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Compression bra during radiation
Hello. I’m finishing up 5 days of radiation (whole breast and boost) for DCIS (high-grade.) When I saw the radiation oncologist yesterday he notes that the swelling and redness were expected side effects. He also suggested that I wear a compression bra to help with the swelling. I had always heard that compression bras are not used during radiation treatment.
Has anyone else had to wear a compression bra, especially for the five session radiation treatment? If so, can you recommend a brand/type?
I plan to reach out to the doctor and his team for more details, but wanted to get a sense of what others have been doing. Thanks.
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In June I had 5 treatments of radiation and instead of a compression bra I just did ones that are soft cotton T-shirt fabric with elastic and no cups to hold my breast up for air circulation due to heat and better air flow. I still got a breast yeast infection under the breast that had cancer and radiation. That happened about 2 weeks after finishing radiation. I did have swelling too during radiation and used the cream prescribed that I applied daily to my breast after each radiation treatment. Then about after the yeast infection I got Shingles on the top part of the treated breast. Your immune system is depressed afterwards (I have had both shingles vaccines about 6 years ago) because after having shingles about 5 times Doctor suggested the vaccines to stop the reoccurrences. So now I have had shingles 6 times on 4th of July. Then I got a flu after attending my Grandson’s wedding. So now I am avoiding large groups of people to give myself a break from catching stuff and I have been dealing with fatigue which hit about a month after radiation and I was warned by the radiologist. So I am a few months ahead of your treatments but that was my aftermath so far for the ILC in my right breast after lumpectomy and breast reconstruction.
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2 ReactionsNot exactly the same, but I had a lobectomy for lung cancer and have issues with bras- I wear a tight-fitting cotton tank to help. Compression might feel good so your body is not doing the work to hold up your breasts.