radiations impact on the burning and itching

TracyAnnMember

Hello, I'm new to this site but have learned so much from everybody. I am a colorectal survivor (yay!). I was diagnosed (02/14/14) I underwent 6 weeks of radiation and 24/7 chemo, a few days before the tumor was removed they (The wonderful doctors at Cleveland Clinic) discover I had a Myh-associated polyposis (MAP). With that in mind we opted for total removal of rectum and colon, chose to have the J-pouch. After recovering I did 4 more months of chemo. Then came ostomy reversal. Although all of that took one year, I am happy to say I am cancer free but am now dealing with new issues. They told me that I was their (Cleveland Clinic's) first case of being diagnosed with cancer then the MAP diagnosis. So I'm wondering if there is anybody out there that has had to deal with radiation burn on top of the anal burn? I'm not sure if what I am experiencing is normal anal burn or not. My burn goes from my vagina to the top of my "crack" and it is about one to two inches on either side. My family practitioner prescribes Silva-dean (sp??) cream for it today but I have not read on here anybody else using burn cream. (I apologize for this lengthy post but thought I would explain my recent history) Thanks in advanced for your help.
~Tracy

4/2/159:11 PM

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Jan DollarModerator, RN, retired

I have heard of other members here having similar burning rashes, but they did not have radiation. I would susect that this is due to minor leaking and not your prior radiation treatment. Radiation damages fast growing tissue, so it could be related.

My main thought is that this is a fungal infection (easy for the doc to check by looking at a scraping under the microscope in the office). In any event, silvadene creme is both antibacterial and antifungal, so you should be good. It can take weeks for a fungal infections to heal.

Jan