Sitz bath

Well done on being ahead in having your Sitz Bath.  Can I be frank here?  I used it for easing pain (which came late in radiotherapy), but the most important use for me was in the very early days after radiotherapy.  Opening my bowels was extremely painful, but much less so under water.  My husband used to fill it up with lukewarm water and I would go in the Sitz bath under water.  Easily flushed away and disinfected.  I couldn't have done without it and it saw me through the difficult days.  Don't worry about what you discuss here and how you get through it, everyone knows what you are going through!

Thinking about you as you go through this, and don't hesitate to ask for more advice - it is a journey we all know only too well. xx

Ps, sorry, didn't answer your question!  I just put luke-warm water.

Hi Leslie 

I am three years post-treatment and am currently NED -no evidence of disease (in remission). The chemotherapy was fine, the only side effect I had was feeing nauseous from day 2 to 7 of chemo. The side effects of radiotherapy build up, I felt the effects from about week 4, which were diarrhoea and tiredness.  I took loperamide for the diarrhoea.  I see you seem to have gone the other way and have become constipated. During bouts of constipation that I have had since treatment ended I took Laxido, one sachet a night which did the trick. For pain I took ibuprofen.  It is important to make the nurses aware of any side effects as there are lots of ways they can be alleviated, eg anti-sickness, anti-diarrhoea medications etc. It will also help if you moisturise your skin from day one of treatment, 100% aloe vera gel (alcohol free) is excellent, just make sure you don't apply creams right before your radiotherapy session. The radiographers are also helpful with providing specialist creams should you need them. There have been lots of recommendations for different creams in the group to help with soreness as you go through treatment. Make sure you get plenty of rest, right after treatment I was sleeping the clock round, I had never been so tired. The sitz baths sound excellent, I hadn't heard of them until I finished treatment unfortunately!  Instead, I went to the toilet under water in the shower over the bath as I ended up with radiation cystitis which helped a lot. Please let us know if you have any other questions as you go through treatment.  Bev  

Hi Leslie, 

I curl up in a ball at the very notion of using ordinary salt anywhere near my poor abused bum! That kept me from trying Epson salts until just recently. Clearly I'm not good at science- I had no idea that Epsom salts are quite different from sodium salt, and they have become my new best friend. I take an Epsom salts bath every night before bed, even now, 7 months out of treatment. I add about a cup or so. I don't measure it. 

Treatment and the weeks immediately following are tough- bear in mind that you WILL start feeling better! At this point, a 'bad' day is one that has several episodes of pain (which is still occasionally bad, but usually just annoying), not one in which I'm suffering all the dang day. I go through some days with zero pain! Never thought I'd get here, but here I am.

You will too. 

Hugs to you,

Suz

A little late to the thread but as you're still in early treatment I'd say the Sitz bath was an absolute life saver for me! My oncologist and nurses recommended just regular table salt for me as I had an averse reaction to anything other than plain salt, but it made a *world* of difference  from about week 4 of treatment where I had to pass almost everything into a sitz bath of warm water to be even a tiny bit comfortable (I have a more advanced stage and had 28 days of radiation which left my poor butt in a royally nasty state) I would just pour a good chunk in and swilr it so it dissolved, and kept the salt by the loo I used. The chemo in the first week for me was a bit rough, but I think it eased off a little more towards the end of treatment. I took dulcoease (stool softeners) throughout my treatment  and beyond (i'm at the 3 month MRI mark now) to try and keep a not too liquid, not to solid state with my bowel movements.  The sitz bath also relieved the itching which i had terribly from the get go (though not everyone gets that it seems!)

Hi Whaler Girl, Thank you!  I have been using Sitz bath and as you say helps so much. I have just 5 more days to go now, but have a few problems on the go.  My bloods were not what they should be so this week have told me to stop using Chemo tablets.  I am also suffering from really bad gas and diarrhoea and every time I have been for my appointment for the radiation it has taken more than five hours to complete, as I keep needing toilet and so frightened of an accident whilst on table.  An hour before appointment I get there and told when to start drinking.  I drink what’s required ie four cups of water, but in turn that gives me even more gas and diarrhoea  so they say they can’t do treatment as too gassy. 
It doesn’t help that I also suffer from Crohn’s Disease.  I’ve now lost a lot of weight and have been given supplement drinks.  I’m not sleeping as up every hour once or twice needing the toilet.  I am wondering if anyone on here who has Crohn’s and if so would like to know how the chemo radiation effected them.

