Radiation and Sore Throat

jeanrog

After my 7 radiation treatment, I developed a painful sore throat. I thought I had caught a cold and was feeling bad enough to spend 3 days in bed with sore throat and terrible cough. I got better and have had treatments 8 and 9 this week. Tonight I feel the sore throat coming back. Could the sore throat be caused by the radiation? I have breast cancer and have heard that the radiation could scatter and affect the throat. Does anyone know if this is possible?

hapa

if they are treating your supraclavicle nodes, the radiation can affect your throat. Make sure you mention this to your rad onc when you see him/her.

If they're not treating your nodes, it's probably a cold

AliceBastable

I keep sounding hoarse, and I'm getting a lovely rad rash on my collarbone. Hope they both go away when I'm finally done.

Moderators

Hi Jeanrog! We're so sorry you're experiencing this, but we're glad you've joined our community where hopefully you can find support and advice. We certainly hope it's just a cold, but like Hapa said, it's a good idea to mention it to your rad doc.

The Mods

gb2115

Oh yes yes yes. I had a sore throat (more scratchy than anything) the entire 6 weeks of radiation. It would go away over the weekend and pop back up on Monday afternoons (my treatment was in the morning). The staff at radiation denied over and over again that this was possible (even with the nodes around my collarbone being zapped). The nurse kept telling me I had the flu---yeah with no other symptoms for 6 weeks....moron.

MO told me totally normal. It went away completely after radiation ended. Hang in there!!