Muscle recovery time post 12 months ADT

@climateguy

Latest studies show that low testosterone may actually increase cancer risk while normal or higher testosterone may reduce cancer risk. The use of ADT is now beginning to look like it causes more harm than good.

For Advanced Prostate Cancer: Immunotherapy and… Testosterone? | Johns Hopkins Medicine

ISSM International Society for Sexual Medicine - Dr. Mohit Khera (Baylor College of Medicine) and Dr. Gerald Brock (Western U. London) explain the evolving view on testosterone and prostate cancer, noting a shift from seeing testosterone as harmful to recognizing potential therapeutic or preventive roles. Low testosterone is linked to higher risk of high-grade cancer, recurrence, and poorer erectile recovery. 3/28/25

@carlsbadguy
Thanks so much for posting this since it is important for future patients to see and know that the most ADT side effects can be mitigated with regular and correct exercise (every day !) and with correct diet. Of course, it all also depends of the starting point too because if multiple health issues are present before PC diagnosis than following intensive exercise can be difficult, but that does not mean that even lower levels of exercise will not help. To the contrary.

As you said - one knows if one lost muscle or fat. If your pants fit better and you can move a notch on your pants - you lost fat. If you can lift more and more weight every week - you developed new muscle strands ; ). And if you brake a door handle by accident - you definitely got stronger ( I am joking since it happened to my husband 2 days ago ha ha, I was like "honey, be gentle with doors from now on " lol . )

Mr. Surf started his salvage RT yesterday - it was "non event" by all means. He came home smiling and full of stories of whom he met, what jokes were said in the waiting room, etc. His RO came to say hello and even gave him a book to read, one that you like ( we have it but my husband was polite and took it, of course). The zapping was 10 min total and he than went to nice coffee shop to relax and eat something and came home happy. He is having VMRT which is similar to IMRT, don't ask me the difference 🤪, I am useless in that area. It is open machine - actually table with half cylinder that makes 4 circles around body and that is it. You lay down, they adjust you, machine activates zooom zoooom zoooom zooom, and you are done. 👍 Next week he will start going to the hospital gym after treatment since I read that it can enhance RT effect on cancer cells.

I hope that this description eased your mind somewhat - I think that after you are done with fiducial markers insertion and SpaceOR that you will be able to relax. The first day of anything is always little bit stressful but after you actually see how simple all is, you will be able to relax.

Keep us posted and good luck 🍀 : )))

@surftohealth88

"Next week he will start going to the hospital gym after treatment since I read that it can enhance RT effect on cancer cells."

Actually Dr Newton recommends 10-20 minutes of exercise shortly before radiation, both in his 2025 PCRI presentation as well as his book. It gets blood and oxygen flowing to the tumor which helps with the radiation. Not sure how easily I could work in a 20 minute workout prior to my treatment, with a full bladder no less, but will do everything I can to keep up my present routine.

Thank you for the kind and reassuring words, I will certainly feel better after next week, hopefully the actual treatments will be as much of a "non event" as Mr Surf's was.

@pesquallie It seems to me that every clinician understands there are harms that can come with the benefits of ADT. Many researchers are working to figure out how to reduce the harms, or to find other more effective ways to treat PCa. In the meantime, ADT is a standard of care in many cases for a very good reason: it is the best treatment available.

The work on trying to understand more about testosterone is extremely interesting.

A 2024 article "Bipolar androgen therapy in prostate cancer: Current evidence and next steps" describes efforts to learn more about testosterone's potential therapeutic role. https://www.urologytimes.com/view/bipolar-androgen-therapy-in-prostate-cancer-current-evidence-and-next-steps

Dr. Geo interviewed Dr Michael Schweizer, who is one of the pioneer researchers in this field, recently, in an episode "Supraphysiologic Testosterone for Castrate Resistant Prostate Cancer". https://www.youtube.com/watch

@climateguy

If you read the latest articles from Baylor, Duke, and others you will see that lowering testosterone by whatever means causes serious harm to men and does little if anything to stop the progression of cancer. I believe that within several years ADT will no longer be used.

@carlsbadguy
Not only does exercise help the check out this information about running.

Running and prostate cancer
https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC12535562/
https://bioengineer.org/exercise-conditioned-serum-inhibits-prostate-cancer-growth/

@surftohealth88 when you say "whey protein or soy protein powder , no additives, gums, color or artificial aroma" does that mean with no flavoring? I'm just getting started on working out to get my muscle mass back while on Orgovyx, but I can't imagine that unflavored protein powder drinks taste great.

And are protein powders just mixed with water? Thanks!

@jeffmarc

Jeff, if only I was a runner. I ran track and played football in High School, but track was long jump, 110 and 180 yard hurdles, 100 yard dash. I fall back on my theory, belief and ability back then. "Anything farther than 200 yards should be a relay race". I simply am incapable of running any distance, no matter the pace.

@surftohealth88
Thanks, I believe the world’s most knowledgeable, experienced and respected expert on exercise’s effect on cancer is Dr Robert Newton. His book is “My Exercise Medicine for Cancer” is available on Amazon. It’s a science, and he has been researching it for 3 decades. I think you and Mr Surf would find it invaluable.

@surftohealth88 At the hospital where I attend monthly prostate cancer support group meetings, they do offer those free services. (And at the VA center where I go, they offer them as well.)

(My wife told me the major side-effect of ADT that she saw with me was that I started watching too much Hallmark Channel.)

(I’m a gym rat so, when they said to ramp up my exercise regimen, I knew exactly what to do: focus on multi-joint exercises that utilize the largest muscle groups: squat, deadlift, bench press, row, overhead press, and lat pulldown exercises.)

Plus, there’s a wealth of information online on resistance-training exercise programs. Here are just a few that I’ve bookmarked:

> Drs. Scholz and Moyad talking about exercise and hormone therapy: https://m.youtube.com/watch

> A paper on The Benefits of Exercise During Hormone Therapy: https://static1.squarespace.com/static/54c68ac6e4b06d2e36a4b8c9/t/55cb7275e4b0d97ae7ff60af/1439396469154/The+Benefits+of+Exercise+During+Hormone+Therapy_Insights+August+2015_PCRI.pdf

> A study about the benefits of exercise to counteract the adverse effects of ADT: (They describe a good resistance-training program): https://journals.lww.com/acsm-msse/fulltext/2023/04000/resistance_exercise_training_increases_muscle_mass.2.aspx