radiation burns

jewelberger123

can anyone suggest any pain relief i cant even wear a bra and i have to work  i cant even sleep the doctor told me its becauce i have a very large breast what do you think

Faith316

When I had radiation burns, they wrote me a prescription for something called Silvadene.  It made more of a difference for me than any other thing I tried.  Ask them about it.  It really heals the burns.  Hope you feel better soon. 

jewelberger123

thanks i need all the help i can get was this a creme that they gave you

Faith316

No.  It was a prescription they wrote that I took to the pharmacy and had filled.  I also had big radiation burns and the Silvadene helped SO much.

sheila888

Yes..It helped me too. Its a prescription creme comes in a container.

If you need to wear a bras roll some soft paper towels or wash cloths and put it in your bras.

Mine was right underneath the breast and also have big Breasts .

Mouser

I had large raw patches -- not so much direct radiation burns as from skin breakdown and infection. My rad onc prescribed TELFA pads -- they don't stick.The difference between them and ordinary gauze pads was huge. TELFA is the brand name, but there are generic equivalents: cheaper and (i thought) just as good.

I was able to tuck them under the edges of my bra, whch helped a lot because the worst areas were in the crease at the bottom of the breast - low air circulation? I was DD at the time, and the breasts were far from perky at the best of times, so there was a lot of area that was skin-on-skin. I placed the pads over all the raw area and held them in place with my bra - if that's too painful, you might be able to find a camisole or a leisure bra that is not too painful for work.

This is in addition to, not instead of, the Silvadene Faith recommends --  if your rad onc thinks you just need to grin and bear it, go see a dermatologist. I did; he was horrified at the degree of infection and added a topical antibiotic to the oral one the rad onc had prescribed. Oncologists are so fixated on the treatment, they sometimes forget we need to survive it....

Omaz

Hi, I am still doing chemo but radiation is next  - do women with larger breasts have more trouble???  I have large breasts and was wondering about that.  Thx

sheila888

Omaz...Like Mouser said mine was also at the crease plus i had the long lumpectomy scar at the same area so it was very painful.

When I was home alone I actually used to hold my breast up so some air would go in.

It healed but i have a purplish burned skin there.

shells43

I just went through this and the best solution for me was mixing the Silvadene with triple antibiotic (cheap) cream. The silvadene was too drying for me. The triple antibiotic gave some moisture like Aquaphor, and went on more smoothly with less pain then the silvadene, which is pretty thick.

AICa

I have large breasts and fair skin. In addition to using lots of aloe and Eucerin lotion, at night and first thing in the morning I put cornstarch under my breast and in my lower armpit, where it was rubbing; that prevented blisters and felt good.

My treatments are at 2:30. I check to make sure there's no constarch left before treatments. I'm on boosts now after 28 treatments and have worn a bra and worked throughout treatment. My skin's been very burned in some areas but didn't blister or crack.

Omaz

AIC - Thanks! 

3monstmama

Not giving you pain meds is outrageous.  My doctors asked me about pain and offered me a prescription but I never felt I needed it.  Perhaps you need to see about a sleep aid.....

My rads team recommended corn starch as well as calendula creme.  The other thing I did was to skip a bra entirely.  I know it is not considered "proper" for women with large breast to skip bras but I really think wearing the bra can make it so much worse in rads.  What I did do was wear mens 100% white cotton tshirts under all my clothing.  I tore off the necks and opened the sleeves so it wouldn't be as tight.  It really helped to wick off moisture and let air in.

I recall some women in my zap month would go topless at home.  I only had a couple of small burns--I think they gave me some silvadine and they cleared right up.  good luck!

MaryQ

Jewelberger 123,

I sure hope you are doing OK.  You need to use a good radiation skin cream for the pain and irritation. I've read that putting cream in the fridge and applying it to the skin when cool was helpful.  Good luck!

Omaz

MaryQ - thanks for the link.

cagomea

i had really bad burns when i had radiation. i sat it front of a fan while i was at home with my arm propped up to kind or dry they area. it helped it to heal a little faster along with the steroid cream i had. so whenever you have some free time, ditch the bra, put on a sleeveless shirt and let the cold wind blow. lol.. good luck

PlantLover

I lost all of the skin under my arm and over about half of the radiated breast.  I, too, had to work and it hurt so badly that I couldn't put my arm down - skin to skin was very painful.  I walked around with my hand on my hip.  I called it my new "model" pose, lol. Cornstarch helped a little, but once the skin was gone and the oozing started, the cornstarch would just clump up. YUCK!

