“How soon would I experience side effects after starting radiation therapy?”
I'm undergoing radiation therapy for breast cancer, and me and my doctor discussed the side effects that I may experience after starting treatment. However, I'm worried about when I'm going to start feeling these side effects. Would I begin feeling them right after my treatment?
7 Answers
The timing for side effects after radiation can vary greatly from patient to patient. There are a number of variables involved here that include other pre-existing illnesses, skin type, prior chemotherapy, radiation dosage and length of treatment.
No. You may not feel anything at all or tired because of stress for coming in. Actual radiation treatment will take 2-3 mins. The time to prep patient for treatment is about 5-10 mins. Total is about 15 mins.
You will begin to feel the side effects on the third week after starting radiation: usually a tiredness and skin redness, but you can deal with it.
Dear patient,
The timing/onset of radiation side effects varies between patients. However, there are general temporal ranges that we can usually ascribe to the more common side effects. For example, during radiation therapy for breast cancer, a skin reaction is common, known in medical terms as radiation dermatitis. There are certain grades or levels of radiation dermatitis, or descriptive terminologies such as mild, moderate or severe. The initial skin reaction is redness (referred to as erythema in medical terms), possible itching (pruritus) or folliculitis (inflammation of follicles). This usually occurs within the second week of treatment and may be brisk at the end of the third week of the treatment course. The skin reaction may or may not progress to skin desquamation (skin peeling), as this is dependent on several factors including skin type, breast volume, treatment modality or technique, dose and fractionation (the dose per treatment and the total number of treatments).
A sense of "hardness" in the breast, which patients may perceive as a lump, actually represents scar tissue inside the breast as a result of surgery. This is most commonly present in the area of the lumpectomy scar, specifically in the case of breast conservation surgery (during which only the tumor is removed and the breast is preserved). This "sense of hardness"/scar tissue may increase with radiation. However, this should improve/soften over time post-treatment.
Another common side effect is fatigue. This is the only side effect not limited to the treatment site (the breast). Fatigue is usually mild-moderate, and is usually detected between the second (2nd) and third (3rd) week of treatment. Fatigue is cumulative, that is, it increases as treatment progresses. However, the level of fatigue experienced during the treatment of breast cancer does not usually affect your activities of daily living. Most patients maintain work and home activities throughout their entire treatment course. However, somnolence (feeling sleepy) may occur prematurely, such that you may need to retire to bed 1-2 hours earlier, in comparison to your usual pre-treatment sleep patterns. In addition, on weekend days, when you are not receiving radiation, you may require an afternoon nap per weekend day. It should be noted that patients who received chemotherapy before radiation, tend to develop and experience more fatigue than patients who did not undergo systemic treatment. This phenomenon is due to the cumulative effects of both treatment modalities (chemotherapy and radiation).
I hope that your questions and concerns have been adequately addressed.
Sincerely,
Dr. EB
The timing/onset of radiation side effects varies between patients. However, there are general temporal ranges that we can usually ascribe to the more common side effects. For example, during radiation therapy for breast cancer, a skin reaction is common, known in medical terms as radiation dermatitis. There are certain grades or levels of radiation dermatitis, or descriptive terminologies such as mild, moderate or severe. The initial skin reaction is redness (referred to as erythema in medical terms), possible itching (pruritus) or folliculitis (inflammation of follicles). This usually occurs within the second week of treatment and may be brisk at the end of the third week of the treatment course. The skin reaction may or may not progress to skin desquamation (skin peeling), as this is dependent on several factors including skin type, breast volume, treatment modality or technique, dose and fractionation (the dose per treatment and the total number of treatments).
A sense of "hardness" in the breast, which patients may perceive as a lump, actually represents scar tissue inside the breast as a result of surgery. This is most commonly present in the area of the lumpectomy scar, specifically in the case of breast conservation surgery (during which only the tumor is removed and the breast is preserved). This "sense of hardness"/scar tissue may increase with radiation. However, this should improve/soften over time post-treatment.
Another common side effect is fatigue. This is the only side effect not limited to the treatment site (the breast). Fatigue is usually mild-moderate, and is usually detected between the second (2nd) and third (3rd) week of treatment. Fatigue is cumulative, that is, it increases as treatment progresses. However, the level of fatigue experienced during the treatment of breast cancer does not usually affect your activities of daily living. Most patients maintain work and home activities throughout their entire treatment course. However, somnolence (feeling sleepy) may occur prematurely, such that you may need to retire to bed 1-2 hours earlier, in comparison to your usual pre-treatment sleep patterns. In addition, on weekend days, when you are not receiving radiation, you may require an afternoon nap per weekend day. It should be noted that patients who received chemotherapy before radiation, tend to develop and experience more fatigue than patients who did not undergo systemic treatment. This phenomenon is due to the cumulative effects of both treatment modalities (chemotherapy and radiation).
I hope that your questions and concerns have been adequately addressed.
Sincerely,
Dr. EB
In general, other than mild fatigue which occasionally happens, side effects (mostly a skin reaction) does not occur for at least 10-14 days after treatment begins.They are slowly cumulative and are not related to a particular treatment on a given day. Most people have few side effects and continue to work and play with no restriction other than sun avoidance in the treatment area.
-JJS
-JJS
Not likely. We typically say that any side effects from radiation start off as nothing and SLOWLY build up. Most people notice some effects between the 10th and 15th treatment. Fatigue is very variable; some women have tons, and some have none.
2 to 3 weeks
