Pain after all clear

Hi Dizzy1968 such good news about your scan results! It's very common to have pain after treatment. I'm three years post treatment and  am currently 'no evidence of disease' (NED). The radiotherapy aggravates the internal skin and damages the nerve endings in the anal canal. I have pain on and off and the skin in my back passage is very sensitive. I had a flare up last week and just  put a dab of sudacrem on the skin which did help.  I don't have a stoma but I do have mucous which definitely aggravates the skin. When I pass mucous I get very sore. In my case it the production of mucous doesn't seem to be diet related.  I would just give your treating team a quick call for peace of mind though, it's always helpful to have that reassurance. Bev 

Thanks Bev 

I suppose it’s all part of recovery, I was just a little concerned That it’s still the same throbbing pain that I originally felt when diagnosed and still there.

So even though you never had a stoma you get mucus too, I thought it was just because I had a stoma that you get this mucus, I know we all have it but you don’t see or notice when passing when your pooing normal!!

Laura x

Hello Laura

I still get a lot of pain, for all the reasons Bev has outlined, plus I have piles that don't improve over time as I have stenosis in my back passage.  I am coming up for 10 months since my treatment ended and keep some control by using Normacol stool softener every day, constipation is my worst nightmare.  I read someone describing the mucus as 'acid drops' and I thought that was quite apt!  I think the aftermath of treatment can vary from person to person, for me it is something I have come to terms with.

Such good news about your scan results - long may it continue!

Irene xx

Hi Irene, Thank you 

im coming up 7 months post treatment, i to suffer with Haemorrhoids, and suffers really bad constipation for as long as I can remember, so in a way I’m glad I ended up with a stoma as reading other stories how painful it was to pass stools going through radiotherapy. 

Can I ask how do you know you when your suffering with Stenosis? 

Laura

The doctor really had difficulty giving me a rectal examination, could barely get her finger in, and she said I had narrowing of the back passage.  Also, my bowel movements are always skinny which is why I can't do without Normacol.  In the early days after treatment ended I was constipated from the morphine and my daughter gave me an enema whilst I lay on towels in the bathroom floor groaning.  And I vowed never again to buy the preparation for home enemas; whatever chemical is in them was agony when it flooded my raw back passage, my husband heard me roar with pain from the other side of the house. I came off morphine cold turkey the same day. 

It is all like a bad dream now!

Irene xx

I went for a sigmoidscopy as I had a day with really bad bleeding and clots, this was after my all clear, they said it was haemorrhoids but just to make sure, so I went for the sigmoid, however soon as he tried to put it up my butt, i clammed down, it was sore and made me cry he wasn’t gentle either, he tried again but I couldn’t relax, I wonder if I have stenosis as well. This was also to check to see if I could get a reversal but I’m gonna have to wait I think they are giving me a little more time to heal.

it’s funny I swear by oramorph and considering iv always suffered with constipation the oramorph doesn’t seem to effect me, if I do get constipation I take cosmacol which is very rare, I think I’d be the same as you if I didn’t have a stoma.

Hi Dizzy1968 that must have been awful that he wasn’t gentle. I know sometimes they don’t mean to hurt but sometimes their bedside manner could be improved. I hope you made him aware that you felt he was not gentle enough! We don’t have to put up with being lumps of meat.

Hi Laura,

Haven't had the all-clear yet, but I go tomorrow for my second DRE and anoscopy and I'm chittering with anxiety. I've got stenosis for sure, and the last time she examined me (at four months, I'm now at eight months) the anoscopy made me bleed, and the whole thing made me cry. 

The pain was so much better for the last couple of months, right up to this week. I think it's partially anxiety over the exam. But I've got new hemorrhoids since I finished treatment, plus the stenosis, plus whatever leftover treatment poisons are still runing around, so I guess it's too much to hope for no pain.

From reading on this forum, it seems as if at least occasional bouts of pain, sometimes pretty bad, is very normal.

I was in so much constant pain prior to the diagnosis that it's still better than it was!

Hope yours calms down soon,

Hugs

Suz

That is awful - I can understand the tears.  At my first check-up after radiotherapy the oncologist asked if he could do a DRE and then he took one look at my face, I couldn't control the tears either.  And that was at the thought, never mind having it done.  The last oncologist was a petite lady with mercifully tiny hands, plus I was feeling a marginally better.  Really pleased you didn't have the problems of constipation!

Irene x

Suz, the anoscopy sounds like an instrument from hell after pelvic radiation.  Even thinking about it has me clenching my cheeks.  And haemorrhoids? Snap.  I have been referred to a consultant and when I saw you mentioned having a nightmare procedure I thought I must ask you what happens...some time!  

I'll be thinking of you tomorrow.

Irene xx