You will need to take special care of your body during radiation therapy, and your doctor or nurse will advise you about treatment and side effects. Tips.
1. Get plenty of rest: You may feel more tired than ever during radiation therapy. It may last for a long time and affect your daily activities. The weakness in daily life is usually short-lived and relieved by rest, while tumor-related weakness is more serious and distressing. Most people begin to feel weak a few weeks after the start of radiotherapy, and it worsens as radiotherapy progresses, as concerns about the disease, treatment and side effects may also exacerbate weakness.
The cause of tumor-associated malaise is not known, but if you know the cause, you can treat it accordingly. If you know the malaise is due to anemia, you can treat it for anemia. Education and counseling as part of treatment can help patients understand how to build up strength, reduce anxiety, and distract themselves. Weakness often disappears a few weeks after the end of radiotherapy. Lu Heming, Department of Radiotherapy, Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region People’s Hospital
2.Maintain nutrition and meal balance: depending on the treatment area, your doctor and nurse will give you appropriate advice.
3. Protect the skin in the irradiated area: If you receive external irradiation treatment, your skin may become more sensitive and look like a sun tan. Please consult your doctor when using any soaps, lotions, deodorants, medications, perfumes, cosmetics, talcum powder or other items.
4.Avoid tight clothing: including tight belts, pantyhose, or narrow-necked clothes. Instead, wear loose, soft cotton clothes and do not pulp clothes.
5. Do not scrape, rub or use sticky tape on the irradiated skin: If the skin needs to be wrapped or bandaged, then use paper or other material bands, try to tie the band outside the irradiated area, and do not tie the band to the same area each time.
6. Do not expose the irradiated area to hot or cold items (such as heat pads, heat lamps, or ice packs): Check with your doctor. Even hot water may damage your skin, so wash the irradiated area with warm water only.
7. Avoid sun exposure: Your skin may be particularly sensitive to sunlight. If needed, cover your skin with dark clothing when you go out, tell your doctor if you need to use sunscreen, and if you do need it, use a sunscreen with a solar protection factor of at least 15, and apply sunscreen frequently even after your skin has healed. Continue to protect your skin from the sun for at least 1 year after radiation therapy.
8. Tell your doctor about the medications you are taking before treatment: If you are using medications, even if they are vitamins, aspirin or herbal medicines, you need to tell your doctor.
Management of side effects at different radiotherapy sites
1. Head and neck: Some patients who receive radiation therapy to the head and neck may experience congestion and pain in the mouth, dry mouth, difficulty swallowing, taste changes, or nausea. Other possible side effects include loss of taste, ear pain and swelling, and you may also experience skin changes, hair loss, or difficulty opening your mouth.
You need to pay special attention to your teeth, mouth and gums, and throat, and some tips may help you deal with.
A. Oral problems.
Avoid spicy or coarse foods such as raw vegetables, dried popcorn, nuts
Do not eat or drink very hot or cold foods
Do not smoke or drink alcohol, because tobacco and alcohol will only aggravate your oral pain
Stay away from sweet snacks
Use a good mouthwash, some mouthwashes containing alcohol have the effect of drying out the oral tissues
Rinse your mouth with warm salt water every 1-2 hours
Consistently sip cold drinks frequently throughout the day
Eat sugar-free candy or chew gum to keep the mouth moist
Moisten food with juice or sauce to facilitate swallowing
When you have oral pain, consult your doctor or nurse to help control the pain when eating
B. Dental problems.
Clean your teeth and gums with a very soft toothbrush after meals and at least once during the rest of the day
Use a fluoride toothpaste that does not contain abrasives
Gently clean your teeth at least once a day with a non-waxing dental strip
Rinse your mouth with cold water or baking soda solution after brushing your teeth
2.Brain radiotherapy: When the tumor spreads in the brain is relatively limited, stereotactic radiosurgery is often used. Depending on the location of radiotherapy, the side effects vary greatly and are usually most serious 1-2 years after radiotherapy. When the tumor spreads to more than one part of the brain, sometimes whole brain radiotherapy is needed. This radiotherapy method can also be used to prevent brain metastasis, and whole brain radiotherapy can produce the following side effects.
Headache, cerebral edema, hair loss, nausea and vomiting, weakness, hearing loss, skin and scalp changes, memory and speech problems, and seizures.
Doctors often use medications to prevent brain edema. It is important to let your doctor know about your headaches and other symptoms. Delayed reactions in the brain after radiation therapy (usually after 1-2 years) may be caused by brain necrosis. These delayed reactions include memory loss, stroke-like symptoms, low brain function, and other serious disorders.
3. Breast and chest radiotherapy: Chest radiotherapy may produce painful swallowing, coughing, or shortness of breath. If you are a breast cancer patient undergoing post-surgical radiation therapy, you should not wear a bra if possible. If not, wear a cotton bra without a steel bra to keep your skin from being irritated, and if your shoulders feel stiff, tell your doctor and nurse who will instruct you how to exercise your arms.
Other side effects may include breast pain and swelling (lymphedema, the vast majority of which disappears 1 or 2 months after radiation therapy; tell your doctor and nurse if symptoms persist. The color of the skin in the treated area may become red or deepen, usually gradually fading 1-2 months after radiation therapy.
Your skin may darken slightly, pores may become large and conspicuous, skin sensitivity may increase or decrease and feel thicker or stiffer than before, and sometimes the size of the breast may change, either because of lymphedema or because of tissue fibrosis. These side effects may last for 1 year or more after radiation therapy.
The lungs will be affected during radiation therapy to the chest. Early changes are a decrease in surface active material, which prevents adequate expansion of the lungs, causing shortness of breath and cough, often treated with steroids.
A late effect that may occur with lung radiation therapy is fibrosis, which occurs when the lungs are unable to expand adequately and inhale air. If a larger area of the lung is irradiated, these changes may lead to shortness of breath or a decrease in physical activity.