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Getting back to a ‘normal’ diet

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User
Posted 23 Sep 2022 at 16:53

My first post here.


during RT I had bowel problems and had to change to an uktra bland low fibre diet. To help with this I was prescribed fybogel twice a day.


as I cannot get any response from my key worker (CNS), how to I move from this bland diet and fibogel back to something more normal.


any advice appreciated


oh I am now 2 1/2 weeks after RT


Thanks invadvance


TH3

User
Posted 23 Sep 2022 at 20:28
My RT was around the same time as yours, last fraction 30th August. I basically returned - with some relief - to normal diet as soon as it was finished. To be fair I still had a pretty disturbed bowel for the first week (it wasn't worse, and was gradually improving, compared with the last week of RT). Mostly OK now, around 3 weeks later.
User
Posted 23 Sep 2022 at 21:22

I finished my RT end of July and had similar bowel problems. I was advice to use fibergell sparingly and only took it for a couple of day also had very bland low fiber diet. After finishing RT I started to reintroduce some fiber over two weeks had a couple of set backs during those weeks but by 3rd week my bowels were back to normal. 


I started by introducing green vegetables, wholemeal bread, then fruit, eggs till I got back to normal diet. I'm vegetarian and normally have a high fiber diet so having to eat things I normally tried to avoid was difficult. I have to say I'm still avoiding very spicy food. I think by now you should be off fibergell and starting to put fiber back in your diet. Good luck.

User
Posted 24 Sep 2022 at 06:39

At 2 1/2 weeks post RT, my bowels had settled down significantly and I was pretty much back to a normal diet.. Still couldn't trust a fart though. 


Good luck. 


Kev.

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User
Posted 23 Sep 2022 at 20:28
My RT was around the same time as yours, last fraction 30th August. I basically returned - with some relief - to normal diet as soon as it was finished. To be fair I still had a pretty disturbed bowel for the first week (it wasn't worse, and was gradually improving, compared with the last week of RT). Mostly OK now, around 3 weeks later.
User
Posted 23 Sep 2022 at 21:22

I finished my RT end of July and had similar bowel problems. I was advice to use fibergell sparingly and only took it for a couple of day also had very bland low fiber diet. After finishing RT I started to reintroduce some fiber over two weeks had a couple of set backs during those weeks but by 3rd week my bowels were back to normal. 


I started by introducing green vegetables, wholemeal bread, then fruit, eggs till I got back to normal diet. I'm vegetarian and normally have a high fiber diet so having to eat things I normally tried to avoid was difficult. I have to say I'm still avoiding very spicy food. I think by now you should be off fibergell and starting to put fiber back in your diet. Good luck.

User
Posted 23 Sep 2022 at 22:51

John returned to a normal diet the day after his last RT session

Edited by member 23 Sep 2022 at 22:51  | Reason: Not specified

"Life can only be understood backwards; but it must be lived forwards." Soren Kierkegaard
User
Posted 24 Sep 2022 at 06:39

At 2 1/2 weeks post RT, my bowels had settled down significantly and I was pretty much back to a normal diet.. Still couldn't trust a fart though. 


Good luck. 


Kev.

User
Posted 24 Sep 2022 at 07:35
My bowels took a long time - several months - to return to any semblance of normality after my RT. You just have to play it by ear, I think, and find out what causes upset and what doesn't.

All the best,

Chris
User
Posted 24 Sep 2022 at 11:36

Thanks Chris


think mine are going to be the same.


no problems , apart from asthma, before this.


had severe tiredness and major hot flushes when I started the hormonr therapy. Then I ended up with a nasty mix of diahorea and condtipstion starting Wk2 ov RT.


thankfully the HF are under control, but the fatigue during and so far after RT really is a game changer


at least the nightly wee visits are expending from 45mins/60 mins to 90/150 mins which is a great relief.


take Care Stay Safe


TH3

User
Posted 24 Sep 2022 at 14:44

This maybe helpful :


https://www.prostate-cancer-research.org.uk/living-well-library/september/


 
User
Posted 24 Sep 2022 at 20:55
Kev, "Still couldn't trust a fart though". Yes, that was my problem too, happily things are now slowly improving three and a bit weeks later. I was worried the radiotherapy had done for the sensory nerves near the anus (the ones that distinguish between gas and poo) but it may just be that radiotherapy had caused inflammation such that every nerve signal was equally sensitive.

Anyway, as I said above dietary fibre hasn't been the cause of problems. Interestingly though, although I haven't had urinary symptoms generally I am much more sensitive to caffeinated coffee than I have been for several years (I had surgery in 2016).
User
Posted 24 Sep 2022 at 21:54

The issue of inadvertently passing mucus is a common side-effect, I think, but you should find that it happens less and less often as time passes. I'm three and a half years after RT now, and I do still get it very, very occasionally; it last happened probably about six months ago. Healing radiation damage is a slow process.


The other issue I had was radiation proctitis - a burning pain inside the rear passage - which would last two or three days and then fade away again. This happened quite frequently at first, but it stopped entirely around 18 months after my RT.


Chris


 

Edited by member 24 Sep 2022 at 21:55  | Reason: Not specified

User
Posted 02 Oct 2022 at 07:23

Thanks for tge insights and advice and histories.


it appears everyone is different, so I will play it my ear ( or feel) and see how it goes.’still no response from key worker 3 weeks after the request for advice.


i am waiting for the next feedback form.


Thanjs Guys and Gals, much appreciated.


M

User
Posted 02 Oct 2022 at 19:37
As you say everyone is different. I still have some bowel trouble 2 years and 2 months since finishing EBRT. The urge to go can come on with extreme urgency and very little warning. Have had a quite a few unpleasant accidents! My onco puts it down to radiation damage to my rectum.

On the question of diet I didn't suffer any problems during the treatment so as soon as it finished I went back on a normal diet. My bowel problems didn't start until a couple of months later, so weren't diet related.
 
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