Zytiga/ Prednisone side effects

[Chugach]

Is feeling grumpy/agitated/easily triggered a side effect of Zytiga/ Prednisone?

I have been on Lupron for 2 years and rounding the corner on one year for Zytiga(120)/Pred(5mg). The last couple months I’ve been feeling real easily triggered/agitated/grumpy. No other reasonable drivers for how I’m feeling- life is good. Can I blame the drugs and if I’m not alone, what are the solutions????

Thanks Grumpy from Alaksa

[Tall_Allen]

Hormone therapy causes a condition called "emotional lability." It's like a menopausal woman moved into your body. You get angry more easily and cry more easily -- emotions rise out of proportion to the trigger.

[Schwah]

I’m not grumpy but my family says I get set off and angry much more easily. I’d have to say it’s true. Things that normally I’d let go , instead I get pretty heated up. I thought it was the Lupron but could be the zytega as I’ve been on both the same time.

[CalBear74]

My suggestion would be that you are experiencing a prednisone side effect: drugs.com states the following:

"...Call your doctor at once if you have shortness of breath, severe pain in your upper stomach, bloody or tarry stools, severe depression, changes in personality or behavior, vision problems, or eye pain."

You should not stop using prednisone suddenly. Follow your doctor's instructions about tapering your dose...."

Of course, Tall_Allen's suggestion also makes good sense.

CalBear74

[Stegosaurus37]

Don't worry. I have done a very rigorous statistical analysis of obituaries and the results are conclusive.

Only nice people die - in most cases people who are practically saints.

So if you're an old grouch, you'll live forever. Remember, this is SCIENCE!!

[j-o-h-n]

I'm not grouchy, my wife is...

Good Luck and Good Health.

j-o-h-n Monday 05/21/2018 5:21 PM EDT

[tkalaf]

I've been on Zytega and Prednisone for 10+ weeks. I am also taking Degarelix, Apalutamide and Indomethacin. Yep, quite a kitchen-sink of ADT treatment.

Speaking on side-effects, I agree with comments above. A small life event (or thought) can trigger large emotions from within, that you thought you never had. Worse, they present themselves outward with no guard, as if you were having an emotional meltdown. (Like Spock in a particular episode of StarTrek.)

Once you understand the onset, they can be reasonably dealt with. The best way I found is to get active, don't sit idle. Myself, I jump on an elliptical and steady-state cycle to Spotify. I periodically sing, shout, and (seriously) scream along with music. It's as if I have a lot of pent-up anger to work out.

At the point exhaustion kicks in, I step down and follow up with a bit of light weight lifting. I use hand dumbbells. Anyway, this is what I've found to help.

[Chugach in reply to tkalaf]

Thanks- that’s good advice. I fell better on the days I exercise hard too. I’ll do more of that starting tomorrow.

[Chugach]

So my med Onc recommended reducing the prednisone from 5mg to 4mg and also added prescription Vitamin D. I’ll report back and let folks know if it changes