How much pain is there with Radation Treatments for Prostate Cancer?

How sick will this make you and how much pain will there be? What are the chances of the cancer comming back after radation treatment? I have a friend getting ready to under go 9 weeks of treatment.

I am undergoing radiation for breast cancer at this time. Pretty easy. No pain. Doctor says it may make me tired as we progress through the treatments. The people I talk to that have gone or are going through this say the same. As for chance of reoccurence, your friend needs to discuss that with his doctor. Every person's cancer is different. Too many factors are involved to make a comment on what the chances are that it will come back or not.

Can a man be sexually active during the period that he is undergoing treatments for Prostate cancer?

I'm not trying to find out for my sake in any way. It was a question for a friend who is concerned before he starts treatment. (I don't think he's asking his doctors all the right questions and I don't want to tell him lies.)

Depends on his treatment regimen. Some prostate cancer patients are given anti-androgen drugs because just like estrogen feeds some breast cancers, testosterone feeds prostate cancer. If he was to be prescribed anti-androgen drugs then he almost certainly would lose his desire for sex and also his ability to maintain an erection. Not all prostate cancer patients need these drugs but many do. If he will honestly tell you what treatments he is doing then you'll know the answer to your question.

Antiandrogens
Antiandrogens are a class of drug which bind and inhibit the androgen receptor, blocking the growth- and survival-promoting effects of testosterone on certain prostate cancers. Flutamide and bicalutamide are antiandrogens which are frequently used in the treatment of prostate cancer, either as long-term monotherapy, or in the initial few weeks of GnRH analog therapy.

also read
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Leuprolide

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Prostate_cancer

What are good resources to learn about treatments for prostate cancer? What are good resources to learn about treatments for prostate cancer?

Well, start with your doctor.

Online, start with the web sites below.

What are possible treatments for Prostate cancer stage 4 with Gleason 8 and spread to L5 bone? What are possible treatments for Prostate cancer stage 4 with Gleason 8 and spread to L5 bone?

Check the site below for safe effective treatments.

What are treatments for prostate cancer? ? What are treatments for prostate cancer? ?

There is no "one size fits all" treatment for prostate cancer, so each man must learn as much as he can about various treatment options and, in conjunction with his physicians, make his own decision about what is best for him.

For most men, the decision will rest on a combination of clinical and psychological factors. Men diagnosed with localized prostate cancer today will likely live for many years, so any decision that is made now will likely reverberate for a long time. Careful consideration of the different options is an important first step in deciding on the best treatment course.

Consultation with all three types of prostate cancer specialists—a urologist, a radiation oncologist and a medical oncologist—will offer the most comprehensive assessment of the available treatments and expected outcomes. The treatments are -

1. Prostatectomy (Surgery) -
A surgical approach toward the treatment of prostate cancer can be used to remove all or part of the prostate. Typically, men with early-stage disease or cancer that is confined to the prostate will undergo radical prostatectomy, or surgical removal of the entire prostate gland plus some surrounding tissue.

2. Radiation Therapy -
External Beam radiotherapy -
Radiation involves the killing of cancer cells and surrounding tissues with directed radioactive exposure. The most common type of radiation therapy is external beam radiotherapy.

Brachytherapy -
With brachytherapy, tiny little metal pellets containing radioactive iodine or palladium are inserted into the prostate via needles that enter through the skin behind the testicles. As with 3D conformal radiation therapy, careful and precise maps are used to ensure that the seeds are placed in the proper locations.

3. Chemotherapy -
The term "chemotherapy" refers to any type of therapy that uses chemicals to kill or halt the growth of cancer cells. The drugs work in a variety of ways, but are all based on the same simple principle: stop the cells from dividing and you stop the growth and spread of the tumor.

Additionally the Oncologist may given HORMONE THERAPY.-

Prostate cancer cells are just like all other living organisms—they need fuel to grow and survive. Because the hormone testosterone serves as the main fuel for prostate cancer cell growth, it is a common target for therapeutic intervention in men with prostate cancer.
Hormone therapy, also known as androgen-deprivation therapy or ADT, is designed to stop testosterone from being released or to prevent the hormone from acting on the prostate cells. -