Prostate gleason score is a 7

I would like to invite everyone who had undergone radiation therapy to share their experiences here... on this forum—specifically, what side effects they went through during their treatments....how they were filling and whether they experienced a cancer recurrence.
Surgery vs radiation

Welcome @ldbrixey2009 and so sorry you found your way to our little club. What injections are you getting? Beginning ADT prior to radiation tends to shrink and stabilize existing tumor growth and is actually standard of care. I was prescribed ADT 4 months prior to starting radiation therapy. Nothing to be nervous about. Hot flashes, muscle weakness, and joint pain are all known side effects of ADT and certainly indicate your injections are just that. Tell us which one and folks can be more explicit regarding side effects. Best wishes!

@mozir - If you put "radiation" in the search at the top of the prostate cancer page, you will get pages and pages of discussions you are asking for. If you want to try to centralize specifics, maybe start a new discussion. I think any replies to you will get buried in this thread. Oh, and welcome BTW.

My experience: biopsy on 2/2/22- Gleason 9. Started butt shot first-Trelstar or Lupron. Then immediately starting Arbiterone/prednisone- while getting 28 RT of the prostate/ lymph nodes on 2/14/23. Rang bell on 3/24/23 . Today my PSA has been < .01 since ending RT. Have PSA checked every three months…, no lower back pain or side effects from RT: only afternoon fatigue- I gotta NAP for an hour. I m BRCA2 negative, which is good as a factor to consider for re occurrence. Hope this helps ya. I m 77 years old now. I put this BAD TRIP into the PAST so far. Gotta exercise my legs daily too, stretches/ treadmill. This really helps moving around. Best of luck to ya.

@mozir 8 months daily diarrhea beginning during RT and ongoing BM issues a year later, diagnosed as radiation proctitis. Psyllium, Imodium, sucralfate enemas and now mesalamine suppositories. Bowel movements are better controlled but slight occasional bleeding has returned.

There has been much reported on the physical benefits of resistance-training exercise while on ADT. Here are just a few that I’ve bookmarked:

> Drs. Sholz 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
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Having heard about the possible side effects of hormone therapy, I ramped up my strength-training program well before my first injection.

Unfortunately for us, this is par for the course. I’m 14 months on Orgovyx, 7 months past radiation and am still suffering from the same symptoms as you, with added gastric disturbances. We have to keep going, keep exercising, stay positive and look at the finish line.

@mozir I have four radiation treatments left and that puts me 38 trips and four more months on orgovgy. expect the fatigue to increase as the sessions continue but it is manageable you must keep lifting weights and walking

My radiation oncologist is quick to emphasize, the few times I've asked when are the radiation treatments going to begin, "you are being treated". He assumes that a patient who is concerned about why its taking so long to start radiation is wondering when the treatment is going to start.

ADT tends to stop the cancer in its tracks. The prostate shrinks as well. In my case, the doc wanted to shrink the size of my prostate to make the brachytherapy radiation treatment he is going to perform go better. He also thinks its better for a patient to get somewhat used to the ADT side effects, then get whatever side effects come with whatever radiation is prescribed on top, rather than the other way around.

A Gleason seven with the drugs would allow you to go quite a bit of time before your cancer should be growing and spreading. The fact that your back is hurting, however, is concerning. Usually, there is some joint pain for some people with ADT. I’ve had a little joint pain, but never a problem with my back that wasn’t related to back issues I had before I had prostate cancer. When that happens, I put on a brace and in a couple of days I’m back to normal.

I am not sure what your PSA is, but if it is above .2, you should get a PSMA PET scan to see if there’s a problem with metastasis in your back. Usually, the pain from prostate cancer is continuous. You can’t get yourself into a position where it stops hurting. Is that what you anre experiencing right now?