After radiotherapy, weakness and fatigue will gradually disappear.
During radiotherapy, patients should do less
Something. If you feel tired, you should take less part in activities and have more rest in your spare time. Go to bed early at night and maybe have a rest during the day. You can ask your family and friends to help with housework, shopping, taking care of children or driving. You can also ask your neighbors to help you buy something when you are shopping.
2, skin: the skin of the treatment site is sensitive, looks red and wrinkled. After several weeks, the patient's skin became dry due to radiotherapy. The patient should tell the doctor about these symptoms, and the doctor will make suggestions to eliminate your discomfort. After a few weeks of radiotherapy, most skin reactions will be eliminated. In some cases, the skin after radiotherapy will be slightly darker than before. Patients should be careful of their own skin. Here are some suggestions:
(1) Use cold water and mild soap; Let the water flow through the irradiated skin without rubbing.
(2) Don't wear too tight clothes in the treatment area.
(3) Don't rub or scratch sensitive parts.
(4) Do not put hot or cold things such as hot towels or ice packs on the skin receiving radiotherapy unless the doctor advises.
(5) Don't wear powder, skin cream, perfume, deodorant, ointment, lotion and household drugs for several weeks unless the doctor agrees. Many skin care products will leave a layer on the skin, which may hinder radiotherapy or rehabilitation.
(6) During radiotherapy and within one year after radiotherapy, do not expose the irradiated parts to the sun. If you want to stay in the sun for a few more minutes, you should wear protective clothing (such as wide-brimmed hat and long-sleeved shirt) and use sunscreen.
3, hair loss: radiotherapy will cause hair loss (alopecia) in the treatment site. For example, if your hips are treated, your hair won't fall out. However, if you receive radiotherapy on your head, some or all hair on your scalp will fall off. Many patients know that hair will grow back after treatment, but it is still difficult to adapt to hair loss. The amount of hair growth depends on the radiation dose received by the patient and the form of radiotherapy adopted. For example, radiotherapy is to relieve troubles (relieve symptoms), and your hair will grow out slowly; But if the purpose of radiotherapy is to cure cancer, your hair will not grow, which also shows that you have achieved the therapeutic effect.
After hair loss, the scalp becomes weak and you can cover your head. You should wear a hat or scarf to protect your head from the sun. If you wear a wig, you should make sure that the inner layer of the wig will not irritate the scalp.
4, blood: radiotherapy will hardly reduce the number of white blood cells or platelets. These blood cells help the body fight infection and prevent bleeding. If the patient's blood test shows that radiotherapy reduces the white blood cell count or platelet count, the treatment will be suspended for one week to increase the patient's blood cell count.
5. Diet: Side effects include diet and digestive problems. During the treatment, you may have no appetite at all. Even if you are not hungry, it is important to eat more protein and calories. Doctors have found that patients with a good appetite can better cope with cancer and its side effects.
Solving the short-term diet problem may be easier than you think. The following are guidelines and methods to help patients solve their dietary problems.
(1) If you feel pain when chewing and swallowing food, the doctor will advise you to eat powdered or liquid food. These foods can be bought in shops and have many flavors. They can be eaten with other foods.
(2) The following suggestions will help to improve your appetite when you lose appetite, so that you can eat as much as possible.
1) Eat when you are hungry, even if it's not time for dinner.
2) Eat less and eat more.
3) If you like eating with people, you can eat with your family or friends, or turn on the radio or TV.
4) In some cases, patients are not allowed to drink alcohol, because alcohol will aggravate the side effects of treatment. Special attention should be paid to radiotherapy for brain cancer or neck cancer.
5) If cooking is troublesome, you can make more copies and put them in the refrigerator.
6) Keep some healthy snacks around you and eat them if you want.
7) If someone helps you cook, tell him what you want to eat.
8) If you live alone, you can order takeout. You can ask a hospital, a doctor or a nurse about the choice of food.
(3) If you can only eat a small amount of food, you can increase your energy intake by the following methods:
1) Add butter or margarine to food.
2) Drink milk instead of water.
3) Drink something like milk between meals.
4) Add some seasonings or cream to vegetables.
Some people find that they can eat a lot of liquid food when they don't want to eat solid food. If you are the same, you can add milk powder, yogurt, honey or liquid supplements to your drinks.
6. Emotion: Many patients will feel depressed, afraid, angry, failed, lonely or helpless. You may also feel tired from radiotherapy, which will ruin your mood. You can consult your doctor or the local cancer society to find opportunities to solve these problems with people who care about you.