Sensitive to radiation

[Mascouche]

I began my radiotherapy (prostate plus lower abdomen lymph nodes) on Tuesday. 5 hours after the treatment I became nauseous so the following day they gave me pills that help with that.

Yesterday I started having urinary problems such as if I hold my urine like I need to during therapy, then when I try to urinate, I have a hard time getting the flow going and it burns when it does go. Feel a little like when passing a stone but not as painful though. And also since yesterday, I feel like I have a bad sunburn on my anus.

I told my symptoms to the technician of the radiation therapy room who then sent me to a nurse. She said "Already?". I asked why she said those symptoms usually begin after 2 or 3 weeks. Today is only my 4th treatment and I don't know yet if things will worsen or stabilize as I usually feel the side effects around 5 hours past my treatment. Starting to worry about the remaining 34 treatments (out of 38).

[noirhole]

Flowmax helped me with urinary issues. They had me drinking so much water I couldn't hardly get home. Had to plot a course with fast food restaurants so I could stop and pee. Good luck!

[Mascouche in reply to noirhole]

I totally understand. I couldn't follow their original instructions which were to empty my bladder an hour before the treatment and then to drink a bottle or two of water to have a full bladder and then to hold it in for the 20 minutes that I am on the table. So I came up with my own approach because I know how my body is. I empty my bladder about 25 minutes before my scheduled time, then about 15 minutes before I go on the table, I drink 500ml of water and my bladder is full enough. The technician was skeptical the first time but she now sees that it works in my case. Water just flows through me rapidly.

[donovan0932 in reply to noirhole]

i have had a lot of Radiotherapy and have found that i can mitigate the side effects by taking high dose Melatonin ,gradually working up to 240 Mgs per day (4 X 60 MGS PER DAY ).

I had some vomiting on the first day of treatment but nothing by the second day of treatment

[Mascouche in reply to donovan0932]

I was taking 2x10mg. I will try with a higher dosage.

[Hidden in reply to Mascouche]

I take 30 mgs prior bedtime

[Hidden in reply to donovan0932]

Amazing! 👏🏼👏🏼

[KAgolf in reply to donovan0932]

DO NOT take Melatonin if you are having Proton treatments; don't know about regular radiation but think it would be same. Melatonin is an anti-oxidant and anti-oxidants counteract the cell disruption that proton and radiation treatments are doing to the cancer cells. it is listed along with other anti-oxidants under "DO NOT TAKE" in guide given to my husband before his Proton started....it defeats the purpose of what the proton or radiation is doing

[Hidden in reply to noirhole]

Been there.😂

[Tall_Allen]

That is unusual. I would not have any more treatments until discussing with your radiation oncologist. There is a rare mutation of the ATM gene that can cause this, and possibly some other mutations. Do you have a history of severe sunburns?

[Mascouche in reply to Tall_Allen]

Nothing special with regards to sunburns in my past aside of a short time where some high blood pressure medication was making me burn with just 10 minutes of exposure but I am not on that medication anymore. I will contact my radio oncologist.

[Mascouche in reply to Tall_Allen]

Having ATM mutation would be just my luck. I already have a BRAC2 mutated gene. My parents weren't kind to me genetically it seems.

[Tall_Allen in reply to Mascouche]

There are several rare mutations that create increased radiation toxicity. Maybe email this link to your RO:

redjournal.org/article/S036...

[Mascouche in reply to Tall_Allen]

Many thanks.

[Mascouche in reply to Tall_Allen]

I've checked on the "report" I had been given for my genetic testing last year when they had discovered I had the BRAC2 mutation. That document has ATM mentioned in it but next to that gene all it says is "NM_000051.3". Tried to do a google search on that and a few links come up but I don't have the smarts to figure out what it means.

[Tall_Allen in reply to Mascouche]

That's a single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP). There are many SNP mutations that may confer radiotoxicity. Some are mentioned in that article, but no one knows every SNP that may have an effect (sometimes in combination).

[Mascouche in reply to Tall_Allen]

Thanks. I don't have the email of my radio oncologist but I've emailed my medical oncologist with the info and have asked him to forward the info to the radio oncologist.

On another note, I have been looking at my stools since yesterday and noticed they are now of a light greyish color rather than brown. However since I don't normally look at them, I do not know if this has been going on since I began radiation or a little longer. Can radiation cause this? Or maybe Zytiga? I think I remember reading that white stools are a sign of a liver problem or something like that. My stools are not yet white but could this be a sign that I am headed that way?

[Tall_Allen in reply to Mascouche]

Sorry, I really have never heard of that.

[Mascouche in reply to Tall_Allen]

No biggie my good man. Could also be food related. If it persists, I'll ask the hospital to look into this further. Could be liver or gall bladder not performing at their best so hopefully it is just a momentary thing because Zytiga can be harsh on the liver. I think there is a few things I can take to ease up the burden on the liver so I'll look into this.

[RCOG2000]

I have had radiotherapy three times now. Three D conformal in 2000, and Tomotherapy eight weeks in 2018 and seven in 2020. I found having a few saltines around helped with nauseous feelings. however i never got to the point of vomiting and never had side effects that were noticeable in the first days of treatment.

[Watertower]

I had prostate bed and lymph node radiation in 28 fractions last Nov. I also had unusually early urinary and bowel problems (after just the first couple sessions.) I was ready to freak out over the prospect of such things growing worse, but they didn't. I adjusted, and the problems actually got a bit less over later fractions, not worse.

[Hidden]

Mama Mia my friend. You are first to the nausea party. Sorry about that. I did 8 weeks imrt over five years ago. Fatigue and extreme nausea was me , . I’m still nauseous daily. Ginger might help this .? It can curb nausea.. Idid slot of high thc oil during imrt .cannabis helps me with nausea too. I can’t eat even now until

I hit some Cush ... Hang in there baby. It is a fight for survival . That you must win. Get through this and back to healing and repairing the damage done. Let that pc be washed down the toilet . Hydrate and with luck this Rt will put that evil pc down for many years brother. Keep the faith . May you see light on your darkest day . Keep your eye on the frickin

horizon. Good luck 🍀

[j-o-h-n]

As I've mentioned many times before I had 39 sessions of burning my bed without a stitch of any problems. All normal, except that a couple of years later they found that my left urinary tract was fried..........They think it was due to the microwave oven.......

Good Luck, Good Health and Good Humor.

j-o-h-n Saturday 05/22/2021 7:14 PM DST

[JPOM]

thnx for posting. RT will be my very last choice. All i've needed is bicalutamide, finasteride and tamsulosin; has kept my PSA<0.1 for 3 yrs now. Also do supplements, including zyflamend (10-herb combo), extra turmeric, bitter melon, saw palmetto, zinc, 2g vit C (2x/d), etc.

Been hormone tx (HT) "chases" Pca; only RT and chemo can kill it. I was dx GL 4+3 June 2018. Sorry I even had biopsy. Any injury to my body takes its toll. I've had BPH since age 22 (caught bacterial prostatitis) but ironically improved my sex life (prolonged erections and orgasms). Hardly affected my urine flow.

After biopsy (told they'd take less than 6 cores; took 14), which murdered me for weeks after. Urination and urgency worsened, until someone in this group suggested finasteride and tamsulosin. Everything tolerable now.

Last visit to uro-onc PA was a few days ago... again told i "wasn't treating" my PCa. I find that insane. HT damn well IS treatment! SE of jellied erections may only be due to no women in my life for years, so I don't really know for sure.

Hang in there, brother. Do your homework, consult with as many fellow cancer warriors as you can. Good luck.