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How to treat rectal bleeding? Started after prostate cancer radiation
I have prostate cancer which had metastasized to the pelvic cavity.
Started abirateron, then 26 external radiation treatments. For following five months I was doing great except for a lot of sweating and weakness. But stayed very active, ate well, and normal daily bowel movements. Then one month ago started rectal bleeding most days with stool. Dr says it is not unusual and should stop with time, but get a colonoscopy if bleed too much or really hurts. How to tell if bleeds too much ??? How to handle this??
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I just posted my overall treatment history. I’m not sure if you can search on my ID of “sarmajor” but see if you can find it.
Look for my comment on the @vancouverislandhiker comment area. The moderator will not let me re-post.
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1 ReactionThanks for the update-I'm disappointed in how long it is taking to get some help/advice from a specialist.
It took me a while to find two very helpful people and to discover an unknown benefit of a drug prescribed for another issue.
Radiation does some very nasty things in areas of your body that it was never meant to hit. I think that some doctors get frustrated when they hear about new symptoms that may, or may not be related to the radiation. In my case it was blood vessels that were feeding the area that is responsible for fully handling the digestive system. So the first thing they tried was to bulk up my diet and use anti-diarrheal meds. When that didn’t work they moved to the hyperbaric therapy which cured about 70% of my symptoms.
It’s a hit or miss trial with most every treatment they recommend.
I do feel your pain and wish you the best in getting your problem to a level that you can live with.
Thanks for sharing your experience. Finding the right professionals to help is certainly the key to dealing with the problems that radiation presents. A positive attitude and being persistent in seeking the best treatment available makes this process more palatable and certainly goes a long way to making the side effects manageable.
No. My proctologist seemed to think the hyperbaric therapy was what I needed. So I went with it.
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1 Reaction@rtthat did not work for me have to contact Dr when I get back to ohio I am in Flordia for the winter had radiation 28 bouts 3 years ago this is getting worse eat a lot of foods that contain fiber along with pruins seam to keep me regular time will tellv
The daily enema with the crushed up medication did not work
@jduffner
you might check out radiofrequency with a halo wand. It is completely different than the other radiofrequency you might be offered. I'm assuming he has radiation proctopathy. The blood vessels are damaged and can't reform properly instead they just bleed until they slough off, and then reform improperly again. The depth and vibration of the wand is carefully controlled and ablates small squares. https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC3539292/
https://www.researchgate.net/publication/269765333_Radiofrequency_ablation_using_BarRx_for_the_endoscopic_treatment_of_radiation_proctopathy_a_series_of_three_cases
I've had the treatment multiple times because new areas appeared over the several years after cancer radiation. Happy to answer any questions.
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