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Exhaustion continues 10 months after Prostate surgery

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Posted 4/28/2016 4:39 PM (GMT 0)
Greetings everyone,

I'm in my 50's and had robotic Prostate surgery 10 months ago, with post-procedure PSA's all near zero. Since my surgery, I have experienced nearly debilitating exhaustion that has significantly reduced the quality of my life. My PCP has run standard labs that have been normal, and has expressed little to no additional interest. Any thoughts as to how I can end this dilemma and return to my pre-operative level of function?

Thank you very much!
Posted 4/28/2016 4:51 PM (GMT 0)
Of course, my surgery was only last week, but I am also very tired. Hope this improves and will be very interested in comments of others.
Posted 4/28/2016 5:02 PM (GMT 0)
Hi Viktor. Are you doing anything in terms of excercise?
Posted 4/28/2016 5:04 PM (GMT 0)
There is nothing in a standard prostatectomy which physiologically causes the changes you have described.
Posted 4/28/2016 5:06 PM (GMT 0)
Welcome and glad to hear of your low PSA results. Sorry to hear of your fatigue, seems like something else going on but it sounds like you have been checked for that. I know it's pretty normal for the first couple of months to be exhausted but at 10 months I can see how you would be frustrated with it.

It took me about a year before I was back to 100% at the gym and energy level. I think doing more (pushing myself a bit walking/running/weights) helped to recover what I had lost.

Are you doing all the normal stuff? Daily cardio walking/running, staying hydrated, eating right?

Jon
Posted 4/28/2016 6:32 PM (GMT 0)
Welcome to HW, sorry you need to be here.

exercises helps - even simple walking every day. Did you get your testosterone level checked?

and if your PCP isn't interested, you might need a different doctor.

Andrew
Posted 4/28/2016 7:52 PM (GMT 0)
Agree with everyone here........especially intheshop

Has there been any other treatment?? HT RT????
Posted 4/28/2016 10:09 PM (GMT 0)
Have they checked for Lyme disease, mono, Epstein -Barrr? Any new drugs being taken that could be a cause.

Other than the first two days, exhaustion was not anything I experienced. Even the first couple of days was just tired.

Agree on getting testosterone levels checked also.

Did you work out at all before the operation? I'd start and see if that helps.
Posted 4/29/2016 12:07 AM (GMT 0)
RP should not cause the problems you're experiencing . Exhaustion comes with HT and RT but goes away after treatment. IMHO you need to see a doctor. It could be depression or any number of causes. Good luck!
Bob
Posted 5/8/2016 6:52 AM (GMT 0)
Strange stuff all of this Prostate experience. I was ok at first after the operation. Then I started getting so exhausted I could barely make it through the day. Got loaded up with testosterone for about a year no results really. Since I have become so extremely exhausted I lay in bed for days. I can't figure it out. All my blood work is perfect. So I think it might be a strong depression. I used to work out enjoy life but now I'm like a vegetable that watchs TV. I'm going back to the Doctor soon and see what might be wrong. Maybe see a Head Doctor. I noticed I am alone a lot now. I do feel better when people are around or some social thing is going on, but the exhaustion leads to social withdraw because you don't feel like bumming others out when you are so tired. Hopefully you have a loving family to take of you and help you along. Exercising is the most important thing you can do but it's very hard to get motivated when your so tired you can barely move. I think it is a depression that has slowly settled over me in a more powerful way then I can recognize. Get to a good Doctor or perhaps a good counselor. I think I'm speaking to myself with that last line. Anyway I feel your pain and it gets a little scary when you fall off so badly. Thanks for sharing as you have made me feel better knowing that I am not alone being exhausted.
Posted 5/8/2016 12:54 PM (GMT 0)
I have heard other guys complain about tiredness and depression after surgery, I know I was. I have not read any studies that would indicate surgery is the cause of the tiredness, but I feel it does happen to some guys.

Did your doctor test you vitamin D level? When I finally had my vitamin D tested I found it was low. There seems to be a relationship between low vitamin D levels and depression:

/www.psychologytoday.com/blog/reading-between-the-headlines/201307/vitamin-d-deficiency-and-depression

I currently do a lot of outdoor stuff (which should increase my vitamin D level) and take 2000 mg of D3 a day; however, in the winter I find myself on the lower end of normal. I am going to ask my doctor about once again raising the supplement level to 4000.

