New here

Hi Lanlli,

Firstly I’d like to welcome you to the Macmillan online community although I’m sorry you find yourself here. 

Secondly congratulations on completing your treatment, hopefully the worst is over for you now. We all completely understand where you are with the radiation burns, we’ve all suffered these to varying degrees depending on the strength of radiotherapy delivered.  Most would tell you, this was my experience also, that once these begin healing it happens pretty quickly, it really is amazing how quickly the new skin forms. It was explained to me by both my oncologist & surgeon that this new skin would be like baby’s skin & should be treated as such & I definitely found in the beginning the new skin was quite delicate & even 2 years on from my treatment it’s still quite sensitive & I still moisturise regularly. I found salt baths gave me the best relief in those first couple of weeks post treatment until things began healing, I also alternated paracetamol & ibuprofen 2 hourly for pain relief. 

We’re a friendly bunch here & please never worry about asking questions here however embarrassing they may sound in your head as we’ve all been there & there won’t be a question that we haven’t asked ourselves. I found this community an absolute godsend when I was diagnosed in February 2018 especially as Anal Cancer is thankfully quite rare, although the figures support that occurrences are unfortunately on the rise! 

I really hope you turn the corner soon with your burns it’s definitely an uncomfortable time. 

Nicola 

Hi Lanlli and welcome to the Group.  As Nikki65 says, we have all had experience of radiotherapy burns to some degree. I had 2-3 long salt baths a day, I used ordinary salt. My friend made me some aloe vera (no alcohol) with blue camomile  and high altitude lavender (she's an aromatherapist) for my skin. Externally all my skin went pink but didn't burn and only slightly peeled. I lost the vast majority of my pubic hair, it has almost all grown back again. Internally I was sore and going to the toilet was a bit of an ordeal . I also got radiation cystitis and that hurt so when I needed to go to the toilet I had to go over water from the shower in the bath. Both these issues resolved within a few weeks.  My bowels are a bit hit and miss sometimes. I'm 15 months post treatment and I can go through periods where I have diarrhoea, I find avoiding too much caffeine really helps with this.  Any more questions please don't hesitate to ask x