How to Identify Radiation Sickness

Suffering from cancer is difficult enough without having to worry about radiation sickness. But, for many patients, radiation sickness is a part of the healing process. Radiation sickness is caused by the side effects of radiation cancer treatments used today to kill cancerous cells in the body through radiation. Symptoms may vary depending on the age and overall health of the individual obtaining radiation, as well as the location and severity of the cancer growth.Radiation sickness is caused by damage to the immune system as well as healthy tissues that surround the treatment site(s). Learning how to identify radiation sickness may help to provide some relief for patients through the use of anti-nausea drugs and pain relievers.

Instructions

• 1

  Nausea is the first indication that you may be suffering from radiation sickness. In many cases, this nausea may be relatively mild to start, and then increases in severity as the radiation treatments progress. Some patients also find that nausea is accompanied by vomiting and diarrhea.

• 2

  Headaches are often a common symptom of radiation treatments and may also be accompanied by an intense sense of fatigue.

• 3

  Do you have difficulty swallowing? Often, radiation sickness creates temporary conditions like dry mouth, difficulty swallowing and even loss of taste. Take special care of your teeth and gums during radiation therapies, as the process may also cause tooth or gum disease.

• 4

  Take care to note a racing or rapid heartbeat, and mention it to your physician. Some patients experience some heart inflammation, so this is a symptom that is not to be ignored.

• 5

  Regularly examine your skin and note any skin darkening, inflammation or burning. Watch for bleeding, will will appear as dark and ragged-edged spots beneath the surface of the skin near or around the area being treated.

• 6

  Look at your hair. Is it coming out in clumps when you brush or comb it? Hair loss is very common with radiation treatments. If you feel uncomfortable with the hair loss, consider wearing a wig or scarf as a head cover.