Radiation treatment after hysterectomy

zsazsa1

Orchid, I used probiotics

Orchid, I used probiotics during radiation, and they helped a LOT!  I didn't know about this beforehand - wish I had.  I had such horrible diarrhea (too many times a day to count, certainly over 50) start about 2 weeks into it, that I was ready to quit.  Women on here recommended probiotic.  The one I used was an OTC, and it's back there in the threads from about May, 2019.  Someone told me that they had begun the probiotic a week before radiation, and they had NO diarrhea whatsoever.  That is one piece of information that I really wish I had had before I started radiation.  I used to go to radiation fasting, and as soon as I got home I took the probiotic capsule.

zsazsa1

And BTW, despite having had

And BTW, despite having had probably the worst diarrhea the radiation oncologist had ever seen in someone who was getting whole pelvic IMRT, it DID get better!  Took a long time.  At three months I was still nowhere near normal.  But it kept improving, and now I am much, much better, totally possible to live this way.  I could go out touring all day, and not have trouble.  It's not quite what it was, but it's perfectly fine.

BluebirdOne

Orchid65 said:

Hi BluebirdOne

That is great news.  What are you doing to prevent recurrence?

Trying to eat healthier

but my diet was not that bad to begin with so the changes are minimal. I am continuing to try and get my old level of fitness back, and simply monitoring. My tumor was Her2 negative, so no other treatment than surgery, chemo and radiation was recommended. Being 1a, thankfully, no other treatments are recommended at this time. What scares me the most is that I have pretty significant osteoarthritis in my spine, among other places, and the chronic pain could mask cancer related pain, so I am vigilant. The good thing is that the arthritis pain is much worse early and then usually subsides during the day, typical for arthritis, but not for cancer. All in all except for anxiety I am doing quite well. 

Denise

cmb

zsazsa1 said:

Orchid, I used probiotics

Orchid, I used probiotics during radiation, and they helped a LOT!  I didn't know about this beforehand - wish I had.  I had such horrible diarrhea (too many times a day to count, certainly over 50) start about 2 weeks into it, that I was ready to quit.  Women on here recommended probiotic.  The one I used was an OTC, and it's back there in the threads from about May, 2019.  Someone told me that they had begun the probiotic a week before radiation, and they had NO diarrhea whatsoever.  That is one piece of information that I really wish I had had before I started radiation.  I used to go to radiation fasting, and as soon as I got home I took the probiotic capsule.

See topic "How to manage radiation-induced diarrhea"

I believe zsazsa1 is referring to the thread How to manage radiation-induced diarrhea? which discussed the use of probiotics (and other practices) before and during radiation.

jan9wils

Orchid65 said:

Hi jan9wils

Hi jan9wils,

Thanks for your comments.  It is good to hear you found a probiotic that could help with the gastro issues.  Do you think you could have taken the probiotic during the radiation treatment to relieve the diarrhea?  Did you have any urinary problems?  Were you treated with chemotherapy for the three distant recurrences or did you use radiation?  I hope you are better now.

probiotic

Yes I could have taken it during radation but didn't think of it. And nurse, techs and onc/radiologist did not mention it. I wish I had taken it during treatments because I've learned from women on this board that have and had good results. I did not have urinary problems, thankfully. For my recurrences I had chemotherapy twice, surgery three times and participated in an immunotherapy clinical trial.