Okay, has anyone heard of radiation recall? Is it only caused by chemo? The reason I'm asking is, I started a medication this weekend to raise my blood pressure and I had what I think is an allerigic reaction but the more I research it, the more I'm not totally convinced. Basically, the lower half of my face, and my neck and the top of my chest - the radiated areas - are bright red and itchy, a little swollen, and they are really tender to the touch. I did not know if radiation recall could be caused by other medications or if I really was just allergic to the meds. I stopped taking the meds and talked to my endocrinologist today and then I was just googling stuff tonight because I thought it was weird that the reaction was only in the radiated area. Any input would be greatly appreciated.

Stephanie, This is exactly what happened to me. My neck has broken out all the way around and it goes a little down my back and a little down on the front of chest are but not far down, as well as a few places on my lower face on sides. If you hear any other information on that please let me know. Congrats on being on the healing part and I wish you well. Thanks a lot, Angel

hmmm, when i had a similar reaction to a medicine, went to emergency and they had me take benedryl. since it is over the counter and mild, you could ask if safe to take after tx and then try taking it - if it helps then you would know it was an allergic reaction??? or speak to docs and have them figure it out.

Kinda important to know if it is an allergy to the meds because if it is, the first reaction will be mild like this and next time can cause much more severe reaction, so you want to get to the bottom of it. i have had similar with rocephin, which is an antibiotic. i looked like a tomato in the lower face, neck and chest area and the rest of me was fine. ... so do find out hon, it is important...

Stephanie,
The RO nurse recommended a cream to me before I began radiation for BC. She had me use it twice a day (but not in the 4 hours before radiation). I had redness and sunburn type reaction from the radiation and small warts on my chest area turned dark but not much skin damage. Some spots were redder and more sensative than others, especially by the sutured area and where the beam was more concentrated.
The cream is Skin Repair by Medline. Walgreen's has it on line.
I asked about using it more often and she said it was OK. She also told me to be very careful not to wash with hot water and to wash the radiated area very gently. I bought baby washcloths and used the smooth side.

Rita, I have shown this to 2 Dr.'s and neither one seems concerned, only me, the one that is is itching and spreading. The only new medicine I have taken is Anzemet which is for nausea. I was told to use aloe on it which I have been doing and it has stopped the itching a lot of the time but it hasn't cleared up. Before the aloe I was using the benedryl cream and that seemed to help but it didn't clear it up either, so I will just have to give it a few more days and see if it gets any worse. Thanks, Angel

Stephanie,

The big difference between you and the others who just posted is that their reaction was during the radiation and your's is several months after your radiation was finished and long after the chemo should be in your body. My guess is an allergic reaction to the new meds and it's affecting the radiated skin more because it's still sensitive and in a state of repair.

David-

That's what I was thinking. I haven't had chemo or radiation since July so I know it's not that. I just didn't know if other meds could cause a reaction and maybe it's not an allergic reaction but just my body being overly sensitive? I guess I was wonering if this would happen every time I start a new medication. Benadryl hasn't done much to help yet (the reaction started Saturday) I'm still quite red and itchy! I'm not too concerned about it but I definitely look kind of goofy and I don't want to start the new med I'll be taking in place of the one I was taking until this clears up in case the same thing happens again! ARG! I get all the crazy problems!

Stephanie,

When I was in Aruba I forgot to put sunscreen lotion on my feet and they were horrendously burnt. For the rest of the year I had to take care of them because my feet would dry out and react differently to the sun. Since radiation does burn...do you think that maybe your radiated parts are more sensitive to the environment? In other words, more sensitive to the air, the sun, temperature change..anything different. My RO's team told me to stay away from certain soaps because it will dry out the areas of the skin that were radiated. Hopefully this helps some.

One of my RO's told me the radiated skin is normally hyper reactive for about a year and to avoid other than moderate sun exposure among other things for the first year. She also told me not to use lotions containing sunblock for at least two months.

