ADT and SRT Journey Part 5

Saw RO on January 14, a week ago. Psa remains <.05, testosterone beginning to recover but still very low at 22. Up from 8 on July 30 though, when I got the hopefully last 3-month Lupron shot.
Next appointment in 6 months for blood work and to see nurse practitioner.
SEs are gone now, energy and stamina good — back to full speed (or at least as fast as I go) at tennis and life.
Wishing those of you starting treatment well — drink your water, empty your bowels, enjoy interacting with the techs — and also the post-toasties as you stay on top of the beast — your comments here on HW certainly helped me cope.

Garyi, no, started sildenafil after surgery then stopped because of SEs. Normal, pre-ADT testosterone was 450. RO did say it mght never recover to that level. The 3 month Lupron depot would have ended at the end of October, so it’s only 2-1/2 months into the post-ADT period. Age may also be slowing the recovery.
Do the cialis/viagra pills help testosterone! I thought they were for blood supply. Sildenafil at
least has some power to reduce blood pressure.

Progressing said...
Garyi, no, started sildenafil after surgery then stopped because of SEs. Normal, pre-ADT testosterone was 450. RO did say it mght never recover to that level. The 3 month Lupron depot would have ended at the end of October, so it’s only 2-1/2 months into the post-ADT period. Age may also be slowing the recovery.
Do the cialis/viagra pills help testosterone! I thought they were for blood supply. Sildenafil at
least has some power to reduce blood pressure.

Primarily for blood flow, but may also help with testosterone. My T was down to 3 during Lupron, having been 660 before I started. Twelve months after my only six month Lupron shot, I'm back to a T of about 330. I've been on 5 or 10 mg of sildenafil daily, for a year.

Hi Noggin, that was great news. I am fairly new, but I realize you and I have almost the same pathology and journey.
I am now in my last week of 7 months of Lupron, and I had 38 radiation treatments. I am now waiting until May for my next psa check. I hope my results are as good as yours, and you are a great inspiration!

Hi Noggin good to hear from you. Yes the thread is getting pretty long will be 6 parts before long lots of interest in ADT and SRT as far as side effects, nadir, and BCR. We don't always have all the answers but hopefully we can kinda steer people in the right direction from our experiences. I have been having major issues with my back; spinal stenosis, and narrowing of spinal canal have tried injections that worked in the past but no longer are working. As Prato said the ring around the belly has gotten big and hard to get rid of it can go out for about an hr snowshoeing than the leg hurts so bad I'm glad I have poles cause they become a cane. They have a good program down at the mayo for degenerative disc disease and spinal stenosis it's just so far to go down there but am thinking I'm gonna check into it maybe tie it in with my pca checkups? Good to hear your doing good it seems most of the guys from the early days of this thread are still with us and doing pretty darn good. It was -56 deg the other morning about 25 miles from where I live so for the last week we haven't been above zero finally yesterday got to 7 and today it's suppose to get to 20 everybody is ready to go out and get a tan!! We were -65 below wind chill Wed morning so a person doesn't feel like going out and doing much although there are no mosquitoes out!! LOL I'm looking forward to my last shot in April hopefully my last and maybe by this time next year I'll actually be mmmmmm never will be 20 again but wouldn't mind being 50! Ha Ha

Larry

Pratoman said...
Hey Noggin.
I’m 3 weeks from the end of my last 3 month Lupron shot and the beginning of my post adt period.
So far, ok. Hot flashes are still there but seem to be less frequent. Loss of. Some body hair annoys me, but no big deal. The weight gain around my middle annoys me more. Really have to do something about that, I’m going on a cruise mid March. I’m hoping the effect of the Lupron starting to wear off will make it easier to lose.
And of course, the loss of libido is still there.

As far as radiation side effects, last treatment was mid November. I find I leak a bit on occasion, which I didn’t before, but not enough to need to wear a pad, and mostly when I drink too much.
Bowel movements are a bit different, but fine, no issues.

So all in all I’m good so far. First post treatment PSA will be in May, like CaptainG

Prat,
Man it does get a lot better as the Lupron wears off but for me the belly is still hanging around. I started palates two weeks ago to see if that might get me in better shape. So far it has just kicked my butt! I'm also doing pelvic floor therapy in hope I can get my leaking under control. It was so bad I was considering the Artificial sphincter surgery. So far I have gone from 8 pads a day to most days 3. That is a life changer.
Good luck with the PSA!
Noggin

Guys, I have locked this one up after 9 pages and started a Part 6 here: https://www.healingwell.com/community/default.aspx?f=35&m=4103784

Jim