I am not saying that low vitamin D is your problem, but it is something you might want to consider.
Posted 5/8/2016 1:03 PM (GMT 0)
Although there is more to it, My mom used to always say, wherever you locate your body, for sure your head will follow.

You do need to start somewhere, and trying to find a way to be busy with something may help the most.

Even with a Dx of chronic fatigue syndrome or severe depression, aside from drugs/diet, you do need to fight through it, and find a way to get busy.

Working out, joining an activity club of some type, or even just try to get yourself to a peer-to-peer support group will go a long way towards a feeling of self worth and depression avoidance. The physical deficiencies associated with depression fatigue or chronic fatigue should lessen surprisingly quick once you find a way to get your body...and your head into mainstream life.

Posted 5/8/2016 1:42 PM (GMT 0)
Hello: I had robotic surgery that went fine, (Gleason 6) however, the exhaustion was unreal for over a year. I had to take a nap every afternoon. I could not work normal hours and only went to work with the understanding that I might fall asleep or I had to nap. I fell asleep on the NY City subway during rush hour and missed my stop by 7 miles! It finally went away by itself rather suddenly after about 1 year and I have no issues what so ever now, 5 years after surgery.

Bill K. from NJ
Posted 5/8/2016 3:50 PM (GMT 0)
Victor, I was rather depressed for a few months after my surgery, and I had very low energy. It took me about 6 months, to get my energy back to mostly full, and about a year to really feel totally 100%
I think it sounds like depression on your part, maybe work thru it with a professional if all your blood tests are normal.
Posted 5/8/2016 5:57 PM (GMT 0)
All the answers to your situation…are in every post addressed to you…especially your own posts.. I advise you to believe what you already know and make Viktor a verb… It is not easy…but patience will prevail if practiced….practiced in the way you would practice the piano… " to be or not to be "…the question and the answer…. fall…get up…fall…get up…Its the stuff of life…ain't no tother… except nothing. I pray for your healing ...well! Its deep don't ya know… Please keep us in the loop…we care...
Posted 1/29/2020 5:27 PM (GMT 0)
I was not a surgery candidate, so I had 88 radiation treatments and 9 months of hormone therapy. That was in 2017. I have never recovered my energy level. I used to shoot competitively, and was unable to do so for over a year, without significant help driving to the range and setting up for matches. A P.A. prescribed 37 mg tablets of phentermine, which I take half of on weekdays to keep from falling asleep at work. Sometimes, a whole tablet. Doesn't have the side effects of the old amphetamines.
I recently has an appendectomy, and I had good folks supporting me, forcing me to walk around immediately after the surgery. That, coupled with 3 days of bed rest (sleep) led me to continue the walking, and it IS helping.
I am able to drive for longer periods, and can shoot a whole match now. But I am still at only about 70% of my pre-cancer energy level..
Dr.'s don't want to prescribe testosterone replacement for fear of a relapse into cancer.
All in all, I am better off than a friend whose cancer spread, but the urologist staff says they've never seen a fatigue case so bad. That's probably because they're all 26 years old.
Posted 4/23/2021 5:38 AM (GMT 0)
I am 54 yrs old and had RP surgery last June after discovering my January annual PSA levels were abnormal. Previous to this surgery my medical background has included a few other physical medical/ sleep conditions that effect energy and tiredness. They effected my daily activities minimally. I have historically been one to sleep an average of 6 hours a night.
Now 10 months has passed since the surgery, having "normal after surgery side affects" that are improvement and do not feel I have any depression. However, most days I still have the urge to nap in the afternoon, it has improved since some days I am able to work through the urge to nap yet staying awake through the daily afternoon "fog" state.
This is however a major improvement compared to what it was like since the surgery to up to a couple months ago where I was napping every afternoon/evening for 1 to 2 to 3 hours.
I have been told that this tiredness has nothing to do with the surgury however, prior to surgery with a gleason score 4+3 cancer for a year with no symptoms I felt 1000 times more energetic then I have since waking up from the surgery. I however find it ironic if the surgery has nothing to do with this energy loss then why are there so many men feeling this symptom of exhaustion after the surgery? I am hoping it disappears after a year as is the case with ZO6dude mentioned.
I just wish doctors would not blow this off as no big deal and help treat it as part of the recovery process...
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