Originally Posted by: Online Community MemberHad SRT in April 2020, was on Prostap for almost 2 yrs, never had a PSA higher than <0.1 since the treatment.
Came off Prostap last, June almost 9 months ago.
Still having side affects such as hot flushes, though nowhere near as frequently, used to 4 or 5 times a night, now maybe once.
Strength coming back, hair starting to regrow on chest and legs.
This implies Testosterone is back.
Hot flushes are often the last side effect to go, and do not appear to be directly driven by lack of Testosterone, but an upset to signalling it causes in the hypothalamus which can take longer to recover (and occasionally never does).
Originally Posted by: Online Community MemberI have two concerns, one is my stool which is very erratic, sometimes go once for the day and it's normal followed by a spell of a week or so when it is like rabbit droppings and I may go 4 or 5 times a day. Maybe this is normal and will sort itself out with time or may be permanent.
Penis size reduced to 50% of what it was, not particularly bothered at 77 but it was unexpected.
Along with the stool, I pass a clear jelly sort of stuff and I have to be careful passing wind as it often comes along with this liquid which can stain your underwear. Also , very occasionally now, spots of blood in my stool.
Rabbit droppings is common during radiotherapy. Might be worth mentioning at next appointment.
Mucus farts and an excess of rectum lube are due to irritation of the bowel lining caused by the radiotherapy. The bowel assumes this is due to the presence of unwanted bacteria or virus, and the excess mucus is much the same as a runny nose, to try and flush it out (but it isn't really there). It slowly reduces over time, but may never get back to pre-treatment levels.
When the bowel gets irradiated (and same for the bladder), it often heals by growing lots of fine surface blood vessels, which are fragile and can break. Also, fibrosis of existing blood vessels makes them fragile and possibly break even several years later. This can cause fresh surface blood on stools and when wiping, and is common after radiotherapy. However, you must report this back to your clinicians because it's also a symptom of bowel cancer, and they will want to double-check there is no bowel cancer. It is usually confirmed as radiation procitis - a radiation burn to the rectal wall in contact with the prostate. A big warning my oncologist gave me is to tell them not to biopsy radiation procitis just out of curiosity, because that can generate a spot which won't heal.
Unless you are losing excessive blood or it's causing any incontinence, it's not usually necessary to treat radiation proctitis, but steriod foam and suppositories are available which can sometimes help.
Regarding penis size, you might not be bothered for sex, but it can be important for being able to stand to urinate. If you have a pump, you might want to use it for penile rehabilitation to prevent any further shrinkage and possibly even get some recovery. There is a phenomena known as buried penis where the penis becomes too short to protrude, often contributed to by fat on the pubis too. It can make for issues with cleaning and hygiene too.
Originally Posted by: Online Community MemberSecond is, over the last two weeks, I have developed painful nipples, if I just brush them with my arm or press on them. Is this related to testosterone levels returning or maybe something entirely different, just wondering if anybody else had this ?
Yes, seemingly quite common when Testosterone fully returns after HT from what's been recently reported here. This is called gynecomastia. I still had Tamoxifen on my repeat prescriptions, and have started taking it again, and it stopped the pain within a day. I could also feel breast gland tissue, and it's reducing that too, so I'll stick with it for a month or two at least. (Tamoxifen won't do anything for breast fat tissue, which is often called pseudogynecomastia, but is painless.)
Edited by member 05 Mar 2022 at 06:04
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