Radiotherapy is pretty painful

Kathryn2412

Hi everyone 
I’ve had 6 treatments so far… my breast is quite red and painful (like a sharp pain)…
I’ve moved to a burns cream 6 times a day…
Today it took 3 takes for them to get it right 
Just sharing …

arpie

Gosh @Kathryn2412- I am so sorry you're having problems so early in your Rads ..... perhaps you should talk to your Rad Onc asap - as they try to gauge the strength of the Rads to have the greatest effect over the 4-6 weeks but to minimise skin damage!

Your Rad Nurses should be checking you out BEFORE your daily treatment - so explain your concerns to them too & raise the issue of seeing the Onc again.  They may need to reduce the strength just a tad.

take care & all the best xx

Kathryn2412

Thanks Arpie
I’m seeing my Onc this morning 😊
Kathryn

arpie

Also, ask the Onc and the nurses about using Mepitel ... it is a transparent ‘skin’ that can be used to help protect the skin from the rays.

Julez1958

Hi @Kathryn2412
Agree with Arpie that Mepitel is the gold standard for radiotherapy when it comes to protecting the skin from burns.
I couldn’t have it ( because of a peculiar skin fold I had from the skin sparing mastectomy  and going from an E cup to a C cup) but my radiation oncologist told me about a creme called strata xrt that I had to send away for and pay for myself and was quite expensive but it did the job/ I had 28 sessions and only had a tiny bit of pinkness at the end.
I only mention this here as others may read this thread and I hope they can follow this up with their team at the first consult.
All the best and hope you can get the Mepitel.

Christabel03

@Kathryn2412 so sorry to hear that you are having troubles with radio. I had 36 rounds and had the Strata XRT and Flamigel creams but ended up having to have some other burn cream towards the end as my skin was quite badly burnt. It's a crappy time that is for sure. Just keep slapping on all the cream you can xx I hope your Onc managed to give you something to help you through. 

TonyaM

I can remember that I was glowing like a hot plate by the 2nd week and had weird pains in my breast. I’d have a warm salt bath at night which seemed to soothe it.I was given pain killers which helped too.