Chest feels like it's on fire after 8 weeks out from Radiation

gwydiana

I don't understand what this feeling means. I have some scarring and tissue damage from the 25 days of Radiation but still no idea why this burning feeling is still happening.

gb2115

What does your radiation oncologist make of it all?

santabarbarian

Ask about Pentoxifyllin...

My chest felt very, very hot and inflamed during rads and I asked was there anything to give me to relieve it, and he prescribed that plus vitamin E.

beeline

gwydiana, if it feels like it’s just on the skin/surface it could be nerve pain. Two weeks post-rads I went to the RO with unbearable burning, stinging, stabbing, itching pain across the centre of my chest. I couldn’t have anything touch it but it was still awful even topless, and no topical creams helped at all. Most made it worse. My skin was declared “normal” and not breaking down, and I didn’t have any muscle pain or breathing issues, so they diagnosed it as nerve pain. They gave me pain killers and said if it didn’t resolve in a week or two they’d want to look at gabapentin or amitriptyline. Apparently it’s rare, but more likely if you’ve had a mastectomy or alnd (I had both). It might be worth asking your RO if that sounds like your symptoms. Good luck. I hope they resolve soon. 8 week is a long time to be in pain!

gwydiana

Beeline, thank you! I've also had both.