Dreams, dreams, dreams: I have been... - Advanced Prostate...

Advanced Prostate Cancer

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Dreams, dreams, dreams

aloha_spaceman profile image
35 Replies

I have been receiving Lupron shots every three months and taking Xtandi daily for a little more than a year. This follows a RALP and 36 days of radiation, all parts of my doctors’ kitchen sink strategy.

No doubt there is a lot going on in my body. One of the most persistent side effects, however, has been dreams. I dream every night. Strange and vivid dreams. They continue through the night, sometimes after waking up or getting up to go to the bathroom. I even dream when I nap for the tiniest while.

They aren’t scary (anymore, anyway) or particularly insightful (I don’t think). But I wonder if the dreaming sleep I am getting is restful; I am tired all the time. Of course, that’s another side effect of ADT.

Has anyone else had an experience like this? Any insight from doctors? Mine have been dismissive. Thoughts?

Aloha.

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aloha_spaceman profile image
aloha_spaceman
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35 Replies

I have been on xtandi about a month and there have been more dreams.

If you wear a fitbit tracker (I use a Charge 5) it will give you a sleep score. I find it to be pretty indicative of how well i slept. If i get 65 or above i feel ok the next day. Below 65 i know i did not sleep well.

Apple Watch also has sleep scores but their battery life stinks and are way more expensive than necessary if all you want is tracking and not smart watch features.

My fitbit only needs a charge once a week for like 30 minutes.

aloha_spaceman profile image
aloha_spaceman in reply to

I had an Apple Watch but the poor battery life meant I had to charge it at night. Considering the Whoop or Oura.

Magnus1964 profile image
Magnus1964

I would accept this as a gift. On waking write down your dreams and explore them. This is great therapy. I envy you.

Magnus

Benkaymel profile image
Benkaymel

I've been on Prostap and Xtandi about 8 months and I also have vivid dreams most nights. I'm a light sleeper so often wake during a dream which is why I remember them. I've always had lots of dreams but I think I remember more since being on the drugs.

OldVTGuy profile image
OldVTGuy

Been on Lupron for 4 months. A ton of dreams - nothing scary but plenty entertaining.

ARIES29 profile image
ARIES29

In this world they can take away everything but our dreams. So far air & dreams are free.

MobilityTech profile image
MobilityTech

I'm on Orgovyx a little over a year and a half. I have huge hot flashes still at night, which take a lot out of me. I do dream most always, and I wake up exhausted. However it wears off within an hour or so. I only occasionally need a nap. Certainly they gave me somebody else's body when I began this therapy, and it takes several times more effort to do things I could before, but so far it's working, and I Praise my Lord daily for life, and answered prayer.

JeffLebowski profile image
JeffLebowski

I’ve had very similar experiences on Lupron and abiraterone acetate. Fascinating dreams that make for great stories!

aloha_spaceman profile image
aloha_spaceman in reply to JeffLebowski

I heard that! They have prompted me to reconnect with some people from my way back who pop up as characters.

Rocketman1960 profile image
Rocketman1960

I am on Lupron and Xtandi for more than 5 years. My dreams are 3D in living color. I accept it as a gift.

Azcarguy profile image
Azcarguy in reply to Rocketman1960

Do you take 2 each night or ? I go 9am and 9pm. 80mg?

Rocketman1960 profile image
Rocketman1960 in reply to Azcarguy

I take 2 with breakfast and 2 with lunch then nap. Up by 2PM to enjoy the evening.

Azcarguy profile image
Azcarguy in reply to Rocketman1960

4 per day? Whats the mg of each pill? I'm allowed only two pills pr day.

Rocketman1960 profile image
Rocketman1960 in reply to Azcarguy

40mg horse pills. I admit I have only taken 3 a day sometimes when they mess with me physically. They messed with my stomach something fierce. I had to double up on Prevacid to survive.

Azcarguy profile image
Azcarguy in reply to Rocketman1960

Thank you for your reply. Keep dreamin!

lowT163 profile image
lowT163

sounds like one of the better things that happen with this fine disease we have. Make a buck on it and write a book or a screen,play. I can see many view on a utube channel in your future..

aloha_spaceman profile image
aloha_spaceman in reply to lowT163

haha! Lots of material.

JWS13 profile image
JWS13

I am on Orgovyx. I have very vivid bad dreams , (being shot,followed, estranged, nighttime alleyways, ) to the point that I am yelling out loud...and waking my wife.. a pleasant gift from the big O!

swwags profile image
swwags

Erleada here and I have vivid dreams, some good, others not so much. I track my sleep as well and focus on my "quality" hours and deep sleep and to your wonderment, at least for me, the answer is no. I come right out of a dream and wake up to use the bathroom. My app shows I'm awake in that time period. I go back to sleep. When I analyze my sleep the next day, I see that my body was in "light sleep" while dreaming, not REM as one would prefer. Can't say this is always the case though.

