Side effects of radiation therapy, such as skin irritation, fatigue, cough, and more are common during treatment.Having an awareness of simple tips, such as how to care for your skin, how to pace yourself when tired, and staying out of the cold to help your cough can make you more comfortable. It’s also important to know when home remedies aren’t enough and you need to call your healthcare provider.

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Woman receiving radiation therapy

Skin Irritation

Within the first few weeks of radiation therapy, you may notice your skin becoming red and irritated. Your healthcare provider may prescribe a cream to ease the discomfort. Taking care to protect your skin from other sources of irritation can help as well.

Home Remedies for Skin Redness and Rashes

There are many things you can do yourself to help you cope with the common skin redness and irritation associated with radiation therapy:

When to Call Your Healthcare Provider

For women who have radiation therapy after a mastectomy and reconstruction, skin sores can provide access for bacteria to enter, and infections necessitating surgery (with removal of the implants and debridement) may sometimes occur. These infections are sometimes challenging to treat, requiring intensive antibiotic therapy and hyperbaric oxygen at times.

If you develop a rash that looks like a severe sunburn, you should also call your healthcare provider immediately. An inflammatory condition referred to asradiation recallis a rash that occurs in an area that was previously radiated when a person is given certain chemotherapy drugs.

Fatigue

Fatigueis very common during radiation treatment and oftenworsens with time. There are many cancer treatments that can cause fatigue, as well as the cancer itself, and radiation often compounds fatigue that is already present to some degree. Having an awareness of this and giving yourself permission to rest is the first step in dealing with the fatigue of radiation therapy. Let your loved ones knowwhat they can do to support youduring this time.

It is important for your loved ones to understand thatcancer fatigueis different than ordinary tiredness. It doesn’t usually respond to rest or a cup of coffee, and a sense of overwhelming tiredness can occur with often minimal activities. Feeling fatigued can also leave people feeling very emotional, and anger and frustration is common.

A few principles that may help as well include:

Some fatigue, even severe fatigue, is to be expected with radiation therapy. While you may hesitate to talk to your healthcare provider about fatigue for this reason, it’s important to do so. There are many reasons why people can be fatigued during cancer treatment, and some of these are treatable including:

Difficulty Swallowing

During radiation therapy for lung cancer, youresophagus(the tube that runs from your mouth to your stomach) can become inflamed. Healthcare providers term this “radiation esophagitis.” Symptoms can include heartburn, a sensation of something being stuck in your throat, or difficulty swallowing (dysphagia).

Eating practices that may lessen these symptoms include:

If you feel like something is stuck in your throat you should seek medical attention immediately. You should also see your healthcare provider if your symptoms aren’t allowing you to eat a healthy diet, or if even liquids are difficult to swallow.

Cough

Radiation therapy lowers the level of surfactant in your lungs. Sometimes steroids are used to treat this. With radiation to the chest region, inflammation referred to aradiation pneumonitismay occur. Without treatment, this can progress tolung fibrosis.

Things you can do at home to ease your symptoms include:

Since radiation pneumonitis is common, and can progress to fibrosis if not treated, it’s important for people to carefully monitor any symptoms that could suggest pneumonitis is present. These may include a worsening cough, chest pain that often worsens with a deep breath, increasing shortness of breath, or a fever. This can be challenging for people who already have lung-related symptoms, but it’s better to be safe than sorry and contact your healthcare provider if you have any doubts whatsoever.

A Word From Verywell

Side effects from radiation are usually not as severe or life-threatening as those associated with treatments such as chemotherapy (but certainly can be at times). For this reason, some people are hesitant to complain about unpleasant symptoms. Talking to your healthcare provider, however, is important for more than one reason. Symptoms that are primarily a nuisance can be serious if not addressed. And even if this were not the case, side effects of treatment can reduce your quality of life as you live with your cancer.

