brachytherapy

[bikebabe]

my hubbie has just had brachytherapy for stage 3 prostate and has been in great pain since Thursday. He’s been told it’s normal and to suck it up but he’s not sleeping and is struggling to wee without great pain (tears) . Any advice as to what has worked for you to manage post op brachytherapy please. I’ve just had open heart surgery last week myself so were two unhappy bunnies.

[Tall_Allen]

Here are expected side effects:

prostatecancer.news/2018/10...

NSAIDs may help, or Medrol dose pack if NSAIDs aren't enough.

[bikebabe in reply to Tall_Allen]

THank you Allen - what is a medrol dose pack please?

[Tall_Allen in reply to bikebabe]

Corticosteroids. Your doctor will know.

[conbio]

After my brachy I was on tamulosin for a good 4 months - 2 doses before bed, to help with urination

[trregan]

im still on tamulisin 2 years out. Took 4-5 months for the seats to disappear…big drag but it will go away! Good luck!

[CarverD]

I found most of my post HDRB symptoms started to subside about 3 days after my treatments. Other than the need to urinate every hour, which took months to remedy itself, the rest were completely gone within a 4 - 8 weeks. I was on tamsulosin for the first few weeks but because of side effects switched to Cialis 5mg. Best of luck to both of you!

[bikebabe in reply to CarverD]

many thanks - did you have excessive pain when weeing in first week along with frequency? He’s been told he can only have ibuprofen and/or paracetamol as he can’t be constipated for the radiotherapy course itself which should have started today but he was in too much pain.

[CarverD in reply to bikebabe]

I did have some pain and blood in urine as well. What type of rad therapy is he having done? Mine was HDR-BT, 2 sessions, one week apart. My pain subsided enough to allow me to go bow hunting 6 days after the 2nd session. Needing to pee every hour on the hour pretty much insured the deer would remain safe I'm 3.5 years post op now and believe I made the right choice considering my lifestyle (very active, go to grandpa, etc). Although my PSA rose at the last check so we are going back to testing every 3 months until I'm sure it's just a standard bounce.

[Scorpio53]

I had similar issues following my brachytherapy treatment. Yes, ibuprofen helps. Given the retention of urine, however, and pressure on my kidneys I eventually had to use a catheter (first time for three days and then self catheterizing when needed) until the prostate irritation subsided.

While I was told that I was one of the small number of patients who had similar problem urination issues, the irritation did subside (I still have some issues today).

I'm not sure if your husband will have additional radiation treatments, but I did. My RO initially had me scheduled for 15 EBRT sessions. He decided given the urination/pain issues that we should reduce the intensity of the treatments and spread them over 25 sessions. At the same time, he also suggested I use the OTC urinary infection treatment--Phenazopyridine hydrochloride. That helped as well because it reduced urgency as well as pain over a period of time. My urologist agreed as well.

I hope this helps.

[tsim]

He can get a catheter placed if he's having great difficulty urinating. I was going like a fire hose when I left the hospital, five hours later, nothing. And try the Phenyl for the urinary pain, goes by the trade name Azo. Be careful though, will turn everything orange.

[timotur]

I had burning sensation while p'ing for about a week. Probably a result of the urethra being inflamed from the cytoscope and the catheter. It took two nurses to get my catheter out, so I'm sure it didn't help that it was stuck. I didn't take any pain meds, because it gradually got better every day. I also had retention for about two weeks, i.e. the feeling that my bladder was full even after emptying it.

[electronics-guy]

Just for your information, I had permanent seed implant brachytherapy. The RO put me on two tamsulosin at night and one Cialis in the morning. He also put me on one Aleve every 12 hours for a month. The first week, blood and blood clots were very common. Urinary retention along with moderate to severe pain when I could go was frequent. The retention was MUCH MUCH worse during the night. A few times it took 10-15 minutes to somewhat empty my bladder and I wondered if I would have to go to the ER (never did). I found that sleeping somewhat upright in a recliner made a HUGE difference/relief in the retention issue for the first 2-3 weeks after the implants. Not sure why, but even taking a nap in the afternoon laying flat made the retention much worse for me. It was a month before I started sleeping all night in my bed. You might see if it is worse during the night and if so, have him try that. I was totally amazed at the difference. The RO did not have an explanation why, but at the time, I didn’t care. It just worked for me.

I had external beam radiation treatments about 3-4 weeks after that and the side effects from that was pretty mild in comparison to the brachytherapy. Best of luck to the both of you. As everyone says, it will get better, but at the time, it felt like a week for just one day to go by, with the pain, not sleeping, etc.

[Murk]

Wow I had no idea of these side effects, your Doc should be all over this helping and I hope their temporary.