I think that most of these side effects are quite common and something that you shouldn't worry about too much. I think that most of the problems relate to the emotional feeling of "loss of manhood" but as my wife keeps telling me, it's better than the alternative of having Prostate Cancer. I'm hoping that things will improve, but under no illusion that it will be as it was. Not sure how much of this is purely down to the Radiotherapy, Hormone treatment, or a combination of both. I suspect it's the latter.
I suspect that most of the side effects, apart from fatigue/exhaustion were a result of the hormone treatment I had alongside the radiotherapy. The fatigue/exhaustion seemed to get worse as the treatment ended, and varied each day from slight to quite bad. I was active before the treatment and tried to keep active after the treatment which I think helped. The muscle weakness was exhibited as a loss of stamina, which seemed to sneak up on me.
It's difficult to pin this purely on the radiotherapy, I suspect it was more linked to the hormone treatment I was having alongside it.
The time taken each day for the treatment and the pressure of getting the pre-treatment right (Bladder and Bowel prep). The feeling of tiredness towards/at the end of the treatment.
Not sure
Not because of the treatment itself, but the nagging doubt of whether this was the best treatment or whether I should have opted for surgery. I think it would be the same if to was the other way around as well.
It was only about 10 days before my hormone injection treatment and I think there were very few side effects in that time.
Yes
It was a re-cursor and necessary treatment prior to the hormone injection.
I think that most of these side effects are quite common and something that you shouldn't worry about too much. I think that most of the problems relate to the emotional feeling of "loss of manhood" but as my wife keeps telling me, "don't get hung up on it, and put yourself under pressure". I'm hoping that things will improve, but under no illusion that it will be as it was. Not sure how much of this is purely down to the Hormone treatment, Radiotherapy, or a combination of both. I suspect it's more likely to be the hormone treatment, but at least it's starving the cancer.
I suspect that most of the side effects, apart from fatigue/exhaustion were a result of the hormone treatment I had alongside the radiotherapy. At least I could sympathise and swap experiences with my wife who has been suffering hot sweats for a number of years. The weight game around my middle was frustrating given that I was staying active and did at least 11,000 steps a day for the month after I finished my radiotherapy.
I wasn't conscious of having brain fog at the time (on a day to day basis), but looking back over the previous days I could see how it had affected me.
Getting emotional a lot more frequently, often while on my own, and reflecting on the situation.
Yes
It's a necessary part of the treatment to try and reduce the size of the cancer and make the radiotherapy more effective.
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