Radiation was over for me yesterday. How will the next months be?

Congratulations on completing your RT. 🥳🎊🎉 I had 20 fractions of IMRT in October 2025. I can tell you my post-radiation experience but also have to say that no 2 people experience the same thing(s). I had no significant change in urinary function. I was urine retentive going in (self-catheterization 6x/day) and after a year I still self-cath 6x/day. I did experience some bowel urgency for a time afterward. Not to the point of incontinence but more along the lines of when I have to go, I have to go now. This did subside after 6mos or so. Wishing you the best on your recovery and subsequent treatment(s). 👍

Thanks for your comments. No question there are many different circumstances, age differences, etc. and there will always be differences among people getting the same treatments. Bowel movements changed for me based on an 11:00 AM radiation session, and they wanted to have as little waste as possible during the radiation. So I did change my routine, along with some pills they recommended (over the counter) , to accomplish this. Will see how things go now.

Hi,
Usually with radiation you have fewer side effects early but some might show up months down the road(ie: bladder and rectum problems). Did they use the spacer gel between you Rectum and Prostate? Usually the gel protects the Rectum from damage from the radiation.

Dave 3+4

They did not use the spacer gel. Just standard radiation. I guess I will just have to wait and see how things turn out in the months ahead. Thanks for mentioning this. I will ask my Doc about it when I see him again.

Hopefully your body will begin to heal after radiation. I assume you did not have pelvic radiation since your lymph nodes were clear.
So your urine and bowel should gradually improve and hopefully return to near normal status.Watch for unusual blood or pain and if you see anything ( or feel) report to your radiation oncologist ASAP.
Good luck !

Congratulations !!! Don’t forget to celebrate. Relief and recovery ahead 👌🏽🙏🏽

What is tested is the PSA. A 4+4 would be a Gleason score. Was there any ADT with the radiation? At an 8 usually have radiation to pelvic area (wider field for some of the 44 treatments) and prostate. Any acute effects usually peak within 2 weeks of end of treatment and then get better over the next few months. Long term is 6 months after or longer and primarily due to off-aim radiation. Less now than in the past. Not much you can do now. If on ADT check on penile rehab to minimize ED issues.

Congrats on completing your radiation therapy! It's not an easy grind. Big relief when it is done. No more obsessing on "full bladder/empty rectum".

I underwent salvage radition (IMRT) last year for a local recurrence, ten years after a prostatectomy (RARP). Thirty eight sessions that finished on November 18, 2025. No ADT. I'm 73.

From a previous post, I reported this:

"Not feeling any major side effects three months after RT. Recovered from the fatigue in about month. Urgency to go to the bathroom has increased, but not to the point of having accidents or disrupting my life. When I gotta go, I gotta go. I can cope with that. No urinary incontinence."

I'm now 10+ months post-RT. Still no major, life changing effects. Some nights I sleep through the night, some nights I pee up to three times. Not much different than before RT. The one change in continence after RT is that sometimes, when I sleep really solidly, I will partially lose my bladder during the night. It's happened only three times, but now I wear pads at night, just in case. Hard to say if this is RT related or just an aging thing.

I'm also also doing PSA testing every three months. First one was three months after RT completion.

Best wishes for a full recovery.

Mel

Yes,it's a major relief when we complete our RT. I had 40 sessions pelvic imrt along with orgovyx and zytiga with prednisone for almost two years. About halfway through my imrt treatment I started having a really difficult time holding my bladder. The urgency gradually improved a few months after radiation was completed, but now at about 20 months post rt, I'm experiencing an increase in having to urinate along with a few episodes of urgency. I'm partially in denial, but expect this is late stage radiation cystitis? It's important to keep in mind considering all the variables these treatments affect us differently. Let's hope your psa heads south and urinary functions improve.

The answer to your question is “it depends…..”
> as for urination issues, it will depend on what problem was causing it.

> you mentioned about your Gleason score that “… Original test was 8 (4 +4), and they said they would wait about 3 months for another test to see if the number was reduced by the treatment.” But, it’s not the Gleason score they’ll repeat in 3 months, it’s the PSA test. What was your PSA test right before treatment? Did they give you hormone therapy?

(During April-May 2021 at 65y/o, I had 28 sessions of proton radiation + 6 months of Eligard for a localized, 7(4+3) w/PSA of 7.976. Treatments were relatively uneventful; most recent PSA was 0.366.)