Treatment gives fatigue exercise gives fatigue is there a balance should I take a recovery period
Not to my knowledge. Some of the team here are very athletic and compete while on treatment.
See https://prostatecancer.net/living-coping/exercise
If we are on ADT (hormone treatment) our muscles begin to atrophy and quite quickly per Dr. Mark Scholz and Dr. John Mulhall. Exercise helps us slow down the rate of muscle loss.Your profile does not mention your age. Typically after you hit your 50's, it takes approximately 3 days or more for your muscles to recover from an intense exercise. This is a generalization as some will recover faster, some will take longer.
The above is for "regular" folks. For example, while I was on ADT vacation for 13 months, I found that my muscles hurt less and grew bigger if I was taking at 2-3 days off before working the same muscles. Or if you jog a long distance of several KMs, it might be good to just take long or brisk walks the other days of the week.
While on ADT, you pretty much have to remain active EVERY day. And I found that to push through the ADT fatigue, bringing your heart rate over 140 for a few minutes each day really helps. It is suggested that this type of activity either creates more mitochondria or makes them produce more ATP (energy).
Of course this depends on your level of fitness and health. In my case I am 58 years old and healthy.... aside of the cancer thing. 😀
It sounds counter-intuitive but fatigue will only get worse by not exercising. The first days are the worse when you already feel miserable and tired. But once you commit to doing regular exercise for yourself, it does not take long before you get to feel better and more energetic even though you are working out while on ADT.
I agree with you on exercise. I found the more active I was the better I felt on many levels when I was on ADT ... ( My preferred exercise is bike riding 20 miles several days a week).
In the spirit of keeping active and if interested there is an MD in New York City who encourages his cancer patients to sign up for crew on area Dragonboats. I will stick to riding a bike for now ... Dennis(ProstateCancer.net TEAM)
I've been exercising every day but I mix it up. Like Dennis, I love biking but I'm not allowed to do it until August 1 because the doctor who did the SpaceOAR gel told me no biking for three months. But I am counting the days.
In the meantime, my standard workout routine is weightlifting 3x a week for 45 minutes, elliptical or treadmill for an hour 3x a week, yoga once a week for 90 minutes, and walking my dog every day at a moderate-brisk pace for 30-90 minutes depending on how I'm feeling. I'm hoping it's enough.
I've been fortunate in that ADT has completely killed my appetite so I'm losing weight instead of gaining, but added a protein supplement since I do food tracking and was only hitting 1/3 of my daily protein goal.