Glad all going well for you.  X

Hi there Leslie,

5 hours to get a 10 minute radiotherapy session! that must be horrendous for you!! I don’t profess to know a lot about Crohn’s other than the basics but haven’t your team advised you of anything you can take to help with the diarrhoea & gas? I would usually suggest loperamide for the diarrhoea but will that affect your Crohn’s? I would ask if you could take something like activated charcoal for the gas, especially as your now not taking the chemo tablets, I found this helped me loads post treatment when I was suffering diet related bloating & gas & I still carry them with me now. 

The chemoradiotherapy leaves us all with some level of disruption to our bowel & digestive system I think so juggling this alongside an already existing condition such as Crohn’s will indeed be a bit more difficult, do you still see a gastroenterologist regarding your Crohn’s disease? If so it would maybe be worth getting an appointment to see how’s best to manage moving forward as the digestive & bowel disturbances can go on for some time after treatment is finished. I’m a little over 4 years out & there are still some foods & drinks that my system just won’t tolerate. 

Nicola 

Hi Nicola,

obviously I’m used to lots of bowel problems having had part of bowel taken out. After that operation which was about 4 years ago, I have been on biologic injection which I administered fortnightly for last three years and have been on the whole fine.  However they had to take me off when they found the cancer.  I do believe I could be having a flare too. 
it’s quite daunting as I’m not even sure I can get to my treatment today!   
thank you for your advice.  Really appreciate being able to talk to people wh understand.  X

Hello Leslie

I was similar to you in that I had trouble getting to the table panicking about having an accident. Obviously you would need to check with your team but you can take Buscopan which helps relax the bowel so it’s not so active and gassy and you can also take something to stop the diarrhoea. My treatment caused my liver to fail so I had to stop chemo early too. It made no difference and my treatment has worked (I’m 14 months post treatment and cancer free - I was Stage IIIc)

I too lost a lot of weight and ended up with colitis and malnutrition and pneumonia! Basically my entire system just crashed. Sadly my team didn’t pick up in these things as I was a my a private clinic not a hospital so they had a limited team and no MDT meeting. So none of this was picked up until I was seriously ill. In hindsight I should have made more fuss but I was told the treatment would make me feel unwell so I just assumed this was normal. It definitely wasn’t!  It wasn’t until I started collapsing on a daily basis and passing out that my husband called a medic friend who said get to hospital asap that we got things back on track. 

So do be fully Frank with your team and maybe write down all that’s happening so you don’t miss something out  and keep on top of your symptoms - might be prudent to ask them to check you for colitis just in case.    

I hope you get some improvement soon! Keep us posted. 

PPR x 

Ps I couldn’t tolerate Laxido or Movicol as it made me very gassy and sick. You may need an alternative option that doesn’t irritate you so much. I now use a natural one in pill format called Digestic. And because it’s in pills it’s easy to adjust the dosage. Sometimes I just need one or two. Other times I can’t take 5. Available online and from amazon. 

Hi Prettypinkroses.  
Thank you for telling me about your journey.  My last appointment with the hospital before my discharge from Radiotherapy they observed my Potassium was just 2.1 which she said was extremely low.  I was given PotaChlor tablets and am taking 2x 600mg three times a day.  I’m not sure if they are doing their job but hopefully by the time of my next appt  numbers would have raised.

My problem is the continual diarrhoea, sometimes up to and over 20 times a day!  Thank goodness for Sitz bath.  I’m using all the time and makes pain so much easier.  Sleep is a problem as I am incredibly sore down below and it continually wakes me.  I have been given Instillagel and Activheal Hydrogel which certainly help.  
I have been given Fortisip juice which I find palatable as I can’t take any milky products.  Hoping this will help with weight. I have had Crohn’s for 20 years and have difficulty putting on weight.  I have had various ops on bowel and no have a ‘small short bowel’.  Also Bowel Acid Malabsorption.  Then last year list so much weight, had all the X-rays etc and then advised me I have Exocrine Insufficiency Pancreatitis.  So much going on and then this diagnosis!!  Very depressing, but am getting through it gradually.  One thing I cannot get my head around is the fact that I have Colonoscopies on a regular basis.  They say Anal Cancer can take up to 10 years to develop, so why wasn’t this noticed!  My tumour was 2cm and hadn’t spread, thank goodness.  
it has helped me enormously to chat to you all that are going through the same things.