4 SourcesVerywell Health uses only high-quality sources, including peer-reviewed studies, to support the facts within our articles. Read oureditorial processto learn more about how we fact-check and keep our content accurate, reliable, and trustworthy.American Cancer Society.Late and long-term effects of cancer.Haddad P, Amouzgar-Hashemi F, Samsami S, et al.Aloe vera for prevention of radiation-induced dermatitis: a self-controlled clinical trial.Curr Oncol. 2013;20(4):e345-8.Iacovelli NA, Torrente Y, Ciuffreda A, et al.Topical treatment of radiation-induced dermatitis: current issues and potential solutions.Drugs Context. 2020;9:2020-4-7. Published 2020 Jun 12. doi:10.7573/dic.2020-4-7Sakaguchi M, Maebayashi T, Aizawa T, Ishibashi N.Docetaxel-induced radiation recall dermatitis with atypical features: A case report.Medicine. 2018 Sep;97(36):e12209. doi:10.1097/MD.0000000000012209Additional ReadingNational Cancer Institute.Radiation Therapy.

4 Sources

Verywell Health uses only high-quality sources, including peer-reviewed studies, to support the facts within our articles. Read oureditorial processto learn more about how we fact-check and keep our content accurate, reliable, and trustworthy.American Cancer Society.Late and long-term effects of cancer.Haddad P, Amouzgar-Hashemi F, Samsami S, et al.Aloe vera for prevention of radiation-induced dermatitis: a self-controlled clinical trial.Curr Oncol. 2013;20(4):e345-8.Iacovelli NA, Torrente Y, Ciuffreda A, et al.Topical treatment of radiation-induced dermatitis: current issues and potential solutions.Drugs Context. 2020;9:2020-4-7. Published 2020 Jun 12. doi:10.7573/dic.2020-4-7Sakaguchi M, Maebayashi T, Aizawa T, Ishibashi N.Docetaxel-induced radiation recall dermatitis with atypical features: A case report.Medicine. 2018 Sep;97(36):e12209. doi:10.1097/MD.0000000000012209Additional ReadingNational Cancer Institute.Radiation Therapy.

Verywell Health uses only high-quality sources, including peer-reviewed studies, to support the facts within our articles. Read oureditorial processto learn more about how we fact-check and keep our content accurate, reliable, and trustworthy.

American Cancer Society.Late and long-term effects of cancer.Haddad P, Amouzgar-Hashemi F, Samsami S, et al.Aloe vera for prevention of radiation-induced dermatitis: a self-controlled clinical trial.Curr Oncol. 2013;20(4):e345-8.Iacovelli NA, Torrente Y, Ciuffreda A, et al.Topical treatment of radiation-induced dermatitis: current issues and potential solutions.Drugs Context. 2020;9:2020-4-7. Published 2020 Jun 12. doi:10.7573/dic.2020-4-7Sakaguchi M, Maebayashi T, Aizawa T, Ishibashi N.Docetaxel-induced radiation recall dermatitis with atypical features: A case report.Medicine. 2018 Sep;97(36):e12209. doi:10.1097/MD.0000000000012209

American Cancer Society.Late and long-term effects of cancer.

Haddad P, Amouzgar-Hashemi F, Samsami S, et al.Aloe vera for prevention of radiation-induced dermatitis: a self-controlled clinical trial.Curr Oncol. 2013;20(4):e345-8.

Iacovelli NA, Torrente Y, Ciuffreda A, et al.Topical treatment of radiation-induced dermatitis: current issues and potential solutions.Drugs Context. 2020;9:2020-4-7. Published 2020 Jun 12. doi:10.7573/dic.2020-4-7

Sakaguchi M, Maebayashi T, Aizawa T, Ishibashi N.Docetaxel-induced radiation recall dermatitis with atypical features: A case report.Medicine. 2018 Sep;97(36):e12209. doi:10.1097/MD.0000000000012209

National Cancer Institute.Radiation Therapy.

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