Tonwantonga profile image
Tonwantonga

I had to add melatonin to get my vivid dreams, but wow. I guess since i am 'alive but not living' during the daytime, my dreams are trying to make up for it. Intense and real. the other night i dreamed i stepped on one of those carpet tack strips, and several nails got stuck in my foot. the nails became 16 penny nails, heads stuck inside my foot, the rest of the nail sticking out. no one would take me to the doctor, but they took me all over the place, and i hobbled along up stairs, down sidewalks, etc. i woke up to go to the bathroom and the dream was so real that i carefully lifted up the sheet so i wouldn't catch those nails on it, and hobbled halfway to the bathroom before realizing i didnt have to. colors, characters, feelings, so amazingly intense. i wish i had time to sleep more because those dreams are so incredible. the only thing that never makes an appearance in my dreams anymore is sex. it has been totally removed from my life, sleeping or awake. i cant even imagine a good sex fantasy anymore, and the memories of having sex are slowly fading too. never thought that would happen.

treedown profile image
treedown

I definitely had that recently after restarting HT but they seemed to have gone away. Mine where followed by a sense of doom throughout the day. Sorry to hear yours are still going that long and hope mine don't come back.

aloha_spaceman profile image
aloha_spaceman in reply to treedown

initially, my dreams were scary and negative, and I did dread going to sleep some/many nights. Now, they are much more neutral and just weird. Regardless of the content, which I agree can be therapeutic and even a blessing, I wake up tired some days and wonder if they represent deep or actual restful sleep.

treedown profile image
treedown in reply to aloha_spaceman

Clearly the being tired is the better issue. I agree with others a smart watch might be able to answer that question for you to some degree. I hope you find an answer.

NecessarilySo profile image
NecessarilySo

I have a persistent dream that I look all over for a toilet and never find one...finally waking up, and I go to the bathroom. It's so strange, as if I am the only one in the world that needs to find a toilet. Thank goodness for toilets! In reality they can be hard to find.

16S4 profile image
16S4

I have been on Eligard and aberaterone for over a year now. I have noticed my dreams have been more vivid and intense. I often have dreams that I am peeing just before I wake up to pee.

anonymoose2 profile image
anonymoose2

Same therapy as you and no vivid dreams.

But coming off those meditations for a vacation it was like taking a trip and never leaving the farm. WOW!!

Sleep hasn’t been a problem with cannabis gummies.

Dream on! 👍

Bruce66 profile image
Bruce66

Most of my dreams entail looking all over for a bathroom...

ReeGee profile image
ReeGee

Vivid typically unpleasant dreams almost every night on Lupron and Erleada. I stopped taking Melatonin and that may have helped some.

SteveTheJ profile image
SteveTheJ

In short, no. IMHO it's probably from something else but everyone is different.

j-o-h-n profile image
j-o-h-n

I always dream that I'm sleeping.....

Good Luck, Good Health and Good Humor.

j-o-h-n Monday 05/01/2023 11:09 PM DST

FortyWinks profile image
FortyWinks

Yep, I’m on Degaralix and Enzalutamide. Also on lowish dose morphine. I can sleep 12 hours though get woken by hip & knee pain and hot flushes. I wear an Apple Watch with the Sleep app. Shows that my sleep patterns have shifted to more REM sleep and less deep sleep. Dreams very odd. Often feels that I know I’m dreaming and find myself laughing at some of the absurdity. Some feel some real insights and in dream, I remind myself to revisit it but on waking, nothing. Very rarely recall any detail. Feeling lucky that I sleep and can have a laugh.

Wdoug profile image
Wdoug

Extremely vivid dreams, which I could remember the next day. This was 3 to 7 years ago while on Lupron,

Kaliber profile image
Kaliber

I too take Lupron - Xtandi ….. but I also take medium level opiates several times a day. Opiates are famous for vivid , sometimes erotic, dreams . Between all three of those dream makers , it’s hard to know which produces the most dream states ….. probably the opiates. I sleep on a apap breathing machine nightly, so I know I get excellent sleep ( usually AHI <.6 or less, a dangerous 87 without the machine ). For me , even with taking Lupron Xtandi Opiates dream makers , I still get great, better than a baby, quality sleep nightly.

❤️❤️❤️

Alloy7 profile image
Alloy7

I'm glad someone wrote about this. I'm on Lupron/Abiraterone/prednisone, and I dream constantly. They are never nightmares, but I'm always solving a problem of some sort, all night long.

I talked to my doctors, and they said to try melatonin, OTC. Then I tried Trazodone. Neither of them stopped the dreaming.

I'm beginning my eighth month, and it seems like the dreams are not as persistent. I really don't want to be taking sleep medicines if I don't need to, so I'm encouraged by the dream slowdown.

aloha_spaceman profile image
aloha_spaceman in reply to Alloy7

My dreams have been very vivid and very frequent. Seems like every time I fell asleep, I dreamt. Even naps. I’m not sure they have mellowed so much as I have become accustomed to them after nearly two years. (I am in the home stretch of my treatments.) I don’t mind them so much any more. I have mostly been interested to know if it’s a legit side efffect or something going on in my brain, maybe more related to me processing having cancer. No doubt there is a lot to process.

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