Team Quality versus Team Quantity

Your friend should consider the antidepressant option. There is a good reason

My father died of prostate cancer. His pain tolerance was incredibly high. He had his teeth ground down and crowned without Novacaine. He would come home every night, After treatment, and eat dinner with us. The last few weeks he was dying from prostate cancer He was on so much morphine he could not communicate. Prostate cancer is incredibly painful to die from. Does your friend really want to go there?

There are many solutions to the problems that occur when you have prostate cancer, Ask for help don’t let it kill you.

I forgot to mention that your friend should contact their Doctor about getting a Palliative care Physician to work with them to try to resolve the side effects they are having. They specialize in easing the symptoms of whatever treatment you’re having.

@jeffmarc
This is very unique idea and a brilliant one !

Makes total sense though - one would hope and wish that doctors working with cancer patients would have this "idea" themselves *sigh and direct their patients there IF they had no knowledge of how to ease the side effects of their patients which in itself is unlivable, IMHO.

Thanks god for this forum and thanks Jeff for helping so many here in so many ways - you should be cloned ; ) lol.

I am so sorry dear @sriddle1 to hear this : (((. I do not have enough experience to help with the answer , just wanted to say I admire your stamina and your support for your partner and that I am sending you hugsss and will be sending your partner "healing vibes" with prayers.

I see how he can feel down and defeated : (((, his feelings come from the place of terrible discomfort and ADT effecting his mood in a bad way : (((, but I am sure that you will find the way to persuade him to try some mild anti depressant since so far you managed to pull him through rough patches with great success.

Maybe try to emphasize to him that he actually went through the worst of it - surgery and full 37 sessions of radiations immediately after - that is a GREAT feat !!! He did great !!!! He is just tiered at the moment and dealing with side effects that will get better with time and patience.

Is he done with IMRT completely ?

Ask if your husband's cancer doctor can recommend a therapist who deals with advanced cancer patients. Many oncologists and cancer centers have therapists on staff or who they can recommend for patients. Maybe he would agree to talk to someone, and that person might persuade him to try an antidepressant. It is worth a try. Good luck, and take care of yourself--dealing with his anguish is also hard on you.

@surftohealth88, he’s only just completed 10/37 today.

Thank you all for the support. Gosh, this group has been amazing for me in particular to help me through these rough times.

At our last visit with MO, I brought up the idea of having him prescribed an antidepressant and she said Effexor is what she’d try first. He is just so hesitant to add any more pharmaceuticals at this point. He feels like he’s taking so much already.
I will continue to encourage him to try it and see. Too bad they take so long to kick in. The feedback is slow but I think it would help him tremendously.

@lag, we’ve also discussed him joining an online group, meeting with someone etc but so far, he hasn’t taken the bait.

@jeffmarc, my next mission is to see who his case manager is and if they can help him locate someone within the COH community even that is familiar with cancer and the effects of the disease, the side effects of the drugs and the fact that it comes with so many emotions.

@jeffmarc thank you Jeff. I always look forward to your comments. I will seek this out further and encourage this route. His MO at last appointment mentioned Effexor when I asked for a possibility of adding an antidepressant. Thoughts on Effexor?