Newbie

Laser_red

Hi everyone, recently I found this much needed site and I can't thank you all for sharing your stories and experiences.  In February of 2016 I was diagnosed with anal cancer, and by June I finished chemo and 7 weeks of radiation.  Recovery has been toughish - but the cancer is gone.  I wish I had found this site before I had gone in to see my surgeon and had the biopsy and tag removal after only 4 months after the radiation.  The pain from this procedure is pretty intense and it feels like internal burning at the site of the scar/biopsy site.  I had this done at the end of October 2016.  I guess my question is, has anyone else experience this and what did you do for it?  She gave me lidocaine (my best friend) and pain meds, but it doesn't help for the burning.

mp327

Laser_red

Hello and welcome.  I'm sorry you have a reason to be here, but I hope you'll find lots of support and good information.  I'm glad to hear your cancer is gone.

As for the tag removal and biopsy, I had to have 3 anal condylomas removed under general anesthesia two years after my treatment.  Fortunately for me, I healed pretty quickly from that procedure.  I suspect your healing is compromised due to the short period of time since you went through radiation treatment for the cancer.  As you probably know, radiated tissue does not heal well.  I'm sorry that the lidocaine and pain meds are not helping.  Have you contacted your surgeon to see if there is something else she can prescribe?  I suspect that, with time, things will get better, but I realize how discouraging this can be.  I wish you all the best--hang in there.

Martha

Mollymaude

Pain

My treatment was completed January 2016, and in November I had a gallbladder attack with subsequent removal of gallbladder, which led to constipation from pain meds. This led to rectal pain, oncologist sent me back to surgeon, he did anoscopy and took a "skin tag" off but found nothing of concern internally. i kept having more and more pain and couldn't figure it out. It was out of proportion to pain from skin tag removal, seemed to come on after bowel movements and get slowly worse- bad enough that only oxycodone took away the pain. I was at my wits end, finally tried a muscle relaxer one night and pain was gone! I was having rectal muscle spasms. I was so relieved to figure this out. i still have proctitis, bleeding, and some soreness but the muscle spasm pain is now controlled. I take a muscle relaxer at bedtime, do pelvic PT stretches I was taught, and use Tylenol and ibuprofen to control muscle spasm pain. I'm sorry you are struggling with pain. When I was having the bad pain I started wondering what I would do if my small supply of oxycodone was gone and pain was still there, then I got anxious and pain would get worse. How long has it been since you had the procedure?

Laser_red

mp327 said:

Laser_red

Hello and welcome.  I'm sorry you have a reason to be here, but I hope you'll find lots of support and good information.  I'm glad to hear your cancer is gone.

As for the tag removal and biopsy, I had to have 3 anal condylomas removed under general anesthesia two years after my treatment.  Fortunately for me, I healed pretty quickly from that procedure.  I suspect your healing is compromised due to the short period of time since you went through radiation treatment for the cancer.  As you probably know, radiated tissue does not heal well.  I'm sorry that the lidocaine and pain meds are not helping.  Have you contacted your surgeon to see if there is something else she can prescribe?  I suspect that, with time, things will get better, but I realize how discouraging this can be.  I wish you all the best--hang in there.

Martha

Thank you Martha for

Thank you Martha for responding.  My surgeon told me she thought constipation was the factor that is causing me pain - to push lots of water and try eating a higher fiber diet.  True there is some constipation, but I told her I was concerned because the mucus from the radiation has blood in it and feels like acid.  She said the blood is from a fissure I have developed - but I am disagreeing with her on this one since the blood is in the mucus.  It has been almost two months since she did the biopsy and this "pain in the ****" feels as bad as when she did it.  Is there some kind of treatment or remedy that be be done, like medicine that can be done by enema to promote healing for the biopsied area.  She told me if things didn't calm done by our next visit in early January - she was thinking nitro but can cause incontenence - and I don't want to go there if I can find something else. 

Laser_red

Mollymaude said:

Pain

My treatment was completed January 2016, and in November I had a gallbladder attack with subsequent removal of gallbladder, which led to constipation from pain meds. This led to rectal pain, oncologist sent me back to surgeon, he did anoscopy and took a "skin tag" off but found nothing of concern internally. i kept having more and more pain and couldn't figure it out. It was out of proportion to pain from skin tag removal, seemed to come on after bowel movements and get slowly worse- bad enough that only oxycodone took away the pain. I was at my wits end, finally tried a muscle relaxer one night and pain was gone! I was having rectal muscle spasms. I was so relieved to figure this out. i still have proctitis, bleeding, and some soreness but the muscle spasm pain is now controlled. I take a muscle relaxer at bedtime, do pelvic PT stretches I was taught, and use Tylenol and ibuprofen to control muscle spasm pain. I'm sorry you are struggling with pain. When I was having the bad pain I started wondering what I would do if my small supply of oxycodone was gone and pain was still there, then I got anxious and pain would get worse. How long has it been since you had the procedure?

Thank you for responding

Thank you for responding Mollymaude - I had the procedure done the at end of Oct. 2016 and it feels like it was done last week!  Pain the worst in the morning and some days are like morning lasts all day!  I am taking ibuprofen and oxycodone for the pain - I'm parsing out the oxy to one a day (constipation an issue).  Getting a handle on BM's has been a challenge since radiation and I'm doing a lot of fiber through out the day (I may actually be the new poster child for Metamucil or Prunes!) and now with the healing of the biopsy site, things have become more complicated with the pain and blood in the mucus.  The mucus almost gives the most of the burning pain (like acid) and just not sure what to do for the internal burning pain.  Lidocaine calms and numbs the exterior, so that gives some relief.  I'm not having the issue with muscle spasms at this point as I did towards the end of my radiation - but that might be something new to explore.  Thank you for the suggestion.

Mollymaude

Pain

Do you think a suppository of some sort might help? My doctors gave me two different kinds-anusol and another that had to be compounded by the pharmacy- with sucralfate. You can google sucralfate for radiation proctitis and read about it. It is mostly used in enema form but my doctor suggested the compounding into suppositories after I told him I didn't want to do enemas.