hi steve - having been down this road and seeing some of the effects on
how it affects the body and mind.  it was, well, works fail me right
now, but allow me to explain it.

my dad was one of those hard, stanch, lack of emotions, and never ever
cried.

i've seen him go through the woods on his golf cart and didn't see a
tree limb and got struck in the head by it, so hard, that white of his
eye turned totally blood red and his only comment that he said at the
time it happened was ," didn't hurt" and went about his business, never
giving it a second thought.  

while on lupron, i watched him to go from the above sentence to a man
who would be talking to a person (male or female) and would break down
in tears - and it wasn't brought on by an emotional moment.  he would
just start crying for no reason and still try to talk through the tears.
sure takes away from the meaning of what he trying to say.  as he stayed
on the lupron through the years, the incidents of crying spells
increased and his last year, but would burst into tears at least once in
a conversation.  

to see someone go from what you grew up with to someone you have having
to take care of like what i've described is a mind trip unto itself.

add to that, he hit a tree in a car accident 3 yrs before he died and it
put him on the fast track of alzhimer's and he was losing control on his
emotions even more.  

he would be sitting there in his wheel chair and break into a crying
spell.  

yeah, we talk about the cures,  we talk about the hormone treatments,
but we don't get down to the nitty gritty of just how terrible this can
get.  like you said, it can get debilitating.  

and i didn't even begin to cover the feelings from the hot flashes, the
growing of breasts, and the softness of the body.  

for a man who was always known for his muscle tone, i saw his body go
from that state to so soft, i said that he could sit in a square box,
and his body was so soft, would fill in the corners.

~ curtis

knowledge is power - growing old is mandatory - growing wise is optional