Hi peteske,
Welcome to the Online Community here at Macmillan Cancer Support. We hope you find it warm a supportive place to seek answers to your questions.
Urinary problems during pelvic radiotherapy treatment are really common and can feel quite unsettling. It often settles over time after you have completed treatment, or sometimes it may need a little extra intervention to help it improve long term. Sometimes people can feel a little embarrassed to bring this up with their healthcare team, but I’d encourage you to have a chat with them and they can offer you more support and guidance. Either your radiotherapy team, your Clinical Nurse Specialist or your GP may be able to help if you need to reach out to any of them.
They might want to check a sample of your urine to be sure you don’t have an infection. It may help you stay more comfortable and protect your skin with continence management products - perhaps temporarily wearing pads to keep you dry and comfortable will help, or your team may be able to provide you with a penile sheath device to collect any leakage.
The best thing you can do to minimise the symptoms are avoiding constipation, drinking plenty of clear fluids such as water or diluting juice and avoiding caffeine. Keep alcohol, carbonated and acidic drinks to a minimum and avoid smoking or vaping.
I hope this information is helpful and a place to start. Please don’t hesitate to reach out to us on the phone here at the Support Line if we can help further. You may find our Prostate Cancer Forum a helpful place to chat with others who may understand first-hand what you are experiencing right now.
Take care,
Kirstine – Macmillan
Cancer Information Nurse Specialist
Our ref – KDf/ AHR
