Radiotherapy is this treatment that works in order to prevent cancer in people. This only works when the person is beginning to suffer from this disease, if it has not been confirmed that the patient has it. Then, first, some tests will be done in order to verify that the person has cancer.
Cancer is difficult to detect, you don’t know when you have it until a test shows that tumors and cancer cells are appearing. One does not feel it, since this disease manifests itself almost stealthily, and if one does not do the tests and spends a good time, then the disease will advance to the point where there is no longer a possibility that it can be treated. In the person. That is why you have to lead a healthy life, and if you have a relative who suffered from this disease, then you must be very careful and have tests done so that it is detected in time and you can save yourself.
One of the treatments for this disease is called radiotherapy, and if you are wondering if this treatment has any side effects on the person. Well do not worry because in this article you will know about this.
Side effects
This does not happen throughout the body, remember that cancer is unpredictable and the worst thing is that it can settle in any part of our body, with different types of cancer, such as kidney or heart.
When the place where the tumors and cells are found is detected, it is the same place that should be attacked.
The most common that a person can have after radiation therapy would be skin changes. Meaning you may have blisters, the treated area is very dry, irritated, etc. Common problems, which can be easily treated and do not last long. Applying a lotion or cream to the area can help, being consulted by a doctor beforehand so that they give you permission to determine whether or not you can apply treatments to the area. These effects appear after radiotherapy and those same effects disappear a week later. If the skin is extremely affected, then the doctor will have to change the treatment.
Other effects would be fatigue, and the long term the second cancer. The latter is almost impossible to happen in the person.
Side effects on specific parts
If the treatment is done on the chest, you will have
- shortness of breath
- Your shoulders will be stiffer
- It is more difficult for you to swallow food and drinks
- Radiation pneumonitis. This can happen to you between 2 weeks and/or 6 months after radiation therapy has been completed
- Pain in your nipples or your breasts if in this case you are a woman
- Fibrosis due to radiation. If you go to a radiation oncologist, he or she can help you reduce the risk of fibrosis.
If you are going to do it on your neck or head.
- Sores on your gums and mouth
- stiffness in your jaw
- Frequent nausea
- Hair loss
- lymphedema
- your mouth will be dry
- Cavities
- Difficulty swallowing something
In the pelvis
- Sexual problems this is for men, causing them to have erectile dysfunction (when the affected person cannot maintain an erection or simply cannot have one).
- bleeding in the rectum
- frequent diarrhea
- Irritation in the bladder area
- You cannot control your bladder and you may urinate on yourself
- Changes in your menstruation, or that the woman simply stops menstruating. (women)
- Having symptoms of menopause (women)
- Infertility in the ovaries (if treatment is performed on both ovaries)
- Lack of activity in the sperm, since the man’s system does not make the normal amount of sperm, or if it does, but the sperm is not as strong as it should be. Being that it will be almost impossible for the man to have children.
Conclusion
Getting radiation therapy is still an option. Sure, there are its dangerous symptoms that one doesn’t want to have, but normally these are highly unlikely to happen to you. However, at the end of treatment, it is highly recommended that you ask your doctor a lot of questions. For example, what to do if you have side effects, which specialist should go first, how to treat it personally. And other questions, the list is somewhat long, but depending on the place where you do it, that same list will be reduced.
