Hi Lizbop

I had chemoradiation for recurrent cervical cancer and I also struggled. Near the end I was spending the days in bed when not at the hospital. You have my sympathy! But you can get through this! The following helped me with side effects....

Drinking diluted cranberry juice for cystitis - some people say that's rubbish but it worked for me

Imodium, 8 a day for diarrhoea. The hospital doctors also prescribed codeine!

Buscopan for cramps.

Lansoprazole for stomach problems

Also drink lots of fluids.

I hope that helps.

Sue

Hi Sue...I like you have cervical cancer and have just finished chemo/radiation...I am suffering terribly with diarrhoea...I take codine and the max amount..I'm going in for a brachytherapy on Monday..I was just wondering years on how you are doing?...and did the diarrhoea go away?...I'm hoping this message finds you well xx

Hi Sue

You may not get a reply from Barleydog as they have not logged into the forum for more than 4 years.

I had similar issues after radiotherapy for cervical cancer, and for me this settled quickly after my treatment finished. Are you taking anything apart from the codeine? Loperamide is very useful for diarrhoea and tends to act pretty quickly to help in my experience. I hope it settles for you and best wishes for your brachytherapy treatment. xx

Ah I see..that was my first post..loperamide did nothing for me..I was getting desperate..codine helps..but I still get diarrhoea every day... I live in hope that this all goes away..and I know it's very early days..I'm sick of myself worrying about it all tbh..I never used to worry about anything..I guess I'm just too impatient..thank you for your kind reply... I hope everything is good with you?x

Hello Sue

Yes, codeine has the well known side effect of bunging you up, but I presume you are taking it for pain anyway? It is very early days for you if you are just at that stage between radio and brachytherapy and radio does keep working in the body after treatment ends. I don’t recall when my diarrhoea stopped as I finished my treatment 3 years ago, but it definitely didn’t last very long. Have you asked your team if they can suggest nothing else other than Lopramide? I was told to make sure I took it consistently rather than simply when I had diarrhoea, and it did work for me, but maybe they could suggest something else for you. It does take a bit of time for everything to settle as the treatment is pretty intense, 

I am doing very well thank you, and feel really good. Hopefully you will find some relief soon. xx

Thank you Minska...the codine was prescribed solely for diarrhoea as at that stage I had no pain..ever...now I also suffer with a lot of lower back pain..my consultant says it's unconnected to the radiotherapy..however a couple of the radiotherapy team have said if I had back problems in the past then radiotherapy can aggravate that..so I have to just hope that it will all go away in time ‍♀️.. I'm glad you are doing well and feel good..That will be me in the future Xx

I definitely believe that radiotherapy can aggravate back pain...it can even cause hairline fractures in your sacrum. I wasn’t aware that codeine would be prescribed solely for diarrhoea but apparently this is the case, so you learn something new every day! You are so lucky never to have had pain-that’s amazing. I had so much pain I was worn down with it and rattling with pills. But that is all in the past now. 

Allow yourself time to recover, and you will. Think of the brachytherapy as the last blast to the cancer, and in time you’ll feel much better, the diarrhoea will have stopped and you will be feeling well again. xx