(I am) Starting testosterone replacement therapy

@oldgreenpaint Hey, at 74 - and with those co-morbidities - I think you are making a sane choice.
Your last PSA is undetectable and fingers crossed it stays that way🤞
If the numbers start to rise you might ask for the estradiol patch or Darolutamide alone with no additional ADT.
We seem to be walking chemistry experiments - add a little of this, take away some of that - and it’s important to stay on top of things and advocate for ourselves, as you have obviously done. Best,
Phil

I cannot shoutout the benefits I received from TRT loud enough! 59 years old, 20 proton radiation treatments last December. 3+4=7. I started TRT 3 months prior to learning of my PC diagnosis. I was very happy to hear from my Urologist, Oncologist and the Proton Center Director I did not have to stop my TRT because I had PC. The benefits of TRT especially for navigating PC treatment were tremendous. Body felt stronger, brain fog lifted, took away anxiety, able to put on and keep muscle, I sleep much better, libido increased and it helped with ED. I am on 200mg a week…two 100mg intramuscular shots a week. My T levels went from 200 to 800ish.

I had many sleepless nights like most of us on this thread, trying to decide open what treatment to get. I chose Proton therapy, but was (still am) afraid of side effects, esp ED. Here I am 10 months post treatment and my side effects include difficulty urinating, but Flowmax helps. ED is well managed with the TRT and 5mg Tadalafil daily. The Testosterone really promotes nighttime erections for some reason and I am convinced that has helped with PC side effects.

I know that Testosterone is the enemy of PC. I feel lucky that my diagnosis was such that I did not need hormone therapy and on the contrary was able to increase my T. This is just my story and it does not fit many on this page due to our different diagnosis’s. My message is if TRT becomes an option through your PC journey through your Dr, don’t be afraid of it.

@oldgreenpaint TRT is gonna make the cancer proliferate, so go for it. It’s your body.

@ecurb I suspect that if I asked you what you base your opinion on, you would have nothing. If you do, please post it up.

Meanwhile, here is what I found. A Copy Paste from this piece of medical research. A National Institutes of Health
Report. https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC4391003/

“However, no published analysis has reported measurable increases in prostate cancer risk or Gleason score in men undergoing TRT, or in hypogonadal men with a history of prostate cancer undergoing TRT[26,27,43]. Despite this, Calof et al[26] estimated that an evaluation of 85862 participants is necessary to detect a hypothetical 20% increase in prostate cancer resulting from TRT. The largest meta-analysis evaluating prostate cancer risk associated with TRT included only 1700 men (i.e., < 2% of the necessary population size)[43].”

And I will ask you, Why do you think I would be at greater risk of cancer reoccurrence because I use an injected testosterone than another man that produces testosterone via his testes?

Had 44 radiation tx and 22 months of hormone therapy. Did 3 months of testosterone injections. Felt like a man again. Psa went from undetectable to .1 then to .2. Stopped injections. After 5 months of holding off of testosterone injections psa is still .2 and natural testosterone is in the two hundreds. Weird thing is when I cum nothing comes out. Radiation must have fried my seminal vesicles. I’m glad to have orgasms. Seeing my radiation oncologist in a couple days. Would like to boost my erection confidence by continuing testosterone injections.

@cleggs ROs do not communicate well that the treatment will fry the complete prostate. The prostate produces 90-95% of the fluid so most men with RT and 100% with RP that have orgasms are dry. Most men are not undetectable coming off ADT after RT. The PSA recurrence standard is 2.0 for RT vs 0.2 for RP. Usually nothing to get concerned about if it stays under 0.5. Discuss that with your RO. You do not want to go all the way to 2.0 since when PSA gets above 1.0 prostate cancer is found > 50%.

@jim18
I am also always surprised how little is shared about SEs after RT , both short term and long term.
Beside dry orgasms ED develops in about 50 % of RT patients in following 5 years and incontinence also can happen down the road.
It also seems that ROs do not explain that any ADT length usually translates to "double that time" of low testosterone and than extended period of possible SAs . They actually count on that extended "low testosterone" effect after ADT stops for better cancer control. Some men have fast recovery, but that is not the norm.

@oldgreenpaint look up FIRMAGON on the Internet. See what it says about TRT, post Firmagon usage. May the force be with you.

@ecurb I did, found nothing. As I said above……. I suspect that if I asked you what you base your opinion on, you would have nothing. If you do, please post it up

@surftohealth88 Analyzed by you….perfectly! My COE experience was, sit down, be quiet, and we will treat you. Not much time for a full briefing on all the possibilities of side effects. No offering of a DEXA scan until I asked for one. Patients really need to do their homework research and be ready to ask questions. RE the known extended recovery of testosterone using the traditional injectable drugs, I wonder why the duration of Orgovyx isn’t extended longer?