Great information Eric, thanks.

You may remember that I posted about the anabolic steroids back in Jan/Feb as a means to regain muscle mass and possibly improve appetite and mood. Alex lost so much weight (down to 105 pounds at 6'1") he was hospitalised. Unfortunately, this caused loss of muscle mass when the fat ran out and he found it impossible to regain any weight. The treatment was a success, but then the product went off the market and Alex slid backwards in everything - lost his job, the weight he had gained and slowly slid towards depression. Back on the steroids now though so hold out hope for improvement. By the way the RO nailed me to the wall with this approach so I would not recommend this option for the faint hearted as you may need to do a lot of research and prepare for battle as anabolic steroids have a bad reputation and doctors not dealing with convalescence forget about the good uses for steroids. We weren't really using the anabolic steroids to improve testosterone although we thought it would be a welcome effect because Alex WAS low in testosterone. I assumed his levels were approaching normal with his treatment but the doses are low and I need to relook at this (Alex has been doing this appointment by himself so I know nothing of test results etc).

Anita, your insights have rung bells for me - thank you for your clarity and candidness. This has got me thinking that maybe all his days are bad but the ones that are so bad that he can't hide it, are the ones I see. I need to do some thinking around this for a bit. Alex is adamant that counsel is not an option and he would tell me everything that he would tell a counsellor. This may not be true. Anita, in your opinion, is it possible to force someone into counselling and have it make a difference or would the person just go through the motions and get no benefit?

The good news is, that since I first posted, we realised that one of the drugs being used to boost his appetite (which I completely forgot about) is actually an antidepressant being used at half doses so the GP has just upped the dose to a full dose to see if this helps.

Alex has just rung in to tell me he had a great golf game this morning, has won 3 balls and only lost 3 (Alex is a crap golfer) and sounds very upbeat. This is the second good day this week!!!

Thanks again

Karen