Burning Tongue, Lungs, Stomach - Please help!

My dad is midway thru his radiation treatments and one day a week they do an extended treatment of radiation. Every time they do the extended treatment he has terrible reactions. He says it feels like his tongue, throat, lungs, stomach are sunburned. He has terrible heart palpitations and can't sleep at all. He feels like its going to kill him. Has anyone had any similar reactions? His doctor is telling him it can't be from the radiation. He was in the emergency room all day yesterday and no one can give him any explanation.

That does not sound like a side effect of normal radiation for the prostate bed. Is he being treated for prostate cancer?

I would ask that the radiation oncologist and technicians check everything again, and I would expect that they will comply.

Could it be that he is having some sort of acid reflux or sinus drainage that is made worse by the longer time on his back those days? I ask because I have both, and noticed it as an issue during a recent scan.

And a Welcome to Healing Well. We'd just as soon you didn't need to be here, but ...

Is this a major facility that works often with prostate patients? Ask the RO to discuss it before continuing. They could have an equipment issue, but the facility I used did significant tests every morning before starting.

Have they explained what areas are included in the extended days?

It sounds like a panic attack, worse on days when he has to lie there longer, thinking about it all. Maybe he can get some meds from his doctor to control that. If this is primary treatment, the radiation is very narrowly targeted and goes nowhere near those places. Plus, radiation symptoms are not instantaneous.

When I had old school radiation for cancer in my throat over 13 years ago, yes, I had severe burning in my mouth, throat, ears, neck, etc, but it was expected considering where the radiation was being applied and the sheer amount of radiation that was being administered.

However, in your father's case, its unlikely that any of the painful symptoms you described could be the direct results of having his prostate bed or area radiated, not unless something terribly would be going wrong.

In my recent salvage radiation for my failed prostate surgery, I was indeed burned bad because of having been radiated on an empty bladder each time (long complicated story), and lost my bladder and bladder neck in the process.

If it were me, I would want to halt the treatments until they could clearly identify the cause of his complaints, just in case there is a technical reason for his reaction. It could be some of the other reasons that some of the other posters have stated, we are not doctors or radiation techs. But I would want to know before he continues.

good luck, and let us know what happens next.

david in sc