Siterone questions/suggestions

[zeebster (imported)]

Hi,

I edited the title to change the drug name. I'm actually using Siterone which is a generic version of Androcur.

Short bio; I'm a sixty year old guy who's been divorced for 20 years, no steady GF for 8 or 9 years now and been thinking about the possiblities of a prophylatic castration for a long time, even before the issues with my libido started to surface about 5 years ago.

I've been visiting this forum for quite some time and got much more interested the first part of this year. With what I'd learned I decided to try the Siterone starting last April. The initial suggested dose of 100mg a day didn't do anything so I upped it to 200mg after several weeks. That produced the desired effect of eliminating, or virtually eliminating erections and my libido which has been the major cause of my concern lately, really went downhill. I was estatic over the changes but worried about the possible liver toxicity and the side effect of shortness of breath. I started decreasing the dose as recommended in the patient literature and got it down to 25mg a day thinking it would be great if things stayed the same; they didn't. My libido gradually snuck up on me with a return to some risky kinky behavior and one day I completely lost my temper with a long time friend over something really of no importance. I can't remember the last time I lost my temper like that and I think the increasing Testosterone in my system from the lower Siterone dose had something to do with it since I'd gotten out of the habit of controlling it.

That was when I decided I needed to try achieving castrate T levels and contacted Dr. Arnkoff about getting an orchiectomy. On the advice I've seen here, I thought a trial chemical castration was in order and it'd give me more time to come up with the funds necessary. So starting the first of September I went back to 100mg a day since I didn't have enough of the medication on hand to go to 200mg right away, then two weeks later I went to 200mg a day and have been taking that for 5 weeks now. Erections are pretty much gone again, libido has been cut dramatically but not as much as last spring, I've got the gyno going on with tenderness/pain and breast buds developing. The fatigue and hot flashes haven't been too bad but the night sweats were awful, they seem to have pretty much disappeared. I finally found a way to get a blood test done so I went and had the total Testosterone done yesterday which I'd not done the first time around. It came back at 389 ng/dL on a lab standard of 348-1197.

I was shocked to say the least, with the effects I've been experiencing I'd have thought something in the 100 range would have been more inline.

So, is the amount of time I've been on the Siterone enough to see what it's going to do at this dose or should I give it a longer time period?

I'm nervous about upping the dose to 300mg a day, but that's what the literature indicates for non-castrated males in treating prostate cancer. The liver issues seem to be restricted mostly to individuals who already had cancer and or compromised health so that's something of a consideration but I'd have to add the liver screening on the blood tests if I do that and it just is starting to make this a spendy proposition. All in all, it'd pay for half of Dr. Arnkoff's fee over the five months I anticipated trying to achieve chemical castration before I went for the orchiectomy. I'm also wondering about the side effects of castrate T levels if I feel this way already? From what I'm reading and there is some disagreement, castrate levels are defined as being between 20 and 50 ng/dL depending on the reference. I know it's an idividual thing but how much worse are the side effects going to get if I succeed in dropping the T level another 300 or so points?

Thoughts or experiences would be appreciated.

[Caith721 (imported)]

300 mg/day of cyproterone is the absolute maximum you should ever consider, and only for the short-term (two-to-three weeks) initial dose to get your T down into the lower ranges. Liver toxicity becomes a concern if you take more than 300 mg/day, or maintain the 300 mg/day level for more than a few weeks. What type of T level test did you take? Was it an oral/saliva test, or did they draw blood? Saliva tests are not terribly reliable or consistent, in my personal opinion.

[zeebster (imported)]

Since T levels are supposed to be highest in the morning, I went in a 10:30AM which was the earliest it could be arranged and it was done with a blood draw based on what I'd seen here about the saliva tests being unreliable.

Thank you for your thoughts.

[mlooking2 (imported)]

Androcur-Siterone I'm a single somewhat health man and took Siterone for 6 to 8 months Started at 50mg a day. Thats what the pills come in..I did that for about a month and noticed a big change. Then the side affect came on strong The fatigue and hot flashes were bad and the night sweats were awful head ache. So I droped to 1/4 pill. I should have stayed there but got many blood clots in my leg. There still there even after being on blood thiners. I was told norml T count is 600 to 800 mine was at 3. I'm thinking on starting back up using 1/4 pill and staying there. Even with the clots I now have. I did get depression to at the higher dose. Never had anger problems. But its starange I do when Im off the pills. Not fighting anger but yelling anger. Had that problem all my life.