bowel problems from radiation

My husband finished his 25th radiation treatment has a week off then 10 more.  He is having pain and burning with bowel movements.  I've looked it up and I think it is proctitis.  The doctor gave him steriod suppository's.  It's painfull to insert them and he's not sure they are doing any good.  Has anybody had this and how long after radiation does it last.

Yes, I did have exactly that.
My doctor prescribed Protofoam, which was much more comfortable than a solid suppository. You might want to ask about it. It should be available in any pharmacy. The applicator barely goes into the rectum, and it delivers a pre-measured shot of the foam, which contains a pain killer and steroid.
For me, it was like a fire extinguisher.

In my case, the inflammation peaked a day or two after treatments ended. I managed the discomfort and painful BM's successfully with Proctofoam and loose stools/diarrhea with Imodium. I also cut down on fiber, switching temporarily to a "low residue diet" which seemed to also slow things down.

The symptoms started to drop off within a few weeks, and a few months later were pretty much gone with the exception of the fact that bowel movements were still more frequent and loose than before. That last problem slowly diminished until now I think I'm all the way back to normal. (I do still seem to have a little trouble with lactose.)

I believe that when a person has acute radiation proctitis, like your husband, it's better than having it appear later. The acute form is more treatable and tends to go away on its own (self resolve).

Best wishes.

When I was undergoing my 39 rounds of SRT, had one or two days of the runs, but it never developed more than that. Now, six months after it finished, I am getting more and more bouts of the runs, sometimes lasting 5-6 days at the time. Was given something by my dr for it, but doesnt seem to help.
Sometimes, its almost like having bowel urgency, instead of urinary urgency, if there is such a thing. Will bring it up again when I see my dr. in two weeks.

Advocate, during my radiation treatment I had to take Imodium, I had frequent bowel movement urges, this slowly diminished, but I am not the same as I was, I "go" up to 4 times a day, mostly in the morning, I put this down as a side effect of the radiation, I also have a lot of wind, I guess you have to put up with these things during the attempt to kill off the rest of the cells, although in my case, looks like a failure, my oncologist wants me to have a colonoscopy, I told him that I am sick of medical procedures just now, I will think about it.


Hope all goes well.

Regards Mal.