Re: A side effect of EBRT

[Guest guest]

DAVID COLLINS wrote:

> ... What has been discovered is that the EBRT has reduced my

> prostate gland to a very small size and its through passage has

> narrowed. It seems that wear and tear on this constriction has

> produced the slight bleeding. I also learned that my bladder

> walls have thickened a bit, but I think that's probably just

> ageing (66), and nobody has suggested I should be concerned

> about it.

> The solution is that I've been placed on Finasteride - daily 5

> mg - normally given to BPH patients and supposedly a deterrent

> to PCa developing - with the aim of reducing the size of the

> prostate further and opening up the urethra. I confess I'm a

> bit dubious about downsizing my soft, smooth little prostate

> further and can't quite understand how this would open up the

> urethra, but I'm prepared to give it a try.

Pure speculation on my part, but it may be that the doctor is

hoping that the Finasteride will shrink the prostate _away_ from

the urethra, instead of shrinking it onto the urethra. He

probably doesn't know whether it will work but considers it worth

trying because it's less invasive than the alternatives.

As an analogy, we could shrink a doughnut in two ways. One way

would shrink the whole shape of the doughnut, making the outside

diameter smaller and the inside diameter smaller, resulting in a

smaller doughnut hole - not good in this case.

The other way would be to shrink all of the bread in the

doughnut, making the outside diameter smaller and the inside

diameter larger (less bread total) - good in this case.

I guess you'll see in a few weeks if it works or not. If it does

work it might be much better than any invasive treatments. If it

doesn't work or makes things worse, you can discontinue it and

consider more radical interventions. According to the Wikipedia,

it has a half-life of only 6-8 hours, so if you discontinue it it

will be out of your system very quickly.

> I read that this drug can reduce PSA readings, perhaps by half,

> but whether that is so in guys like me undergoing successful

> ADT, I'm unsure. If that is so and my PSA does drop, I shall

> not know whether I'm heading for a new nadir, which is possible

> up to three years after EBRT, I gather, or whether it is the

> effect of the Finasteride. We shall see. I'll keep my profile

> on Terry's web site updated as a source of information to all.

I'd be surprised if it cut the PSA by half, but I do know that

some medical oncologists prescribe double or triple ADT, where

one of the ADT agents is finasteride or dutasteride.

Some oncs swear by this. Others say it has no useful effect.

Others say it might help if the Lupron (or whatever LHRH agonist

is in use) isn't bringing the testosterone level down far enough

- which it doesn't do in some men. It would be useful to have a

testosterone reading to see where you stand in that regard.

Best of luck.

Alan

[Guest guest]

,

Interesting theory. I didn’t realize

until fairly recently that blood in the urine seems to be a more common event than

I had thought two to five years out from radiation therapy.

I say this because a Swedish friend of

mine, Lars, who had EBRT (External Beam Radiation Therapy) was surprised

when he started piddling blood soon after Xmas. He had various tests and was

about to be admitted to hospital for a procedure aimed at stopping the bleeding

when he met up with a retired urologist (old school man) who suggested that it might

be associated with his diet – and asked specifically if he drank red wine

because in his experience there was some correlation between red wine and this

kind of event.

I also made some enquiries and searches

and found several sites where the issue was discussed and where red wine was

identified as a potential culprit. Lars was in the habit of having a

glass or two (or more!!) of red wine every evening and this persuaded him to

try stopping the habit. He did and the bleeding stopped. He then cautiously

started having hhis evening DRINK again and so far, so good.

Maybe coincidence, maybe no connection –

anecdotal evidence is, as Steve J always reminds us, worth very little, but….???

Who knows.

All the best

Prostate men need enlightening, not

frightening

Terry Herbert - diagnosed in 1996 and

still going strong

Read A Strange Place for unbiased information at http://www.yananow.net/StrangePlace/index.html

From:

ProstateCancerSupport

[mailto:ProstateCancerSupport ] On Behalf Of DAVID COLLINS

Sent: Wednesday, 9 June 2010 2:20

AM

To: ProstateCancerSupport

Subject: A

side effect of EBRT

Folks,

I thought I'd share with you all a side effect of EBRT that I've just

had diagnosed, something that was never pointed out to me at the outset of

treatment, but which I gather to be fairly common.

It's now some 25 months since I completed EBRT andI'm about 30

months into a Zoladex regime. ( I was Gleason 9 and PDA 62.3 at the

outset, now a steady 0.7, after a nadir - so far at any rate -

of 0.3). I experienced some slight blood staining in my pee

(just in the first teaspoonful or so) during the past month, the most

concerning being an involuntary discharge overnight on a couple of occasions,

just a drop or two. I'm continent so I knew it wasn't from my bladder,

but my brother had had bladder cancer as well as PCa before he died (not from

either of these) so I thought I'd better have it checked. I had x-rays

and a CT scan today and also an endoscopy, topped off with a DRE (I really

appreciated that bonus). What has been discovered is that the EBRT has

reduced my prostate gland to a very small size and its through passage has

narrowed. It seems that wear and tear on this constriction has produced

the slight bleeding. I also learned that my bladder walls have thickened

a bit, but I think that's probably just ageing (66), and nobody has suggested I

should be concerned about it.

The solution is that I've been placed on Finasteride - daily 5 mg -

normally given to BPH patients and supposedly a deterrent to PCa developing -

with the aim of reducing the size of the prostate further and opening up the

urethra. I confess I'm a bit dubious about downsizing my soft, smooth

little prostate further and can't quite understand how this would open up the

urethra, but I'm prepared to give it a try. I read that this drug can

reduce PSA readings, perhaps by half, but whether that is so in guys like me

undergoing successful ADT, I'm unsure. If that is so and my PSA does

drop, I shall not know whether I'm heading for a new nadir, which is possible

up to three years after EBRT, I gather, or whether it is the effect of the

Finasteride. We shall see. I'll keep my profile on Terry's web site

updated as a source of information to all.

I'd be interested in any thoughts from the group.

rgds