Bathe or shower daily using warm water and a mild unscented soap, such as Neutrogena®, Dove®, baby soap, Basis®, or Cetaphil®. Rinse your skin well and pat it dry with a soft towel. When washing, be gentle with your skin in the area being treated. Don't use a washcloth, scrubbing cloth, loofah or brush.
You may shower or bathe throughout your radiation therapy. Your nurse will recommend a mild soap for you to use. It is important to keep skin folds clean and dry. Apply moisturizers to the abdominal area if needed.
Wash, shower or bath daily with lukewarm water during. Avoid the direct stream of the shower on your treated skin. Use a mild unscented, non-deodorant soap over skin, example: Dove or baby soap. Be gentle when cleaning skin in treatment area and areas where there are skin folds.
Don't wear tight clothing over the treatment area. It's important not to rub, scrub or scratch any sensitive spots. Also avoid putting anything that is very hot or very cold—such as heating pads or ice packs—on your treated skin.
Bathing and shaving: Skin can become very sensitive during radiation therapy. You can reduce the risk of side effects by following these tips: Wash the treated skin gently every day with warm water. Washing helps remove bacteria from your skin, which can cause an infection.
Some people with cancer who receive radiation therapy worry that their bodies will become “radioactive” after they receive radiation treatment. Their concern is that close physical contact with others could expose them to radiation. “The general answer to this concern is that physical contact is fine,” Snyder says.
Some patients worry that undergoing radiation therapy can be harmful to others because they are radioactive. For example, patients sometimes think they can't cuddle with their partner or hold a grandchild on their lap until after treatment. However, most patients don't need to worry about being radioactive.
While being treated, many people experience fatigue and sensitive skin at the site of radiation therapy. You may also experience emotional distress during radiation therapy. It is important to rest and take care of yourself during radiation therapy.
During radiation treatment, the mean weight loss was 4.33 kg, and 53.6% (1303) patients had high weight loss (HWL; ΔW≥5%). The proportion of HWL was higher in patients with advanced T stage, N stage, high BMI level and who received chemotherapy.
Have a soft or liquid diet if swallowing is difficult. Avoid alcohol – it can make a sore mouth or sensitive digestion worse. Avoid spicy foods if your mouth or throat are sore. Ask your radiotherapy team about potential problems and how to try to prevent them.
During your treatment, you need to wash your hair carefully so that you don't make the area sore. Use warm or cool water. Be gentle and use a non perfumed shampoo or baby shampoo only. It is best not to use a hair dryer but to gently dry your hair with a soft towel.
For the first 2 weeks of treatment, wash your hair once a week with a gentle shampoo, such as a baby shampoo. After 2 weeks, use only warm water on your hair and scalp, without shampoo.
You can still use tap water for decontamination.
Any radioactive material that gets into surface water or ground water sources will be diluted to very low levels by the water and will be safe to use for washing skin, hair, and clothing.
Personal clothing, sheets, bedding, washcloths, and towels should be collected and washed separately for the first 48 hours. After washing, run the washing machine through an extra wash cycle to clear out any residual radioiodine before using it for others.
The radiation therapy technologist (RTT) may ask you to change into a gown before treatment. It is a good idea to wear clothing that is easy to pull down, adjust, or remove when coming for treatments. During the actual treatment sessions you will be in the treatment room between 10-30 minutes.
Radiotherapy is usually given as a number of individual treatments delivering a small dose of radiation daily over several weeks. Most people have 5 treatments a week (one treatment a day from Monday to Friday), with a break at the weekend.
Radiotherapy side effects tend to get worse as you progress through your treatment. So you might not feel tired at the beginning of your course but might do towards the end and for a few weeks afterwards. It's impossible to predict who will feel tired during treatment, some do and others don't.
Many people having radiotherapy feel tired (fatigued) a lot of the time or become tired very easily from doing everyday activities. This usually starts during treatment and can continue for several weeks or months after treatment finishes. It can help to: get plenty of rest.
Radiotherapy can cause tiredness because the body is using up your energy reserves to repair healthy cells damaged by the radiotherapy. If you are taking steroids, you might also find that you feel extremely tired when you stop taking them. Travelling to the hospital each day for treatment can also make you tired.
Feeling very tired and lacking energy (fatigue) for day-to-day activities is the most common side effect of radiation therapy to any area of the body. During treatment, your body uses a lot of energy dealing with the effects of radiation on normal cells.
Any radiation therapy that is transient, including external beam radiation or brachytherapy that is removed, poses no risk to family members.
The average radiation therapy patient needs 8 to 12 cups of water per day. If you are going to consume caffeinated drinks like tea or coffee, we recommend having no more than 1 to 2 glasses a day as it may make dry mouth worse. This is a common side effect during treatment.
Avoid kissing and physical contact with others, and maintain a distance of at least 3 feet from women who are pregnant and children under 18 years old. Avoid activities where you may be close to others for more than 5 minutes, for example, movie theaters, sporting events and public transportation.