what are all the side effects of radiation treatments for cancer patients?
Stephanie P asked:
my grandmother was diagnosed with lung cancer that had spread to her bones.She recently finished all of her treatments and she has lost all of her hair and she has lost tons of weight.She has no appetite and barley eats anything and her mind is not all there.Does radiation cause some sort of hysteria or anything.what are all of the side effects?
my grandmother was diagnosed with lung cancer that had spread to her bones.She recently finished all of her treatments and she has lost all of her hair and she has lost tons of weight.She has no appetite and barley eats anything and her mind is not all there.Does radiation cause some sort of hysteria or anything.what are all of the side effects?
Im not sure of the side effects from lung cancer but i just finished up with rad. for Breast cancer the only side effects i had were like a 3rd. degree burn where the rad. zapped me and i was very tired from having to take a treatment everyday for 36 days.
My son was treated for Hodgkin’s lymphoma and it was in his chest area and extended into his lungs. He only had 14 days of radiation. His lungs, heart and spine got the radiation. Had a twitch that made his head jerk to the left. He also feels a numb tapping in his feet when he touches his chin to his chest. He was having a lot of heartburn to which made him not eat and lose some weight. You can look up some of the side effects from radiation at the link below.
Radiation Therapy is in itself painless. Many low-dose palliative treatments (for example, radiotherapy to bony metastases) cause minimal or no side effects. Treatment to higher doses causes varying side effects during treatment (acute side effects), in the months or years following treatment (long-term side effects), or after re-treatment (cumulative side effects). The nature, severity, and longevity of side effects depends on the organs that receive the radiation, the treatment itself (type of radiation, dose, fractionation, concurrent chemotherapy), and the patient.
Most side effects are predictable and expected. One of the aims of modern radiotherapy is to reduce side effects to a minimum, and to help the patient to understand and to deal with those side effects which are unavoidable.
Side effects of radiation therapy greatly depend on which part of your body is being radiated and how much radiation is used. You may experience no side effects, or you may experience several. Most side effects are temporary, can be controlled and generally disappear over time once treatment has ended. Common side effects are -
-Hair loss at treatment site (sometimes permanent),
-skin irritation at treatment site,
-fatigue-
-Dry mouth,
-thickened saliva,
-difficulty swallowing,
-sore throat,
-changes in the way food tastes,
-earaches,
-sore jaw,
-nausea
-Difficulty swallowing,
-cough,
-shortness of breath
-Upset stomach,
-diarrhea
-bladder irritation,
-frequent urination,
-sexual dysfunction, etc.
There are so many side possible side effects that no-one can say for sure - but fatigue is one major one.
With time this should wear off, but look at for some positive things you might consider for your Grandmother.
And good luck
Verite R