First thing I would do everyday when I got home from work was get in the shower and get the water just as cold as I could stand.  That really helped!

I would ditch the bra, if you can.  I didn't wear one but I had already had a bi-lat and TE and the "girls" wouldn't move even if there was an earthquake. * wink *

My radiation oncologist gave me two different creams that helped, both over the counter ...

Vanicream & Aquaphor

I also used an Aloe Vera Gel stick that I received in a gift bag from the doc.  Here's a link to the products ...

http://www.renewing-you.com/

I have a good friend that was kind enough to give me some excellent cream that I also used throughout my treatment.  Here's a link to that info ...

http://bodyrenewalinc.com/service2.htm

I would make sure you talk to your doc before using anything.

Hang in there!  It gets better.  Promise!!   

   

208sandy

I had burns at the top of my breast and under my arm - silvadene cream saved my life - as did men's very large sleeveless undershirts - I was unable to put my arm down close to my side for a month and mostly wore camisoles if I had to go anywhere - I had (have) very small breasts so I don't know why the onc would think it is only large breasted women who suffer - I do have very fair skin - it was finished almost two years ago and is only just finished healing but honestly I got through it with pain meds and it hasn't hurt since after the first month - just wish I'd been warned ahead of time....

lorrhaw

I had terrible burning from radiation and I am faily flat chested so I don't think size has much to do with it.  My doc gave me some "Cool Magic Gel Sheets" that helped a ton.  You keep the in the fridge until you use them so they are very cool when they are applied which really helped.  They stayed on pretty well and made it possible to wear a bra and get some sleep.  You may be finished with your issues, I hope so,  but hopefully somebody else reading this thread may be able to use the information.

Lorraine

MissTW

Hello! I had only 5 rad treatments so far. To my surprise I have oozing from an incision site at the bottom of my breasts. Nipples look swollen and weird too.

Is this normal to occur so early? Radiologist and rad techs said I should feel these symptoms around the two week mark.

I did remove my bra, wore a t-shirt to let them air out. This certainly helped alot.

My problem is I work at a school right after rad treatments in the morning and I need to look professional and wear a bra at all times.

I dislike Aquafor as it ruined most of my clothes.

DebbieLynn

Hi ladies , Yesterday the doc prescribed silvadene, which is a topical antimicrobial drug . It has broad antimicrobial activity. It is bactericidal for many gran -negative and gram positive bacteria as well as being affective against yeast . (That info came from inside the box.)   They also gave me two very very tiny samples of Miaderm . The RN said to use on my nipple .

I'm having tx # 28 today ( thank god it will be a targeted one ), and also have a severe burn  under my breast and under my arm. I have been using aquafor at night only, while wearing a white Cotton tee shirt ( cheap irregulars ) . During the day I have been using fresh aloe from the leaf. I get it at the vegetable store . If you can't find the leaf a health food store will have 100% natural nothing added gel I find it extremely soothing. I also use hyrocortisone cream 1 % for the itch . I don't apply anything for at least 4 hours before tx . I was told by the RN yesterday to wash off the silvadene before tx . DebbieLyyn
Diagnosis: 7/23/2010, IDC, <1cm, Stage I, 0/7 nodes, ER+/PR+, HER2-

PlantLover

Miss TW - that sounds like a lot of burn after only 5 treatments.  My burn didn't start until after about the 20th treatment.  I'd really want to talk to the radiation oncologist if I were you.

I would try to find some sort of support camisole and use gauze pads under them over the areas that are oozing.  Of course, I think you would also want to remove the gauze when possible to allow some air flow.  I would check with your Doc on that too!

Any other folks get burns that early into treatment?

PlantLover

* Bump *  These forums move so quickly just wanted to bump this in case anyone else has any advice for MissTW.    

Omaz

Bec - What is bumping?

PlantLover

Omaz - it's just a term used to say you are posting to move the thread to the top of the active topics.  As fast as things move here, however, it won't stay at the top long. ;-) 

Omaz

Bec - Thank you!  I have wondered for a while!

mommymu

Hi everyone!

I will be starting rads in January if the med onc decides that chemo is not needed. I was on another forum and someone mentioned a teeshirt bra made by Soma. Anyone know of this or any other comfortable bras? I'm going to try to work as long as I can and will need to have something under my clothes to be presentable. I work in a hospital on a heavy medical unit where there are a lot of multi drug resistant organism infectious patients. I don't think I want to continue working if I have open skin. Will have to see how it goes.  Thanks for all your helpful info. Wish me luck!