Spoke too soon… radiation burns

Ohhh, I know it's blinking awful and you still have a way to go. Oromorph along with paracetamol and ibuprofen is what I had with increasing amounts of Oramorph as the side effects increased. Oromorph and anti sickness tablets do zonk you out and in my case it was a Godsend. Yes the girly bits suffer pretty badly and so during treatment use every cream that you are given as many times during the day as possible.. especially after the loo and waking. After treatment in my case anti histamine and clotrimazole (thrush cream) helped with the itching. The burns do peak however for now deal with the moment and help and advice is here when you get to that point. You will get through it and I have been where you are and had clear scans only recently. So hang in there girl it may not feel like it at the moment but it'll be worth it xxx Marie 

 Hi pretty pink roses, yes I know the feeling. I personally was not given intrasite  gel so can’t comment on its effects. My labia around the end of the treatment and for two weeks increasingly got worse. I had green pus which I was told was normal ( but they did check that for infection )which became sticky with the flaminal gel I was given. The labia stuck together and I had to keep tearing it apart to stop the sticking. This made it bleed and very sore. I told my oncologist and she wasn’t very forthcoming with what could be done but to continue tearing it open! I used sitz baths with table salt for soaking and cool compresses. I tried the polymem which I cut to size and wedge between the labia but that was too uncomfortable for me but some say they found it a godsend. I had to have a emergency visit from a duty doctor who prescribed vagisil cream which has lanacaine in it which I found cooling and help me no end. It also wasn’t sticky like the gels. Personally it’s trial and error and my peak reached four weeks instead of the two I was told. But my skin did react negatively from the radiotherapy probably more than some. It is a very up and down time but when you start to turn the corner it gets easier. Don’t scrimp on the pain relief as this is not for ever and will help keep you more comfortable than not taking it. I dropped the morphine thinking I didn’t need it but rapidly started taking it again. I hope this helps.

Thank you Mecca and Jaycee12  had a better day today with pain killers and gels all doing their job! Phew. It’s such a juggling act!!! 

Hi Prettypinkroses,

I would definitely start taking regular pain relief regardless of whether you feel you need it or not, you need a constant level in your system to get maximum effectiveness. Also as Marie has said add in a one a day antihistamine such as Piriton this took care of my itching & that ants nest feeling you can get inside!! The cold gel pad when you’re sitting sounds a great idea too. Just remember if you’re taking oramorph or any kind of opiate pain relief to keep some laxido or similar stool softeners on hand to counteract any constipation that may occur as that really is the last thing you need right now, take it from one that knows!! As I’ve mentioned before the oramorph did absolutely nothing for me (other than cause constipation) it didn’t even help me sleep, but in the couple of weeks when treatment had finished that happened naturally, I slept a lot during those 2 weeks, I took a lot of Epsom or Dead Sea salt baths & watched rubbish tv, apart from that & keeping on top of pain relief did very little. I was never offered the slow release morphine pills, I survived on alternating 2 hourly paracetamol & ibuprofen day & night. 

Nicola 

• If the girly bits get too bad you could mention to your nursing team about having Drapoline mixed with catheter anaesthetic gels mixed yourself 50/50. It helped me enormously. We'll all have to get jobs in a circus now we're such experts at the juggling haha xxx Marie