Making a decision on hormone treatment

As we've seen, both you and the healthcare professionals supporting you play a key role when making decisions about hormone therapy treatment. You may want to involve family or friends too.

We've put together an outline below of how you can expect to be involved at each stage of the process.

And remember, you can revisit, adjust or rethink your decisions at any point.

Information exchange
1. Your healthcare provider will explain your diagnosis, what your condition is like, and what the possible outcomes might be.
2. You will learn about the different treatment options available, including their benefits, risks, and potential side effects.
Deliberation
1. Think about what is most important to you in your treatment and recovery. Consider your lifestyle, family, work, and personal goals.
2. Don’t hesitate to ask questions or express any concerns that you or your loved ones might have. Your healthcare provider is there to support you.
Decision making
1. You and your healthcare provider will talk about the options, looking at the pros and cons based on medical facts and what’s important to you.
2. Together, you will make a decision that feels right for you.
Follow up
1. After the decision is made, your healthcare provider will keep track of your progress. You can revisit, adjust or even completely rethink the plan if needed, to make sure you’re getting the best care for you.

Here's Louisa explaining how you can best prepare for decision-making discussions with healthcare professionals.

View video transcript

As you take an active role in your healthcare, one of the best ways to make the most out of decision making discussions is to be well prepared. However, when you are focused on your health and wellbeing, especially if you're not feeling your best, finding the time and energy for preparation may feel overwhelming, but even a little preparation can make a big difference and bring benefits in the long run.

To start, it's helpful to learn about the condition that you've been diagnosed with. Take some time to gather reliable information about it and any treatment options. The more informed you are, the more confident you'll feel in your discussions with your healthcare team.

Prepare some questions to ask at appointments. It's very easy to forget things in the moment, so be sure to write down any concerns or questions you have about your condition and your treatment. These conversations are your chance to get the clarity you need.

Also ask yourself, what matters most to you? Think about your goals, your values, and what you hope to achieve with your treatment. This will help guide your decisions and ensure that the plan aligns with what's important for you.

And finally, consider trade-offs. Every treatment option comes with pros and cons, so be ready to discuss what you're willing to compromise on, and what's non-negotiable for you.

By preparing in these ways, you're setting yourself up for a more productive conversation with your healthcare team, and ultimately a treatment plan that works best for you.

To make sure you get the information and answers you need about prostate cancer and hormone therapy, you’ll probably have specific questions you’ll want to ask your healthcare team.

To help inform your decision making, here are some examples of questions you could ask.

My diagnosis

What stage and grade is my prostate cancer, and what does this mean for my treatment options?
Is my cancer aggressive or slow-growing, and how will that affect my outlook or chances of recovery?

Hormone therapy

Why are you recommending hormone therapy for my prostate cancer
What are the benefits of hormone therapy in my specific case?

Treatment plan

How long will I need to be on hormone therapy, and is it a lifelong treatment?
Are there other treatment options besides hormone therapy that I should think about?
Can hormone therapy be used in combination with other treatments, like radiation or surgery?

Side effects and risks

What are the most common side effects of hormone therapy, and how serious are they?
Are there any long-term risks with hormone therapy, like bone loss or heart problems?
How can I manage the side effects of hormone therapy, such as hot flushes, extreme tiredness, or loss of sex drive?
Will hormone therapy affect my mental health or emotional well-being, and if so, what support is available?

Monitoring and follow-up

How will you check if the hormone therapy is working, and how often will I need follow-up visits or tests?
What signs or symptoms should I look out for that might mean the hormone therapy isn’t working?
If hormone therapy stops working, what are the next steps for treatment?

Let's now listen to a final contribution from Dilip, who explains how he ultimately came to a decision about his hormone therapy treatment.

Video transcript

I think the key factor in making the decisions was the life expectancy. That with the injections and the tablets, the clinical trials on that dual treatment were that I could be looking at a life expectancy significantly more than if I didn't have this dual therapy. If someone is looking to have hormone therapy and there are choices as to which form of hormone therapy to have, I think it's going to be very important to discuss that. Ask the questions of the medics and the nurses as to why am I, first of all, why are these various options possible? Why is it that you are recommending perhaps enzalutamide and not another drug that does something fairly similar? Talk to your doctors, talk to the nurses. Find out about what the results of the clinical trials were and how they're specific and relevant to you. I think that's really important.