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Returned Groin pain after radiotherapy

User
Posted 10 Sep 2023 at 10:52

Posting on behalf of my husband diagnosed last November (2022) with PSA 8.2 then G8 T3 score after biopsy. Mainly picked up due to mentioning pain in hips when he had been out running. Was fit and active but we had noticed increase in tiredness for a year before diagnosis.

 He has spoke about a 'sensation in groin area' for a while eg a sort of pressure . Doc ran PSA test 'just in case'. He has locally advanced in seminal vesicles with biopsy 4+4. We got the sense that at 57 they were surprised that the PSA wasn't higher. They have said it's particularly aggressive. bone and soft tissue scans all clear. 
Hes been on hormone therapy for six months and 20 doses of radiotherapy through August. 

Now two weeks post RT and fatigue worsening. More concerning is a return of the groin sensation. Again the best he can describe it as a stone in groin. To the back rather than lymph node position. He feels this was the cancer pressing before and is concerned it's still a lump. It disappeared during RT which he felt was reassuring as it meant Tumour was shrinking. Anyone else feel they had could feel the tumour inside and is it likely to remain after radiotherapy for a while. 

User
Posted 11 Sep 2023 at 00:09

Hi welcome. I along with most people on this forum are not medically trained, we just happen to be people who have/had or know someone with cancer. Over the years some on here have picked up a bit of knowledge. So I'm going to say now that everything I say I believe to be true, for 98% of patients. It is always possible I am wrong and hopefully some one else will correct me. It is also possible your husband is in the 2% of cases which just ain't normal.

Prostate cancer hardly ever has symptoms until it is advanced and incurable or even terminal. Because your husband's scans showed bones and soft tissue clear the hip pain and tiredness prior to diagnosis were not caused by cancer, but thankful they led to a reasonably early diagnosis. No one that I know of has ever reported feeling a lump where the cancer is, so whatever he is feeling is unlikely to be cancer related.

Fatigue post RT is fairly common, and HT also causes fatigue. RT does not kill the tumour immediately it kills the cells next time they try and divide, with prostate cancer that means about 18 months after RT before the tumour is gone. So though I don't think he can feel cancer, if he could he shouldn't be worried because it wouldn't have gone yet.

Again I want to emphasise all the above is based on being on this forum for two years, not from any medical training.

Dave

User
Posted 11 Sep 2023 at 07:01

Thank you so much. I actually thought it killed the cancer cells immediately so that's a bit of a revelation and very helpful to know. His hip pain was exacerbated by mild arthritis we think but the tiredness something new for about a year before. You can see the dip in his fitness levels dip on his Apple Watch. We assumed that might have been due to body fighting it but perhaps not. He has a doc follow up this Thursday so will hopefully get some further reassurance. 

User
Posted 11 Sep 2023 at 07:21

If he's on hormone therapy, that causes fatigue. It can also cause joint pain, particularly hips, and sometimes knees. This tends to reduce in effect as the body gets used to being on hormone therapy. Both hormone therapy and radiotherapy reduce hemoglobin levels pulling you more towards anemia (and that may be a contributory factor for fatigue). The impact from the radiotherapy should recover in a couple of months. When you see the doctor, it would be worth asking for some blood tests including full blood counts, iron and B12 levels, but don' be surprised if hemoglobin is on the low side just now.

 
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