Radiation without ADT?
Is there objective evidence that a six month course of ADT does anything to make radiation therapy more effective for a Gleason 7. After two months on ADT, with radiation starting next week, I don't want to do it anymore unless there is solid evidence that it is actually helping me.
I haven't had sex in more than a month and no one wants to hook up with a guy who can't get it up.
Additionally, I saw an article that said after three months ADT causes irreversible damage to the penis and the ability to get and maintain an erection. This is VERY different than what my oncologist told me, i.e. that after six months my testosterone would return over the following six months.
In short, I want to drop this therapy immediately after radiation (am afraid to drop it now or the oncologist may not want to treat me) and not pass the three month point of no return (if that's actually a real thing).
I want to to try to reassure you that 3 months on ADT is unlikely to cause irreversible damage by letting you know that I was on it for much longer
I am 55 and I was on ADT for 2.5 years (from Jan 2021 to May 2023) after which my treatment with curative intent ended. By August 2023 about half of my testosterone was back and I even started to get morning erections once in a while like I used to as a teenager. My penis did shrink while on ADT but I think it is now back to its pre-treatment size however my testicules still feel a little smaller than pre-treatment.
Where I find your oncologist to be wrong about, is when he says that after 6 months on ADT your testosterone would return after being off it for 6 months. That is a generalization. Nobody know how long it will take to come back when you've been on ADT for a long time as we all are different.
There is one thing that I've heard often and that is misleading is when oncologist say "...but for a small number of men Testosterone might never come back". While not an absolute lie, it is misleading as apparently that "small number of men" is around 30%.
While it is true that Testosterone will eventually come back for the majority of people who went on ADT, having almost 1 man out of three where it won't come back does not seem so small to me.
Best of luck to you.Thanks. That's somewhat encouraging to hear. I too have noticed there's a lot of downplaying of information in the medical community. For example, definitions of continence as "only" needing one pad or the definition of potent as the ability to have intercourse for 30 seconds. I think some of this is because they KNOW a lot of us wouldn't choose treatment unless there was some hope of having a decent quality of life post treatment.
