More Some Side Effects of Prostate Radiation that Oncologists Kind of Tell you About; or,The Agony of Anxiety, Anger and Aggression: The Three Amigos of Depression (Pt II)

Diego. Carlos Muslera 2001

No one ever mentioned the Three Amigos of Depression to me as if they really didn’t exist and if one became angry for no apparent reason and yelled at loved ones, well, it was okay to do so.  It’s not.  And if you’re undergoing ADT, it’s imperative that you ask all the questions about “chemical castration”(yes, that’s exactly what it is, which is preferable to orchiectomy and which has nothing to do with orchids) and what ALL the side effects may be and not just the ones they feel like telling you.  I was aware of what low testosterone was doing in terms of decreased muscle mass (that’s why I go to t, he gym 2-3x a week), increased body fat, increased bone loss, and shrunken testicles, but the Three Amigos of Depression weren’t part of that dilemma, but IMS is very real.  It’s a term used to describe mood swings as a result of high stress cortisol levels and low testosterone levels, both of which can be attributed to Lupron injections.  The list of behaviors associated with  IMS are legion, but the most notable are anxiety, anger and aggression, not the trifecta I was betting on.  Without any knowledge of IMS, a man might think it’s not real, that hormonal issues are a female thing and not a male thing, but that’s as false as Aaron Rodgers blaming the media for his throwing interceptions.  Regardless, you should read up on IMS and ask your urologist or oncologist about it.  It’s one thing to blame your teammates or the media for one’s poor performance, but it’s quite another to blame yourself for something beyond your control.