For those who are already living with the daily miseries and challenges that are caused by multiple sclerosis an additional diagnosis of prostate cancer can be a crushing blow. One of the first questions a patient and their loved ones might have is whether or not the existing condition will make the treatment of the newly diagnosed cancer any harder or less effective. In other words will having multiple sclerosis already lessen a man’s chances in the fight against prostate cancer?

Multiple sclerosis is a chronic and unpredictable condition for which there is no cure. Its effects can be wide ranging – some patients live a fairly long and productive life with only a few episodes of difficulty walking or visual disturbance. These episodes often come in cycles and a new symptom may appear with each attack. As the disease progresses these episodes tend to increase in number and severity and for some there comes a point when their symptoms simply do not abate any longer and they can find themselves permanently disabled.

Prostate cancer is in no way related to multiple sclerosis, but the fact that such patients are considered to have weakened immune systems may make treatment more problematic. Commonly treatment for prostate cancer includes radiation at some stage, which weakens an otherwise healthy person so the side effects for a person with multiple sclerosis may be magnified a number of times.

Depression is also common amongst multiple sclerosis patients, due of course in large part to the ever changing and unpredictable nature of the disease. One day a multiple sclerosis patient may feel fine, the next find themselves unable to move certain parts of their body, or suddenly experience a loss of vision or coordination.

A diagnosis of prostate cancer on top of this will almost inevitably worsen the feelings of depression that a patient experiences, especially since cancer is a scary enough prospect for most people just by itself. The good news is though that if caught at an early enough stage prostate cancer is very much a treatable and curable condition, even for those patients with multiple sclerosis. If all a patients doctors work together to come up with a treatment plan that takes into account the additional challenges that a multiple sclerosis patient might face during the course of their treatment for prostate cancer their chances of beating it should be almost as good as anyone else’s.