I can still feel tingling radiation going on 3 weeks post, Is this normal?

ratface
ratface Member Posts: 1,337 Member
edited March 2014 in Head and Neck Cancer #1
Ok, help me out here. It's three weeks post radiation and I'll be sitting watching TV and can feel tingling, radiating for lack of a better word, definately some activity on the side that received tha most radiation. Is this what they mean when they say it keeps on cooking or giving? Doctor said everything looked good, all swelling is gone, hopefully tumor has gone away but it scares me into thinking it's growing again. So why is it still active in there?

Comments

  • SIRENAF42
    SIRENAF42 Member Posts: 202
    #2
    Radiation Effects
    They say the radiation continues to work, (linger) for up to a month. I know I continued with what I called Radiation head for months. The tingling, light headed feeling. It will get better over time.
  • ratface
    ratface Member Posts: 1,337 Member
    #3
    SIRENAF42 said:

    Radiation Effects
    They say the radiation continues to work, (linger) for up to a month. I know I continued with what I called Radiation head for months. The tingling, light headed feeling. It will get better over time.

    It really isn't
    It really isn't uncomfortable, It's just that I want to know if it should be going on, for lack of a better description, it feels like my jaw is still radiating as well as my Lymph node.
  • pk
    pk Member Posts: 192
    #4
    post radiation
    I went to my husband's first ENT visit with him yesterday ( he finished rads 3 weeks ago).
    His ENT told him that even tho he is feeling better the radiation is still working and will continue to for awhile yet. That is why he and the oncologists don't do a PET for 3 months. He said their protocol is to wait the 3 months so that the cancer cells have a chance to be GONE. Doing it too early - and they still could show up active. It's hard to wait, isn't it. But if you are only 3 weeks out, you are still radiating too. Hang in there. PK
  • lyolan1
    lyolan1 Member Posts: 95
    #5
    Post Radiation
    Hi Ratface, long time no hear. I hope all is well. At least you are finished. Like they said in "Platoon" "the rest of your life ain't nothin but gravey". I have 5 treatments left and feel pretty good at the moment. I have faced 3 big life changing situations in the last 8 years. I hope the next 10 years is gravey, and yours too. I read your post, believe it or not, I do not feel any tingling, should I? Right now, all I think of is next Thursday. After that looking forward to no treatments or feeding tube. Remember, its all good. WE made it. Alex.
  • ratface
    ratface Member Posts: 1,337 Member
    #6
    lyolan1 said:

    Post Radiation
    Hi Ratface, long time no hear. I hope all is well. At least you are finished. Like they said in "Platoon" "the rest of your life ain't nothin but gravey". I have 5 treatments left and feel pretty good at the moment. I have faced 3 big life changing situations in the last 8 years. I hope the next 10 years is gravey, and yours too. I read your post, believe it or not, I do not feel any tingling, should I? Right now, all I think of is next Thursday. After that looking forward to no treatments or feeding tube. Remember, its all good. WE made it. Alex.

    Hi Alex
    Read your other post. You are crossing the finish line. Congrats. No I didn;t really feel anything during treatment probably because it was everyday. I guess I'm just more aware of it now. As I type this I'm aware of my right side involved in some sort of activity. Like small pin pricks sometimes. You will feel just the opposite of looking forward to no treatments. I just wanted to keep going and hang around their office because I felt I should be doing something more. Wait till they show you the door and say, "Come back in two weeks". It's like, Hey guys , I got cancer, can't we do something else while we wait? The roller coaster will continue. This is a long slow road and I admire those who keep posting 3,4, 5, 10 years out.
  • thegirlfriend
    thegirlfriend Member Posts: 142
    #7
    ratface said:

    Hi Alex
    Read your other post. You are crossing the finish line. Congrats. No I didn;t really feel anything during treatment probably because it was everyday. I guess I'm just more aware of it now. As I type this I'm aware of my right side involved in some sort of activity. Like small pin pricks sometimes. You will feel just the opposite of looking forward to no treatments. I just wanted to keep going and hang around their office because I felt I should be doing something more. Wait till they show you the door and say, "Come back in two weeks". It's like, Hey guys , I got cancer, can't we do something else while we wait? The roller coaster will continue. This is a long slow road and I admire those who keep posting 3,4, 5, 10 years out.

