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Discussion44yr PSA180 Gleason9 non-metastatic. Surgery or Treatment?
Prostate Cancer | Last Active: Sep 27 11:03am | Replies (112)Comment receiving replies
Replies to "Steve, can you give me some insight as to what you’re experiencing taking the ADT cocktail?..."
Sure. And I wouldn't disregard the comments provided here thoughtfully by rlpostrp arguing for surgical removal. They're a good argument for that approach. And in that context I should mention that I have AML (Acute Myeloid Leukemia) in remission after a bone marrow transplant Feb 2023. My immune system has not recovered yet, getting slowly better. One of the arguments for me personally to choose radiation over surgery was avoiding infection etc. My own Urologist who does many surgeries said I should go with radiation as did my bone marrow team after a two week consideration using me as a case study. Radiation isn't preferred for marrow transplant patients because of the proximity of one of the largest marrow factories and of the intestines. But they unanimously voted for radiation. They didn't say but I know that they also are aware that my now nearly famous resiliency during many kinds of Chemo and so on, reduced my remaining reservoir of resiliency. Surgery has quite a challenging recovery usually. That's Googlable. Much less (but having its own aspects) for radiation.
General arguments for the radiation approach include clinical trials that concluded the comparative results of surgery versus radiation are equal. But I digress.
YOUR QUESTION
I've been on this ADT cocktail for 6 weeks. The side effects which are intermittent, are four things: 1) fatigue, 2) nausea, 3) mental fog, and 4) hot flashes.
#1,2,3 I'm used to f pm my AML treatment and I am still taking a Chemo from that, Same symptoms except the flashes. The benefit is I know how to handle them. But the effects are additive to the symptoms I already had.. I have an occasional bad day when they hit me harder especially the nausea which is my least favorite. But most days I'm still doing my things, fewer due to fatigue and energy, but still doing them. That's the "ride" I mentioned. From what I see that others write, some experience these symptoms at a lesser level, or one or the other is more prominent. I don't mind the flashes at all, some people do. And so on. Hope that helps.