What rehab to do after 6 months of Orgovyx and 38 sessions IMRT

Regarding weight training. Rob Newton is a leading exercise oncologist who I've studied. His recommendation is to start at 85% of what you can lift in any particular weight training exercise, and do it three times a week until it isn't hard to repeat 12 times. Then increase the weight until you can only do 6 reps. You want to keep a few reps in reserve, i.e. stop at 6 if you could, with maximum effort, do 8. Etc.

He usually is reluctant to issue general instructions, but in one video recorded by P.C.R.I. he was pinned down on a routine for anyone who was not in danger of breaking fragile bones or who was in serious trouble in other ways.

He listed six pin machine exercises:

Chest Press/ Seated Row/ Lat Pull Down/ Leg Press/ Leg Extension/ Leg Curl. I.e. upper body and lower body exercises, 2 or 3 sets, 6 to 12 reps each, 2 or 3 times a week.

Youtube vid: The Power of Exercise for Prostate Cancer https://www.youtube.com/watch

Newton lays out a concise description of what exercise oncologists have discovered in this article: Prostate Cancer Treatment with Exercise Medicine https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/epdf/10.1002/tre.884

@climateguy I’ve been doing those six, two sets of 12 (5 minutes rowing) twice a week for several months and it definitely makes a difference.

@climateguy The Power of Exercise for Prostate Cancer by Dr Newton is the same presentation @jime51 referenced and it is excellent. Thanks for outlining excercises to do. He said when you are doing these excercises it is best to be doing them vigorously. From what you describe I have my work cut out for me but this excercise slows down prostate cancer growth at all stages of the journey. If I had this before I should have been exercising right before getting each radiation treatment and if you get chemo you should be exercising right before and after getting the injection.
Thank you for giving me the excercises. I have my work cut out for me Best wishes to you

@amota
A PSA of .68 is quite high for somebody that has had a Prostatectomy. What’s more important however is how quickly it’s rising. If it doesn’t significantly rise in a multi month, period, then it does not matter.

I’ve run into a lot of people in the meetings I go to, who have had their prostate cancer come back after 10, 15 and even 25 years. It does happen and treatments can make a difference. You could live to 90 and beyond If you need treatment.

I had my prostatectomy 16 years ago and it came back after 3 1/2 years and I had radiation. I’ve had three more reoccurrences and I’m now 78 (79 this year). I can do everything somebody my age can do and more probably. I walk on a track a fast mile twice every day. I go to the gym three times a week and work on weightlifting to keep my muscles strong. I am on two different drugs for prostate cancer, but nobody has any idea unless I tell them. My wife and I go dancing on the weekends, work up a sweat swing dancing. People have told me they think I’m 10 years younger than I am.

Don’t be afraid of being treated for your cancer, If it reoccurs. Being active is the most important thing.

@pamperme

I tried many herbal supplements for sleep and they help if I am not very stressed but when I need extra help Benadryl (6 hour) helps , or ZQuil and I also discovered that CBD and THC gummise help 100 % ( and I use half the recommended dose !!! , go slowly if you never used weed, I did not ever try it before).
I tried one med. that doctor prescribed and I thought I would die even though I took half the pill - it is called Tramadol - never again I will ask a doctor for sleep aid 😡. If you do go to doctor ask for mild sedative, NOT this crap that is actually very old anti depressant - just horrible drug and lasts for at least 24 or more hours. I have no idea what is wrong with doctors in general.

Bouncing moves - absolutely necessary since those use "gravity signals" sent to bones to grow stronger. I have no idea why nobody mentions that in their presentations (actually that Australian guy who sells app. did - he suggested bunny jumps and step). Many studies are done proving that bounce gives bones signal to grow. If you have sensitive knees or hips than simple "up up, down down" on one step will do. Or small trampoline too. There is no need to do whole aerobic routine on a step - just gong up and down that platform or if you have steps in the garden or in the home use the first step as a prop. Now, if you have stamina step aerobic part would give you both - bone exercises and cardio and lover body muscle exercises.

My husband does weight also , every day for 30 min and uses you-tube series for prostate cancer patients. Exercises are done at home. He showed them to UCSF nutritionist and their PT person and both confirmed that they are exactly what he needs to do. He was told to challenge muscles with heavier weights as soon as repetition becomes "comfortable". One has to do given number of reps till one just can not do single one more.

Wishing you the best always 💗

@pamperme
ADT deteriorated my muscles to the point that I couldn’t get off the floor without pulling myself up on something. I didn’t really realize how much it damaged muscles.

With some exercise, I am stuck doing things with much lighter weights than I thought I would be able to handle. As @heavyphil mentions however, Doing as many reps as you can with lighter weights, until you can’t do another one, really does build those muscles. Over time you can move up to heavier weights. Getting in there and doing it early, can prevent the loss of muscles that are going to happen, if you don’t do the exercising.

I’ve heard many people talk about the sleep problems. Are you making sure not to sleep during the day so that you are tired at night? I don’t recall ever having a sleep problem with ADT, But for a few years, I would wake up multiple times feeling I had to go pee and I knew I didn’t. Fortunately, taking the right drug fixed that. I don’t go to sleep until midnight and wake up about 6:30, That assures that I’m tired and I don’t usually wake up In the middle of the night, It happens occasionally, but I go right back to sleep. Not sure this really helps but figured I’d bring up things that work for me.

@pamperme At the center where I am almost finished with my 20 sessions of external beam treatment, they aren't set up to facilitate exercise immediately prior to getting the treatment.

What I've been doing is to walk up stairs 5 floors and back down, then back up and down, for 5 - 10 minutes depending how organized I've been that day, prior to checking in as available for treatment. The check in procedure, changing out of street clothes, drinking the prescribed amount of water, and waiting in a room registered as available for treatment typically results in about a 30 minute delay from exercise to treatment.

I think Newton has experimented with exercising patients for longer periods then immediately, with no delay, putting them on the table for radiation. He thinks that is the best way to do it.

I don't think anyone has yet done a trial of similarly staged patients who were randomly assigned, one half who were exercised immediately prior to radiation, or to another half who did not exercise to see what happens. His theory makes a lot of sense though.

@jime51 One other thing:

Newton, in his clinic, uses exercise machines that have computer controls that can be set to offer more resistance when the target muscle or group is lengthening, than when that muscle or group is contracting. When a muscle lengthens it is called eccentric movement, when it contracts the movement is called concentric.

I've heard a presentation by Dr. Stacy Kenfield, from UCSF, who studies exercise and prostate cancer, where she says Newton was the first to convince other exercise oncologists that patients who exercise emphasizing eccentric movements while on ADT could increase their muscle size as opposed to maintaining size or reducing the amount of wasting.

If no specialized machine is available, Newton suggests an approximation of their effect can be had if during any exercise, if the concentric part of the exercise takes x amount of time, the eccentric part is given 2x the time.

I did 6 months of Orgovyx and my T was up to 250 2 months after treatment. It comes back quickly. I started feeling better 3 weeks after treatment. I was one of the fortunate ones and didn't have hot flashes. I had a bad case of Radiation Proctitis and got cauterized and used Mesalamine for 3 months to stop the bowel inflammation. At 15 months it seems my bleeding, gas and urgency is abating. I found the urgency and rank paint peeling gas the worse part of the whole thing and had to be strategic about eating and bathrooms. It has been a long time since I could trust a fart and glad to say I pretty much can at 15 months. Imodium helped and would use it on days that I had places to go and things to do. It isn't suggested to use it every day long term. Hope this helps.