Heavy rectal bleeding. No change after 20 of 30 hyperbaric Oxygen Treatments. Losing confidence. What is my next option if needed? Surgery?
Radiation Proctitis : Heavy rectal... - Advanced Prostate...
Radiation Proctitis
Mesalamine enemas and suppositories work for alot of patients ( based on their reports) also Hydrocortisone suppositories are used. Diet , stool softeners and vitamins work for some. see Cleveland Clinic and John Hopkins health advisories. hope this helps. Btw, one might want to look out for anemia after consecutive bleeds.
Have you tried any of these: bipolar cautery, (Nd:YAG)/KTP laser, radiofrequency ablation, argon plasma coagulation, formalin, or ozone therapy?
I had very heavy bleeding after radiotherapy, started about 6 months after treatment ended. I spend a year with twice daily suppositories but they made little difference .In the end I had laser treatment , it was so simple and painless (although I did get a hot sensation internally) .
I had to fully empty my insides and then it was 10 minutes while the doc zapped me internally whilst I watched on a massive screen , a bit like Star Wars meets fantastic journey !
That was it , since then no bleeding apart from very occasionally when what I now guess is piles after I run a marathon or more but not all the time .
I would 100 % go for laser treatment , only wish I had not wasted a miserable year before having it .
Thanks Irun for your post. Can you elaborate a bit more on laser treatments. Like Drs and location of treatment. And how does is this different from Argon gas I’m very concerned about aggressive treatments doing more damage to severely damaged tissue.
I am based in the UK so precedure was undertaken by our wonderful NHS. No idea what the technical term is but from what I could see on the 60 inch screen of my colon/ bowels there was a probe that heated up all the obvious (at that magnification) fissures, every time the probe touched one (dark red) it want zap, turned it white and then moved onto the next one.I personally can’t see any risk to this procedure as it’s a no drug solution and the probe is thinner than your average stool. All I can say was it worked for me.
Get on a long and sustained course of trental.
It's safe, cheap, and also generally good for you.
Yes, among other things.
It's a no brainer. No side effects. Increases circulation to many tissues.
Generally good for you like metformin.
No contraindications that I am aware of.
And it works.
I went through 30 treatments and my incredible, perhaps miracle improvements didn’t come for several months post treatment. Hang in there and don’t quit. I had some proctitis but severe radiation cystitis and prostatitis. Good luck and please let us know if you get relief down the road still.
My husband tries to do a coffee enema or even water enema 1st thing in AM and we bought a HBOT chamber and he uses that 2 hrs/day, 6 days a week! That stopped the bleeding and pain after a few months.
I am a veteran of radiation proctitis and hyperbaric chamber treatments. My first mistake was I had only one laser treatment and I should have tried more. Warning the story story is about to get long winded. So stop here if I answered your question.
Next I went to a colorectal surgeon and they did a formalin treatment and that’s when the real problems started. After the treatment my rectum was basically pickled and would no longer stretch to allow anything to pass either out or in without great pain. So I next was a year of pain management they gave me enough meds to supply a west virigina town, not effective and I haven’t been able to sit for any length of time due to the pain. I was basically on my back for a year. Next came the hyperbaric chamber treatments 48 of them with no difference. As a last resort I went and had a colostomy hoping that would relieve the pain and give things time to heal. 4 years later and I still have pain when sitting down, but back to the medical fun last year radiation cystitis kicked in and after having a catheter in for 40 days I became incontinent. Back to the hyperbaric chamber for 48 more sessions this time it seamed to help with the bleeding but not the incontinence. So just before the first of this year I had an artificial urinary sphincter installed.This is the only procedure that has worked for me in the last seven years.
Good luck, give the laser and hyperbaric treatments time to work. It could take a few months and keep asking as many GI Doctors as you can find about the next steps.
For Bad news, DR. Snuffy Meyers who had talked many times to our Support group in Richmond, Va. ( rvaprostatecancersupport.org) related that he had rectal bleeding after his high dose radiation after a year and a half. He used Proscar to stop the bleeding as Avodart wa not available about 2001. Avodart is available now and should work even better. They may reduce cancer coming back also. I used( still do ) both to control my BCR for 16 years starting 5 years after surgery in 1994. Now on casodex, proscar and avodart, plus doxycycline and Metformin for 3 1/2 years and I hope for another year. My 6 lymph node and one hip bone mets that developed after PSA rise (Dec.2014 to Dec 2017 with PSA rose to 12.2 from 2.2) are in remision with PSA=0.07 now. I have germline Mutation TMPRSS2-ERG fusion gene and two brothers with PCa with th sme mutation which makes us very prone to testosterone growth but also makes us respond androgen blockers like casodex and other "lutamide type drugs" But I have been able to avoid ADT and it side effects. But my Brther was not and fatique and trouble walking on after 4 years on ADT and Enzalutamide so he dropped and his PSA went from 0.07 to 6.2 with a dopping time less than 2 months. I Suggested he take a Nitric Oxide booster for his muscles and brain at 84 years ( to increased blood flow) and he is now after a year able to walk with out his cane and his PSA dropped to 1.8 over 8 months.
Now, his PSA has start to rise again and he is switching to try my drug regime above, but is too early tto tell if it is helping? He is a 29 year PCa survivor and I am only 28 year guy. His diagnosis help me seek help and my experience help my other brother avoid diagnosis until 2019 for 14 years after 2005 biopsy showed high grade PINS. During this time (2005 to 2019) I supplied him with antioxidants and Antinflammatory supplements like Biocurcumin and Green Tea etc see website above. He is on Active Surveillance using my off lable Drugs, proscar and avodart, plus doxycycline and Metformin from his GP.
His PSA is 1.5 with his Prostate at 82 yrs aand Gleason of 3+4. Best Pedro luna
You need a Proctologist or Gastroenterologist with experience and the technology for laser treatments. Since it is heavy bleeding I’d skip straight to that. “Do not pass go”. Not clear to me that HBOT actually changes the course of the problem. Trental does help the tiniest radiation injured capillaries to heal over time but won’t stop the larger bleeding ones. Just my opinion.