. We were told that he'll die with prostate cancer and not from it. His dementia seems to have gotten a lot worse recently, we see articles online that this hormone treatment may cause the onset of dementia in older patients but we were never told this before the treatment and our GP doesn't think it's related. I can't find any information on the effect of this treatment on someone who already has dementia but we are certain that it made his dementia a hell of a lot worse, does anyone have any further info on this? many thanks
 

nellbelles

Volunteer Host
Nov 6, 2008
9,842
0
leicester
Hello @mike tawfiq welcome to DTP
My husband had dementia and prostate cancer and was treated with hormone injections for several years I was not aware of a connection but very interesting to read that there may be a connection
 

Lawson58

Registered User
Aug 1, 2014
4,333
0
Victoria, Australia
E
Hi, my father in law is living with us (has been for the last 4 years) and has dementia, he has been declining steadily but not too bad. He was diagnosed with prostate cancer a few months ago and was prescribed hormone therapy as he is 86 and may not tolerate surgery/radiotherapy. We were told that he'll die with prostate cancer and not from it. His dementia seems to have gotten a lot worse recently, we see articles online that this hormone treatment may cause the onset of dementia in older patients but we were never told this before the treatment and our GP doesn't think it's related. I can't find any information on the effect of this treatment on someone who already has dementia but we are certain that it made his dementia a hell of a lot worse, does anyone have any further info on this? many thanks
Ex husband has had prostate cancer for many years. Part of his treatment were the hormone injections and he always complained about uncomfortable they made him feel. In my humble opinion he is showing signs of dementia but this happened a long time after the injections.. Perhaps at his age, the hormone injections are making your FIL feel bad too.
 

canary

Registered User
Feb 25, 2014
25,018
0
South coast
Unfortunately, there are lots of things that can hasten dementia - infections, fractures, hospitalization, surgery...........
Dementia is progressive and sometimes it just progresses quicker than at other times, for no apparent reason.

With things that may hasten dementia, there is a balance. My OH may have to have surgery to insert a supra-pubic catheter and this will be a risk for his cognition so Im having to weigh up pros and cons.

The questions to ask are - are there any alternatives? - are the alternatives practicable? - what will happen if he doesnt have this?
I have a friend who has prostate cancer, but it was too far advanced when it was detected and he is now terminal - he will die of the cancer, not just with it. It may be that this would be preferable.
 

mike tawfiq

New member
Sep 2, 2019
4
0
I understand that dementia could worsen drastically but it just seems too much of a coincidence, almost like he goes down hill after the injection is administered (every 3 months) then he seems to improve after a couple of months (so it seems to me)
 

Lawson58

Registered User
Aug 1, 2014
4,333
0
Victoria, Australia
I understand that dementia could worsen drastically but it just seems too much of a coincidence, almost like he goes down hill after the injection is administered (every 3 months) then he seems to improve after a couple of months (so it seems to me)
My ex husband said he felt awful for quite a while after the injections. He didn't want to see anyone because he knew he was difficult to get along with at the time. He was extremely irritable and grumpy and experienced physical feelings that he said were like a woman going through menopause.(Not sure how he would know how that feels.)

I think that if dementia is already present, then the effects of the injections and the physical side effects might be exacerbating the condition. My ex husband does return to a better state of mind in between injections.
 

molliep

Researcher
Aug 16, 2018
82
0
Leeds
Hi, my father in law is living with us (has been for the last 4 years) and has dementia, he has been declining steadily but not too bad. He was diagnosed with prostate cancer a few months ago and was prescribed hormone therapy as he is 86 and may not tolerate surgery/radiotherapy. We were told that he'll die with prostate cancer and not from it. His dementia seems to have gotten a lot worse recently, we see articles online that this hormone treatment may cause the onset of dementia in older patients but we were never told this before the treatment and our GP doesn't think it's related. I can't find any information on the effect of this treatment on someone who already has dementia but we are certain that it made his dementia a hell of a lot worse, does anyone have any further info on this? many thanks

Hi @mike tawfiq

Just to let you know there's a sub-forum specifically for dementia and cancer that's located within the 'I care for a person with dementia' forum. You can find it >here<. There are lots of dementia and cancer specific threads that you may find useful.

There have also been two expert Q&A sessions held on the dementia and cancer sub-forum with the only Macmillan Dementia Nurse in the country, Lorraine Burgess. You can find them >here< and >here<. Lorraine did give some informative answers about possible cancer treatments for people with dementia and the impact they can have on dementia symptoms. I believe she said there was currently no evidence to suggest that hormonal therapies cause dementia deterioration, but she did say that hormonal therapies can cause fatigue which may impact on memory and concentration for people with dementia, so perhaps that may be causing the deterioration following the injections?

Best wishes,
Mollie
 

Forum statistics

Threads
138,144
Messages
1,993,312
Members
89,798
Latest member
JL513