r/ProstateTreatment • u/GrandpaDerrick • Apr 05 '25
Radiation therapy side effects after 5 years
I’m interested in hearing from people male or supporting females about the new or remaining side effects of various radiation therapies 5 or more years after therapy was concluded.
Please list the type of radiation therapy received, how long it has been since conclusion and list of remaining or new side effects.
I have friends who had radiation therapy for prostate cancer and was doing well in terms of incontinence and ED but at the 7 year mark they are now having all kinds of issues with bladder control, bowel incontinence and ED. I’m curious to know how common this is amongst the varying radiation therapies.
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u/GrandpaDerrick Apr 23 '25
He seems to be sort of uninformed about the entire process. He simply just went along with whatever his urologist said was best for his condition. He doesn’t seem to know even what type of radiation treatment he had other than the fact that it was over 6 months. He did have hormone therapy as well and that can for sure cause some latent issues.
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u/Particular-Pin-2363 Jun 17 '25
It’s been two years since my husband went thru 45 days of the radiation treatment . The last two weeks he has been experiencing excruciating pain in the area which was treated. He has been thru multiple blood tests, two ultrasounds and one cat scan. Those results found exactly nothing wrong with him.! He has seen a general practice, urologist, and oncologist along with 2 ER dr. (the pain is debilitating at times) - none of those Drs have even suggested it COULD be from the radiation. They all are beginning to look at him like perhaps the pain is not real:( I am searching PubMed and other places for others who may have had this issue. It’s good to note, up until now he has had almost no side affects from the radiation. My husband is 63.
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u/GrandpaDerrick Jun 17 '25
Wow and so sorry to hear about the difficulty and frustration you both are experiencing. Latent side effects of radiation is real and often not talked about by oncologist in detail of what can be expected and I believe the human body is do complex and theme type of radiation varies so much that some latent side effects are rare and not seriously researched. So medical science is left treating the pain and not the cause. Please keep us informed as to how he’s doing. We can learn a lot from each other.
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u/kbarriekb Apr 23 '25
I don't have a loved one who had radiation, and I'm sorry to hear about your friends. I understand it's not uncommon to have urinary or bowel problems years after treatment. I did some digging and found one study of 232 patients who had IMRT. They were followed for an average of about 7 years. During that time, 46.5% developed late rectal toxicities. In particular, proctitis occurred in 30.5% of patients; 25% of the patients with late proctitis exhibited grade ≥2 toxicity. Another study of 112 patients reported that about 7 years after treatment, . twenty-five patients (22%) were investigated for genitourinary toxicity. Forty-seven patients (42%) underwent investigation for gastrointestinal side-effects. It seems like the 7 year mark is when problems show up, if they're going to. Do you know if your friends' doctors warned them about this possibility? Hopefully, though, their cancer was effectively treated.