Pain Months After Brachytherapy

Hello. This site was extremely helpful to me and my husband when he was diagnosed and had brachytherapy for prostrate cancer in February 2017. Since then, his PSA scores have continued to fall - he is now at 0.2 - and generally he feels good. However, in the last few months he has experienced bouts of a dull pain in his groin area, all around his penis and sometimes by his testicles. Nothing seems different with his urine flow, no burning, etc.. But he no longer has erections, which has been a struggle for him early on, but now he has accepted because his health has been so good in other respects. We initially thought it might be a groin pull, but reading symptoms online, it doesn't seem to match and he hasn't done anything that physical. Has anyone had anything like this after brachytherapy? I wondered if it would be nerve issues? Thank you for your assistance.

Rickmav, first of all I'm happy for you guys with the PSA drop. Sounds like you are well on the way to cure! Re the pain that is unusual and warrants further exploration with his doctors. The radiation should be pretty well dissipated by now. Were his seeds stranded? If not it may be that a loose seed migrated and caused some damage/issues early on. Again, best to discuss this both with the RO and the urologist as it may be something else entirely.

Re the ED, it is unusual especially if it occurs immediately post procedure. However post-Brachy guys should respond very well to Viagra or Cialis so you should discuss this issue as well to see if there is a solution. Don't let it go on too long...use it or lose it! BTW, how old is your husband? Is it possible that the ED is natural age related? That should be discussed with the docs as well.

Good luck and please let us know what your docs tell you.

Jim

Thank you for your replies. Jim, it may well be that a seed migrated, that had not occurred to us. But after the 6 month check-up and CT scan the oncologist said that one seed had gone "off course." He didn't seem concerned about it and we were just so thankful that the PSA had gone down that we didn't ask. But we definitely need to. In Alberta, Canada you never speak to the oncologist on the phone and other than regularly scheduled appointments - 6 months and 1 year (coming up Feb 2018) you cannot see him without going through urologist first. But seeing the urologist would be easier for us to accomplish so we will start there. Rick is 67 and we were told by urologist that re: ED there was a 50-50 chance after brachytherapy that there would be issues. There were some issues before. I have left it to Rick for us to pursue ED when he is ready, but maybe the time has come to push a bit. The whole cancer thing was so traumatic for him (us) - and personal and intimate - that I have tried just to be supportive and go where he wants to go with things. He had never even been in a hospital before. I just want him around for as long as possible, I don't care about anything else. Maybe that hasn't helped. I will keep you posted.

You should start a new topic instead of a reply to this post.

I too had seeds done, and although it has now been 3 years, and my psa is fine, I suffer from the effects daily. During the first 4 months or so I thought the se's were what were to be expected. At 6 months I thought I had a short road left. At a year I realized something wasnt right. 3 years out, and I am in full pain mitigation mode. My legs are so bad on some days I can hardly stand it. Dont go down the path I went. get it checked out, and dont settle for the cookie cutter answer...It will get better. Insist on answers, and possible remedies. Even though there is a decent difference in our ages, there is no reason to suffer. I was 48 at the time of diagnosis, and thought it would be a breeze. Being in otherwise excellent health I felt my strength would make it easier. Not a chance... in my case anyway.

Demand information. Nobody is going to do it for you. Dont be afraid of coming off as rude, this is your life, and only you know what you are dealing with.