Rectal bleeding, a d tears

ralph.townsend1 said:

Radiation
Sorry Mike,Yes, I had radiation treatment in August 2009, and in April 2012 had the worst bowel movement with Blood flowing, pain and it's hard to explain. Went to my primary doctor and Test found I had Radiation Proctitis associated from prostate cancer and VA gave me 60% for bowel dysfunction and nerve damage. MD Anderson cancer doctor's said that it will happen every once in while. Since 2009 It's has happen 4-5 times, and can't wait until the next time. With the nerve damage, I have to be careful about getting to far from the bathroom at morning. Don't fart around with it.

Ralph

Samsungtech1 said:

Hang tough
Ralph,
Worry about you. Hope all is as wellas it can be. Hang tough bro. Can hardly wait unril next painful trip. Next rime I will take my percocet. See how that works.

Hope you are doing ok. Getting ready to head to California. Figure on spending three weeks driving up the coast just to make sure I did not drop anything the last couple of times I hitched up the coast.

Take care,

Mike

Samsungtech1 said:

How you doing?
Been busy and have neglected comm. I hope all is well with you. Not sure what you celebrate, but Merry Christmas, or happy Hannukah. Have a great new year. Hoping to see you around May.

Take care,

Mike

AndyC5 said:

IGRT primary, proctitis mid-way through treatment

Hi All, hope everyone is feeling better.  I just joined this site. Im receiving IGRT, about a 3rd of way into my treatment of 80 Grys, and having proctitis, rectal bleeding, most painful bowel movements ever. Feels like something is torn in there. Is this unusual ? Having this problem so early? It makes me think I will have serious late onset problems. I am ready to stop treatment. Dr just wants to treat it with steroid creams for now, but my biggest worry is not now, but later if I continue this treatemtn. What I would do if i stop this, I dont know. Any help or advice appreciate much. Andy

Andy

Not everyone experiences equally from the same treatment. Pain is the effect most frequent in RT however it usually is not extreme. In my case I felt burning sensations accompanied of mild pain when peeing but nothing in my stool, while on treatment.

Your radiologist may be judging the problem reasonably, however, extreme pain, bleeding, etc., is not common to occur while on IGRT treatments for prostate cancer. It is more common to occur once the treatment is finished. In the past, treatments with older equipments did cause nasty side effects but not at present days. In this link they comment the following from the American Cancer Society;

“….During and after radiation treatment for prostate cancer, there may be diarrhea and/or rectal pain, irritable bowels, incontinence of feces and, sometimes, bloody stools. According to the ACS, this is more common with older forms of external beam radiation, where the source of radiation is placed outside the body. Long-term bowel symptoms are not common in the newer, more focused forms of external radiation therapy, or the different forms of internal radiation therapy. In most cases, these symptoms stop when treatment ends, states the ACS.”

http://www.livestrong.com/article/146568-prostate-cancer-radiation-side-effects/

Here is a site from Mayoclinic describing well about the effects from radiation done with newer methods/facilities;

http://www.mayoclinic.com/health/external-beam-radiation-for-prostate-cancer/MY01632/DSECTION=risks

In extreme cases of treatment complications, pain may be a cause from ulcerative colitis   that may already be existent and the radiation affects them extremely. In fact patients with cases of ulcerative colitis are not recommended for radiation because it may cause fistulas. Unfortunately the majority of doctors do not test for that condition in advance, before recommending RT. They may ask the patient for past experiences but if one doesn’t know it most probably will reply negatively at the time of inquire.

My lay opinion is that you should stop the treatment and try to find the cause firstly. Fistulas are far more complicated to treat than prostate cancer. You need to discuss with your doctor and probably get a second opinion from another specialist.

You can continue the treatment latter if ulcerative colitises are none existent. The body will sustain the continuing protocol (the same isodose planning) because the absorbed radiation by the tissues is not yet at their limit. Though, you would need to find a radiologist with experience in treating such cases.

For details on fistulas, google the following: “Fistulas from radiotherapy for prostate cancer”

I hope the problem subsides and that you manage to continue the treatment. However, be careful and get a satisfying answer from a specialist firstly.

