Salvage Radiation Treatments - Water Intake

I didn't actually have radiation but remember discussing this with a radiation oncologist. They like to have bladder full and rectum empty as it keeps delicate parts that don't need to be radiated away from the radiation site.

If somebody who has actually had radiation answers, rely on their answer, rather than mine. An ounce of practise beats a pound of theory any day.

 

David,

I was never asked to drink water, and did not during any of my 35 IMRT treatments.

Jerry1

I was told almost the same as Magaboo, I drank mostly about 20 oz of water during the 30 minute trip to radiation (and emptying my bladder before drinking and getting on the road). They told me it was so my bladder would lift my bowel. I asked several times if I was drinking enough after they viewed the ct image and was told only once I could stand to drink a bit more.

Take care,
Jake

David,

They have me drink 24 ounces of water one hour prior in order to lift the bladder out of the way of the treatment. They also have me on a low fiber diet and ask that I try to empty my bowels prior to treatment. I originally had a CT scan done before the treatments started that they use as a guide for alignment and marks on both sides and under my belly button. Once I'm on the table, they align the marks with the crosshairs of the machine and then do a CT scan that is matched/compaired with the original. I was told that is how they make certain they only hit the tatget area.

I just finished my sixth of thirty three treatments on Friday. So far so good, no side effects! No pain involved at all and each treatment only takes 10 to 15 mins.

I was told to have a full bladder and empty bowel.
They would do the ct scan for alignment and check bladder and bowel.
This was to keep things out of the radiation field.
24 oz. 1/2 to 1 hour ahead of time.

David I hope you are doing better. I am here everyday to see whats going on and I know you have been through the ringer.

My psa is still holding @ <0.04 and I am 2 yrs. out now.

later

David

David,

No instructions to drink water before treatment. I asked the doc about it because you were going through rad and mentioned your doc telling you to drink. Mine said that it was not part of their treatment philosophy.

As far as I know I have not suffered any effects because of the lack of drinking.

Sonny

The part that worries me is the empty bowel requirement. Mine does not always behave the way I want it to.

However, when I brought that issue up to the radiologist, he did not seem that concerned.

Mel

As I just happened to mention on post earlier today:

One thing that has been mentioned to me matter of factly is, come with your bladder full. They simply didn't mention it to me until 2-3 sessions in, and then as an aside. I guess it helps drop your bladder down via the gravity, keeping it further away from the rad.

The mentioned again yesterday "they DID tell you to fill your bladder?"..

If that is important, it should be treated accordingly by the ead onc team, I think. It should be mandatory discussion AND there should be a fountain in the waiting room.

Sorry if I went off base in replying here.

I had to drink 32 oz and if the CT scan did not show a full bladder I had to drink more. I started 40 min before every treatment. The Tech drew a picture of an empty bladder and a full bladder and indicated where the radiation would hit it. A full bladder receives much less radiation than an empty bladder. It was obvious once I saw the picture.
JT

i wasn't given a specific amount to drink but   told that my bladder needed to be as full as i could hold for each treatment. the reason was as the bladder is full it makes the prostate bed more accessible for rt.  this was really interesting in my case as i drove about an hour to each treatment and started drinking water about 45 min. early. if they didn't hurry and take me in i had to pee and start over. usually only drank about 24 oz. or so. fortunately for me i had rt at RCOG and they were great. if i arrived early they did all they could to get me in early. had a couple of real close calls but never wet the radiation table. 

David,

As with most of the others, I was told to come in with a full bladder.    Nothing about bowels.  I was told it was to help lift the blader out of the way of the radiation field.  They asked me each time I came in to verify that my bladder was full or near full.  Water was available near the waiting area.

I had no effects on my bladder or urinary track thru and after the SRT process of 32 treatments of 2 gys each for 64 gys.

pasayten

Yes told to drink beforehand, and told several times by several different people, even the uro told me when he gave me a brief explanation after telling me he was going to refer me to the RT department.

I was not only told, I was also given these instructions in writing (in Dutch of course)

Also given them before I even had the CT scan to plan the RT. (During RT one of the things the doc also told me was that while having a full bladder was important it was also important that it was about as full as it had been during the CT to make sure that as much as possible was in the same position inside me.

Instructions translated read:
One hour before your CT scan empty your bladder then drink 350ml of water (half a pint) Also one hour before every treatment session you should also drink 350ml of water after having emptied your bladder.

(Before my CT scan I was given the guided tour of the department and a long explanation of what to expect and the lady I spoke to checked her watch halfway through and them brought me two beakers of water to make sure I had drunk water.)

Those Instructions also said:
To ensure the bowels are also empty during CT and RT five days before the CT you should start taking Magnesium oxide tablets (as per doctor's instructions) and continue to take them during the RT. Should the tablets have too much of a laxative effect tell the doc and the dose can be reduced or stopped.

I was also given dietary instructions to reduce the amount of gas in my gut.

Purpose of water, tablets and diet was explained as a means to make everything move to and stay in the best possible place for the RT to be most effective. ie so it would hit the target and not the healthy tissue nearby. Also diet was to make the gut stay as still as possible so that bowel did not move around during treatments and get in the way of rays.

Even if I felt like I had not perhaps drunk enough and that my bladder might not be as full as it needed to be the fact that I always had to rush to the bathroom after each session showed that I had indeed been zapped with plenty of pee in me, though it did seem like the quantity was not necessarily the same each day.

Two other points worth mentioning in this context.
The patient before me didn't show up one day so they offered me my session about 25 minutes early. I mentioned not having a full bladder while they were setting up and they immediated aborted the session till the correct time.

Secondly: when one of the pre-treatment x-rays showed that something inside me had moved they recalcualted the treatment plan. And they described this in terms of whatever it was having moved a couple of millimetres.

It is, as you may recall, a busy cancer centre and in and around the RT department I always saw (and still see) people with bottles of water, and looking like they were/are drinking it when they are not thirsty too.

I won't guess why you're asking David, but...

So all the best
Alf