    could this tingling be
    could this tingling be somewhat compared to the idea of when extremeties fall asleep then circulation coming back, or even when you have had surgery, and the inside of you starts itching because its healing? Could this be what it feels like when your body is becoming accustomed again to not having the radiation bashing away at healthy tissue? Sort of the stopping of dying tissue at the same time as new tissue growing again. You know just a combination of things working at the same time and balancing itself? All of your cells running around headed to spots and places inside you doing the job each of their kind is supposed to be doing and getting settled into doing them?

    Sort of like, "ok cells! white, red, everybody!! Thats it, back into place and working! thats it, good job!

    :)
  • thegirlfriend
    thegirlfriend Member Posts: 142
    #8
    thegirlfriend said:

    could this tingling be
    could this tingling be somewhat compared to the idea of when extremeties fall asleep then circulation coming back, or even when you have had surgery, and the inside of you starts itching because its healing? Could this be what it feels like when your body is becoming accustomed again to not having the radiation bashing away at healthy tissue? Sort of the stopping of dying tissue at the same time as new tissue growing again. You know just a combination of things working at the same time and balancing itself? All of your cells running around headed to spots and places inside you doing the job each of their kind is supposed to be doing and getting settled into doing them?

    Sort of like, "ok cells! white, red, everybody!! Thats it, back into place and working! thats it, good job!

    :)

    finally got this to post. I
    finally got this to post. I have been typing for an hour to different topics and they havent posted, anyone else have a problem? i already emailed CSN.
  • ratface
    ratface Member Posts: 1,337 Member
    #9
    thegirlfriend said:

    finally got this to post. I
    finally got this to post. I have been typing for an hour to different topics and they havent posted, anyone else have a problem? i already emailed CSN.

    Girlfriend
    Interesting explanation. I hear that once lymph nodes are removed, "which mine have not yet" that they start making new passages to link up with their drainage functions. I do have cut nerves from the initial biopsy as well as all the radiation and biopsys in the mouth.

    Yes i have been having the same posting problem, very frustrating.
  • thegirlfriend
    thegirlfriend Member Posts: 142
    #10
    ratface said:

    Girlfriend
    Interesting explanation. I hear that once lymph nodes are removed, "which mine have not yet" that they start making new passages to link up with their drainage functions. I do have cut nerves from the initial biopsy as well as all the radiation and biopsys in the mouth.

    Yes i have been having the same posting problem, very frustrating.

    OH Im no authority, you all know that already, but I just thought that the same way your body was turned upside down in its functioning when treatment started, that it must have to go thru major adjustments to get itself back to the normal biological functioning and that tingling might be part of that process of things going on at the same time. The healing and just normal body functioning having to continue despite anything else going on. The human body is an amazing study. Its ability to give the term "multi tasking" intense meaning. Sometimes it doesnt win, but surely not for the lack of seriously and naturally trying its best. Other times its truly awe inspiring to know what the body does to protect and sustain itself in addition to what we do to help it do so.
  • jeb54321
    jeb54321 Member Posts: 22
    #11
    I felt "tingles"
    I felt tingles DURING radiation treatment.

    I asked the tech running the IMRT if that was normal, and they said I shouldn't feel a thing.

    I know what I felt, and it TINGLED.

    But not much. Frankly, considering that your mouth has been firebombed for weeks straight, I think just about anything is possible.

    A dentist in my home town, before radiation was well understood, used to hold the dental x-rays in position in his patient's mouths. It has been decades, and his hands are still permanently burned and dysfunctional, and he wears rubber gloves filled with moisturizing cream to give him some small relief.

    We've all just been through something terribly unnatural. As long as it isn't too troublesome, I accept it all with the attitude that what will be, will be.

    -jim

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