I had to go on a no-fibre diet in preparation for my pre-radiation measurements and tattoos last Thursday. I now have more than a week until my 5 weekly stereotactic radiation sessions begin and I'm eating fibre like there's no tomorrow. My initial 7 days of no-fibre foods were, to say the least, tedious. I was actually straining my favourite pasta sauce to get the lumps out etc. Speaking of straining...
I have a couple of questions:
1. Why does it take a week of no fibre to prep rather than say, 4 or 5 days?
2. How have fellow travellers coped with a low fibre diet for weeks on end?
Thanks.
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Cramlingtonboy
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I was never instructed to stay low fiber while undergoing 30 sessions of IMRT at MD Anderson. Just to not have full bowels during the treatment. In other words take a dumb before your session. Since I eat a rather high fiber diet and am very regular in taking a morning dump it worked fine for me cause my radiation sessions were always early afternoon.
I never had to change diet for SBRT at all. My RO believes that changing diet can cause excess bowel motion. Similarly, he doesn't want his patients to use enemas. My instructions were only to empty my bowels before treatment and fill my bladder. But every RO has his favorite prep.
Husband is getting 35 sessions of VMAT now and there is no bowel prep for his sessions. Just a full bladder and have a bowel movement before the session starts.
Starting the diet a few days before gives your body time to adjust to the new diet. Dietary changes can cause gas. I take 2 beanos with each meal. Seems to work. For me the first weeks I took a stool softener. Weeks into the therapy, your stools might naturally soften somewhat due the radiation. Mine did. I am on week 5 of 6 . The last few weeks your rectum might be quite sensitive so very soft stools are welcome. You might poop 3 X a day and that is good. Slam down a quart of liquid an hour before the session.
A full bladder pushes it out of the beam path. This helps prevent scorching.
Gas and feces push the rectum into the beam path causing scorching.
If you need an enema, you are probably eating wrong.
This is my take on this procedure. Correct me if I am wrong.
Thanks for this great advice and the anatomical reasoning. I don't produce a lot of gas so I'm leaning towards prepping 2 or 3 days beforehand. The enema is probably unnecessary for me but will use if I need to evacuate on the day!
When you have your session is important too. Mine is at 10:00 AM. By then i'm all pooped out, gassed out and ready to go but I am an early riser and 10:00AM might not work for you. I have found that drinking about 10 ounces of plain kefir ( I like Lifeway) after dinner keeps things soft and creamy. This avoids a lot of pain during elimination. Oatmeal in the morning is a good assist too. Don't forget your beano. Carbs can generate gas.
I am Christian and have found it has given me great peace and strength. I have that "What, me worry?" attitude. Crossing the Jordan will be fun.
Just as a follow-up, after fastidiously following the no fibre diet, my first salvage radiation session had to be cancelled because of an inability to evacuate my bowels (despite an enema). I ended up following my oncologist's (and Tall Allen's) guidance and just eating normally. That got my system back to normal and I was able to evacuate without an enema at the appropriate times.
Low stool "residual" and no gas is the goal for best results. Some people develop large quantities of gas with a change of diet. This must be straightened out before the therapy starts.
That's precisely why I don't understand why people need to change their diet if they're already regular and gas free. Having seen the huge range of protocols around prepping for radiation it seems that the patient probably knows best.
By residual I mean low volume. Food in the intestines and gas can push the intestines into the radiation beam bath causing burning. Not good. The bladder is the other way around, if completely filled it pushes itself out of the beam path to avoid getting "burnt".
Well, that is what I was told and two months out I have no problems at all. I do hope yours goes as well.
I do take a scoop of "Feels Good" (pepper included) brand turmeric from Costco. A little stevia makes it a nice drink in the morning for me. It is supposedly "radioprtective" for body parts and "radiosensitizing" for cancer. I like it too. A little fat or oil helps assimilation.
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