Fistula

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jackflash22
jackflash22 Member Posts: 524 Member
in Head and Neck Cancer #1

I was looking at the fistula postings and wondered, does radiation mean that all of your body is affected or only the places where it touched or went through. Say' if I had an op on other places on my body I may get a fistula? Another question with side affects has anyone had persistent coughs since rads. I finished rads last November since then I cough, sometimes a few times a days sometimes all day and all night. I can't swallow...scar blockage...and I get a dry throat. I don't smoke.

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  • Anonymous7/6/2023
    Anonymous7/6/2023 Member Posts: 176
    #2
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    Have you tried artificial

    Have you tried artificial saliva? It can help with the dry throat, as well as any dry mouth you might have. I couldn't live without it.

  • donfoo
    donfoo Member Posts: 1,771 Member
    #3
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    don't think so

    Are you talking about an artifical fistual, a tube of sorts or a natural fistula?

    Artifical fistulas exist where they are placed. Seems like any natural fistula related to radiation would be located where the radiation was experienced only - areas around the oral cavity and upper neck would be general area.

  • jackflash22
    jackflash22 Member Posts: 524 Member
    #4
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    donfoo said:

    don't think so

    Are you talking about an artifical fistual, a tube of sorts or a natural fistula?

    Artifical fistulas exist where they are placed. Seems like any natural fistula related to radiation would be located where the radiation was experienced only - areas around the oral cavity and upper neck would be general area.

    I didn't word that properly I

    I didn't word that properly I was wondering if rads affected the whole body, if I had surgery on my leg would rads affect that, in the healing process. I'm thinking that the only place that surgery would affect is the area the rads touched. Is the skin affected for the rest of your life or only a certain time. If we get side effects from radiation for the rest of our lives is our body still radiated. I can't understand why side effects can keep popping up for years to come. 

  • jackflash22
    jackflash22 Member Posts: 524 Member
    #5
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    Estelle_H said:

    Have you tried artificial

    Have you tried artificial saliva? It can help with the dry throat, as well as any dry mouth you might have. I couldn't live without it.

    Salive

    yes I use artificial saliva from boots chemists..own make. It makes the bit of saliva I've got left bubble, I try not to use it except in the night. I rinse my mouth with water in the day.

  • donfoo
    donfoo Member Posts: 1,771 Member
    #6
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    jackflash22 said:

    I didn't word that properly I

    I didn't word that properly I was wondering if rads affected the whole body, if I had surgery on my leg would rads affect that, in the healing process. I'm thinking that the only place that surgery would affect is the area the rads touched. Is the skin affected for the rest of your life or only a certain time. If we get side effects from radiation for the rest of our lives is our body still radiated. I can't understand why side effects can keep popping up for years to come. 

    I can't understand why side

    I can't understand why side effects can keep popping up for years to come.

    Hi Jackie,

    I know exactly where your mind is as I just fell into this rut in the cancer survivor road of life. Since there is no way to know what long term side effects will strike you, it is no different than predicitng recurrence. A mentally healthy way to manage all these unknowns is to just push it off the table and enjoy life today.

    You do all you can to stay healthy but you can not address unknowns. If and when such things occur then face it then as there is nothing but worry and negativity that lessens the joy of living each day.

    Happy thoughts.

  • hwt
    hwt Member Posts: 2,328 Member
    #7
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    donfoo said:

    I can't understand why side

    I can't understand why side effects can keep popping up for years to come.

    Hi Jackie,

    I know exactly where your mind is as I just fell into this rut in the cancer survivor road of life. Since there is no way to know what long term side effects will strike you, it is no different than predicitng recurrence. A mentally healthy way to manage all these unknowns is to just push it off the table and enjoy life today.

    You do all you can to stay healthy but you can not address unknowns. If and when such things occur then face it then as there is nothing but worry and negativity that lessens the joy of living each day.

    Happy thoughts.

    Jackie

    I recall a radiologist telling me that they only radiated my head and neck and not the rest of my body. I believe we were talking about sun exposure at the time and he said the rest of my body was unchanged. I don't think H&N radiation would cause a fistula in another part of the body. I'm no doctor but both fistulas in my lifetime were at surgical sites and I had not ever been radiated when I had the first one.  

  • Hondo
    Hondo Member Posts: 6,636 Member
    #8
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    Hi Jackie

    I agree with Don, there is no way to predict the long term effects of radiation. As with me I am 10 years passed my second treatment and still having side effects, but I am still alive and still working and still enjoying life. From what I am seeing 10 years out all the problems of radiation are all in the same area, but some of my other organs have also been affected by the treatment. For someone who had as much radiation as I took my doctors tell me I am a mystery case; That is why it is so hard for them to know what is the right thing to do, so they tell me to just keep doing what I am doing.   

    Tim Hondo

  • patricke
    patricke Member Posts: 570
    #9
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    RAD EFFECTS

    Hey Jackie,

    I've not heard of RAD, my personal favorite form of treatment (so not!), treatment affecting any other part of the body that was not in the, as they say, target field.  I think that Don nicely summed up the best way to handle life after rads, you just live each day to the fullest, and deal with any after effects if and when they may occur.  I didn't have any problems with coughing.  I used MouthKote to moistureize my desert dry mouth for many years, until my saliva magically returned, really, it was magical, after my laryngectomy 11 years after my inital war with the beast; go figure. 

    PATRICK

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