Radium 223

Hi Dave

I ve not had radium treatment yet, has it eased the pain in your bones ? I’ve had it in mine for three and a half years, but just take pain killers. I’ve been told that this treatment lasts for around twelve months, 

Joe

Hi Joe,

Funnily enough the aches are supposed to get worse up to 72 hours after the injection, with me the aches have stayed with me all the time and the tiredness is much worse then when i was on the chemo. PSA also goes through the roof after the injections as well. 

A few good doses of Oramorph helps a lot.

Hello Dave,

My partner (76) is about to receive his third session of Radium 223 next week. He has prostate cancer with bone metastasis. A week prior to each session he gets an IV infusion of Zometa (Zoledronic Acid) - I presume you have the same?

Anyway, he seems to be reacting quite badly to the treatment as he started getting fatigue and aches like you for 72 hours after each of the injections. The problem is that he is not fully recovering afterwards and he is getting weaker and weaker. Before starting the treatment he could walk fine and eat normally. Now, three months in, he struggles to stand up, let alone walk, and his appetite is practically gone as he feels nauseous most of the time. Last week's visit to the oncologist I had to ask for a wheelchair to move him around.

He has medication for the nausea (Ondansetron) and pain (Oramorph). But my big dilemma is: Is the current situation just caused by the treatment or is it the cancer advancing? We are still a month away for CAT scans to get an answer, although the blood test shows that his levels of Alkaline phosphatase (ALP) are dropping (256) but the PSA won't stop going up (695).

I presume that you will have finished your treatment by now. Have you recovered from it? I will be very interested to know, if only to understand what lies ahead for us.

Hope you're well. Thanks in advance,

Martin