 Supporting Member (50+ posts)
Joined: Sep 2018 Posts: 71 Likes: 1 | Great information Brad!
The opioid usage after rads is my life right now so I understand your situation perfectly. I am right now 3 months out from ending radiation but have residual pain that has me stuck on oxycodone about 40 to 50 mg per day. Luckily, my rad onc. was USUALLY clear about 'cutting back' and I usually would follow up to get specifics on what she was expecting. I will say at one point I was trying to cut back too fast and my symptoms were stomach pain and up in the middle of the night out of no where needing to empty my bowels. Luckily, she had warned me to watch for warning signs of withdrawal while cutting back so I immediately thought of opioid withdrawal and went and took some oxy. Problem solved! But you have a good point, when they ask you to slowly cut back, well really we need specifics!!!
Good luck on your ongoing recovery!
Laura Age 40
Tongue lesion on left side grew and was hurting in mid-August
Dx as squamous cell carcinoma on 9.18.18
Left Neck Dissection and tongue surgery, lost a fourth of my tongue on 10.1.18, tumor had grown to a T3
Margins were clear except front section of tongue margin had three stray cancer cells that were not in the tumor
Additional surgery 10.18.18 to remove another cm near where the stray cells were found
33 radiation treatments from Nov 2018 through Jan 2019
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