After finishing treatment. Is this normal?

Hello Chrissie

Welcome to the forum, although I am so sorry to hear about your side effects after treatment.  I didn't have stomach pain but that isn't to say that others haven't, we all suffer in different ways from the aftermath of the treatment when it finishes, and hopefully someone will check in who can offer you a bit more help than me.

I also wouldn't worry about contacting the team treating you; in the early days (and four weeks out is early days) after treatment you still need careful monitoring, so please chase up if you don't hear back.  You may be feeling low, but you certainly aren't feeble - you have come through quite a brutal treatment and it really is a shame that you are now facing this debilitating pain.

I am thinking of you and hoping more advice is coming your way.

Irene xx

Hi Chrissie,

Congrats on finishing your treatment! That's such a great milestone!

Relapses are pretty common. Pain and fatigue just smack you out of the blue. 

I never had abdominal pain, mine was (and is) located right in the anus. Calling the nurse was the smartest thing to do. 

YOu are NOT feeble! Your body has been through hell and you made it and are recovering, and that means occasional bad days. Take the painkillers when you need them, and rejoice on the days where you don't. Winning at this means pushing forward and understanding that sometimes you stall out or get pushed back briefly.

You ARE getting stronger. 

And you'll get through this latest pain flare.

Hugs

suz

Hi Christie I do remember suffering stomache regularly after treatment. After treatment stopped I was pretty sore around my anus for at least four weeks and suffered from fissures which wasn’t pleasant. Around the fifth week I started to feel a bit more in control but I did have stomach pain around the navel area which was so uncomfortable and I started to worry about if cancer was spreading. The doctor gave me a scan and it showed nothing cancerous. I think for me it was that I had become sensitive to certain foods and could only eat little and often. The dietitian put me on a FODMAP diet and I started to feel a massive improvement on the pain and regularity of bowel movements. I now know the triggers and try to stay away from them and would you believe chocolate is one of them and as Suz would say DANG!  Shop bought bread is mass produced and use way more yeast to speed up production I believe so make my own with just oats. Fresh fruit like peaches which I love is off the cards too. You are very early days and your stomach may still be inflamed and when you get the okay from your team it’s part of the course of healing you will start to find your triggers like when does it hurt.I now eat nothing after my main meal at 6pm until breakfast which gives the gut bacteria a chance to do its work as it seemed when I eat late to get my pains at night around 3pm. Strange I know but think it was to do with maybe snacking in the evening which tends to be junk! I still have to watch what I eat and that’s fine as I have adjusted my life around it. If we eat out later I don’t eat much beforehand so I don’t overload my digestive system and it seems to work. Hope you get some answers to help put your mind at rest. Also I drank lots of peppermint tea.

Hello Suz thanks for your positivity!

I envy you your pony!  What a distraction as an animal lover there is nothing better.

I can't even manage my two lovely dogs at the moment so family are caring for them and walking them...   

I used to ride and this summer my goal is possibly a beach ride off the Welsh coast - down below is sore but Its my abdominal pain causing the real pain.  I am wondering if I actually have IBS triggered by the radiotherapy.

I am taking pain killers, Boscupan and looking it a Fodmap diet to follow with the hope it just might help...... and researching away.

It is sunny here right now ....talk about April showers so I am going to feed the birds and walk around my garden taking in a bit of nature.  

Thank you for this information I'm just going to try Fodmap and I have been eating tinned peaches I thought they would be soft enough for digestion but now I'll stop them! Never made oat bread but I could.....

Getting to the next step is slow I am going to be seen in 3 weeks and then depending on amount of inflammation i will then get a scan date and have been told that could be a further 6 weeks so it seems inflammation does takes weeks to calm.

I wish I'd been told a lot more of what to expect after treatment as 6 weeks later there is no way I am out of the woods and am wiped out.  Maybe I was lucky I sailed through the chemo I don't know.  Radiotherapy effects have and are hitting me like a brick... x

I wrote to say thank you but can't see it! Sorry as new I must have done something but odd....