Surgery
If you have your prostate removed, you will be off work for one or two months afterwards.

After the operation you will need to have a catheter in place for around two to three weeks, to drain away your urine. Then, when the catheter is taken out, you may not be able to control your urine flow. The problem can be quite severe, and may mean you need to wear pads for a while. You may well get better quite rapidly, but some patients are still having problems six months after surgery.

Most men who have the operation have trouble getting an erection afterwards. The older you are, the more likely it is that you will have this problem.

Radiotherapy – external beam
You may be able to carry on working during your treatment, but you may feel more tired than usual. You will gradually start to feel better once the treatment is over.

Radiotherapy can irritate the bladder and bowels – for example you may get diarrhoea, or urinary problems such as cystitis. It may take a few weeks before you get back to normal.

The radiotherapy may also make it difficult for you to get an erection. This happens to one in every three patients. Your doctor or nurse can talk with you about any treatments that may be available to help with this.

Brachytherapy
If you have brachytherapy you will be off work for a few days afterwards. The treatment can cause quite severe bladder or bowel problems for a few months, and there is a risk that it will make you unable to get an erection. This happens to one in every three or four patients. It is a little less likely than with external beam radiotherapy.

Hormone therapy
This treatment can cause side-effects such as hot flushes, weight gain, changes in appetite, lack of sexual desire and difficulty getting an erection. The side-effects vary from person to person, and many can be helped with medication.

The side-effects last for as long as you have the treatment, but some may be permanent, particularly if you have had hormone treatment for a long time.

Chemotherapy
Chemotherapy may make you feel tired and unwell. This varies a from patient to patient. Your treatment may last for several months, and it may be a while after that before you feel you have recovered from it.