Rectal Pain Severe

Hello @cpalmer and welcome to Mayo Clinic Connect. Can I start by asking if you are the person having the pain or if you are asking for a loved one? Is the rectal pain constant?

Yes, Amanda, I am writing for myself. The pain varies with volume of material in the intestine, becoming coccyx and lower-back pain at its exyreme. Thanks, Carleton

Hi @cpalmer, Mayo Clinic Connect is a network of patients and therefore not the right space to seek a diagnosis. But we can perhaps give you ideas about avenues to pursue to find answers. To help with this, I've added your question to the Digestive Health group and the Spine Health group.

It sounds like you're still in the dark to the underlying cause. Side effects of SBRT are similar to those of other types of radiation treatment for prostate cancer, such as urinary problems, rectal irritation, erectile dysfunction, and fatigue. But these side effects are usually temporary.

Did you have rectal irritation after the cyberknife treatments? Was your spinal surgery an attempt to relief the pain issues?

Colleen, Sorry if I gave the wrong impression. My intention was not to solicit amateur diagnoses, but to inquire if other people have experienced the same kind of long-term severe rectal pain that was dismissed as not resulting from colo-rectal disease. I have spent years in quality-of-life destructive pain with no attempt at a diagnosis from either a gastroenterology or neurology. The connection to radiation treatment for colon cancer is not a diagnosis but my own conjecture. Yes, I sought relief from this pain from a surgeon. That was an error. Thank you for your comment, Carleton

Did you have surgery for colon cancer or prostate cancer or both?

Coleen, It was only prostate radiation surgery, which worked well, yay! (2021 psa 0.4) Typing “colon” instead of “prostate” probably reveals fear. Thank you for your help, Carleton