Best wishes,

VGama 

VascodaGama said:

Andy; care for any case of fistulas

Andy

Not everyone experiences equally from the same treatment. Pain is the effect most frequent in RT however it usually is not extreme. In my case I felt burning sensations accompanied of mild pain when peeing but nothing in my stool, while on treatment.

Your radiologist may be judging the problem reasonably, however, extreme pain, bleeding, etc., is not common to occur while on IGRT treatments for prostate cancer. It is more common to occur once the treatment is finished. In the past, treatments with older equipments did cause nasty side effects but not at present days. In this link they comment the following from the American Cancer Society;

“….During and after radiation treatment for prostate cancer, there may be diarrhea and/or rectal pain, irritable bowels, incontinence of feces and, sometimes, bloody stools. According to the ACS, this is more common with older forms of external beam radiation, where the source of radiation is placed outside the body. Long-term bowel symptoms are not common in the newer, more focused forms of external radiation therapy, or the different forms of internal radiation therapy. In most cases, these symptoms stop when treatment ends, states the ACS.”

http://www.livestrong.com/article/146568-prostate-cancer-radiation-side-effects/

Here is a site from Mayoclinic describing well about the effects from radiation done with newer methods/facilities;

http://www.mayoclinic.com/health/external-beam-radiation-for-prostate-cancer/MY01632/DSECTION=risks

In extreme cases of treatment complications, pain may be a cause from ulcerative colitis   that may already be existent and the radiation affects them extremely. In fact patients with cases of ulcerative colitis are not recommended for radiation because it may cause fistulas. Unfortunately the majority of doctors do not test for that condition in advance, before recommending RT. They may ask the patient for past experiences but if one doesn’t know it most probably will reply negatively at the time of inquire.

My lay opinion is that you should stop the treatment and try to find the cause firstly. Fistulas are far more complicated to treat than prostate cancer. You need to discuss with your doctor and probably get a second opinion from another specialist.

You can continue the treatment latter if ulcerative colitises are none existent. The body will sustain the continuing protocol (the same isodose planning) because the absorbed radiation by the tissues is not yet at their limit. Though, you would need to find a radiologist with experience in treating such cases.

For details on fistulas, google the following: “Fistulas from radiotherapy for prostate cancer”

I hope the problem subsides and that you manage to continue the treatment. However, be careful and get a satisfying answer from a specialist firstly.

Best wishes,

VGama 

I want to thank you especially VascodaGama and all the others for the continuing dialog.  It has really helped me greatly over the past year. I should look and comment on the discussion board more often than every couple of months.

Today it has been one year since my radical prostectomy (DaVinci). They found cancer penetration into the margin and I opted for radiation (38 days) which I finished early December '12  My last PSA was <0.1 so I'm good at this point; hopefully for a long time.

Thankfully, I have had very little pain or discomfort even from day one and no noticable effect from the radiation except tiredness and continued ED. The biggest problem has been the ED and the adjustment to that. I do have some urine leakage if I'm not careful of how much coffee or liquids I drink before I go somewhere.

I'm glad it was caught early enough and that I had it surgically removed because it wasn't until the biopsy that they saw that it had gotten into the capsule. I am 59 now and would have been sad if I had done just the radiation and only later find it would not be enough.

Thanks again for you advice and comments.

Fred

AndyC5 said:

IGRT primary, proctitis mid-way through treatment

Hi All, hope everyone is feeling better.  I just joined this site. Im receiving IGRT, about a 3rd of way into my treatment of 80 Grys, and having proctitis, rectal bleeding, most painful bowel movements ever. Feels like something is torn in there. Is this unusual ? Having this problem so early? It makes me think I will have serious late onset problems. I am ready to stop treatment. Dr just wants to treat it with steroid creams for now, but my biggest worry is not now, but later if I continue this treatemtn. What I would do if i stop this, I dont know. Any help or advice appreciate much. Andy

Andy,

Are things better? You are having almost exactly the same response I have to IMRT. What machine you on, just curious. Im getting 81 grays total, decided to stop half way through because of fear, like you, of what it will mean for my future if its this bad now. Long story short, my Dr. adjusted the beam away from rectal more, and Im on steroid suppositories with liticane. Its helping some, but mostly he was able to put my fears at ease, and told me this will clear up after treatment stops. There is always concern about later, like years later, but I hope to offset that with healthy living. The more accurate machines are supposed to limit damage. Time will tell. take care,   David