She was not explicit about the other things, but lotions, chemicals and medications seem possible.

I know it's related to the medication (and it was a pill, not a lotion or anything topical) because that was the only thing that changed was that I started taking the medication. I wasn't out in the sun that day, and I've been out in the sun since treatment and didn't react. So, the only cause could be the medication. Basically I was just wondering if I would react this way with all new medications for a little while because of the radiation or if it was really just an allergic reaction. I'm not too worried about it though because this afternoon the redness started going away. I'll start a new medication on Thursday so we will see what happens!

Your case is unusual since the skin on the neck is typically the first thing to heal, however, your immune system is still compromised and opportunistic infections are very common post Tx. DO NOT SCRATCH IT! They gave me antibiotics (for the infection) and a steroid cream at one point (for the itching) post Tx. (you could also be scratching it in your sleep)

You are way too young for this kind of stuff and it saddens me to hear about your trials.

You werent given steroids were you? They can cause the swelling and tenderness you described. Hope you are feeling better.

Nope, no steroids, just a medication to raise my blood pressure during the day time when I'm up and moving about (it drops really low when I stand up). I start my new medication tomorrow and we will see if it causes a reaction. I still have a little swelling going on but I'm pretty sure I'll just have to massage it out because of the lack of lymph nodes and the redness has gone down significantly today and the itching is minimal now. My face is peeling a little bit now but not too bad so I'm keeping moisturizer on it.

Gary- the skin on my neck is healed up but what I had read about radiation recall is that it can occur a while after radiation was given, so who knows. Maybe I'm just stretching for things to blame it on! And yes, I'm too young, but I've grown a lot from everything and have met some amazing people along the way (I've got a kick butt ENT!!) so why not.

How low was your blood pressure? I went for several months with mine being low like around 80 over 60. I was fine and the docs said they werent worried since they thought it was from losing too much weight. They did get concerned when it dropped to 74 over 46. I was already in the hospital and then they got concerned about it, but never to the point I was given meds for it.

Hope the new meds work for you and dont cause any of those awful side effects you had before.

The problem isn't that I have low blood pressure, it's text book when I'm sitting or laying down. The problem is that it drops like a rock whenever I stand up, the lowest on record that I have is 78/52 and they had to stop the test at that point, but it was still going down. It took about 10 minutes to get to that point and my pulse during that time shot up from the mid 80s to 136. So, it's an non-autoimmune issue (something like neurocardiogenic syncope except I've never actually fainted from it yet) and unfortunately there's no clear cut treatment method because not much is known about it - it's all trial and error which is the stage I am in right now!

Wow, thats a shame you have those issues. You are way to young for any of these problems. Hope they fix you up soon.

Yep, I get all the crazy problems that I've never heard of before! I like to keep my doctors on their toes! They think the blood pressure issue is either from my chemo or my surgery but none of my doctors have ever actually seen it from either of those they just know they can be causes. I just keep reminding them that nothing about me is normal so they can throw the book out the window! It keeps them talking about me though and it makes me feel like a rock star! Haha.

Stephanie I am going to keep my eye on this thread as my husband has had this problem too cept when he is sitting or lying down his blood pressure has actually been high or normal and when he stands up he gets dizzy and low blood pressure. The joke is one doctor told him to consume more salt guess not taking him seriously I guess.

Please let us know what happens...inquiry minds need to know

Nope, a high salt diet is an actual treatment for it. I'm doing that as well as the medication - a salt absorbing hormone. So, your doctor isn't actually crazy! So, tell him to eat his salts - they help raise the blood pressure. I had to rule out blood sugar first to make sure that wasn't the cause and then I had a tilt table test to confirm.

Hubby is diabetic and now since his last stay in hospital never saw or recorded the low pressures just saw higher ones as he was always sitting or laying during readings...so they have put him on high blood pressure and ever since he seems to be really lathargic and just overall not feeling well. I need to get him to understand that his feelings could be medicine related...