Hi All
Quite embarrassing to ask this new side affect I have. The skin inside my private area is burnt, I am suffering from incontinence from the radiotherapy and the sting is bringing tears to my eyes, I have tried Vaseline as a barrier cream but that isn’t helping, I have used almost a full tub of sudocrem overnight and still stinging. Has anyone else had this issue and if so what helped?
Thanks in advance
Hi Trease
This sounds horrible for you-you need to speak to your consultant or CNS as soon as you can. Is your radiotherapy treatment finished yet? If you are still having treatment, speak to the nurses when you go for your next appointment.
The reason I say speak to your team is that is important, if you are still having treatment, that you only use creams or lotions which are compatible with radiotherapy, and not all are.
I did not have burns, but terrible radiation cystitis, so I know how awful even that can be. I was prescribed Aquafor cream initially, and then another one but have forgotten the name. After all my treatments were finished, I was prescribed another cream which I had not been allowed to use during treatment. It was really good and my cystitis cleared up quickly.
Please don’t suffer through this-it’s honestly not embarrassing at all, and I can assure you that the staff have seen this countless times before.
You still need to keep drinking water, even though I know it’s painful going to the loo. I used a jug of water to pour over the area while I had a wee and that helped. Also, when you’re able to, it’s good to lie on your bed, legs apart, underwear off and use a hairdryer on a very low setting over the whole external area to cool and soothe. DAB rather than wipe yourself dry after the loo-soft dry wipes are good for this.
I hope you’ll be able to speak up and get some help with this-let us know how you get on.
Sarah xx
