hi ladies , finished rads {17} last friday , horror today to see under my armpit is blistering and starting to break , this was always gonna be a might happen as was warned by radioligists , area under armpit moist and warm ,is there anything i can do to prevent and treat ? doing what i should as re exposing to air etc but going on holiday sat and worried now incase it becomes infected , any advice welcolme please xx
i would try and get back to the hospital tomorrow and let your sking nurse see it. tell her you are going on holiday so you can get well stocked up with dressings and perhaps some antibiotics in case you need them.
some people will advise you to put the holland and barrat aloe vera on but you dont want to risk it getting worse over the next two days
where are you going? if its europe do you have you medical card type thing the pharmasists are brilliant over there, but i am not sure wether you can get the cost of drugs and dressing back of the national health when you get back
hiya oal and thank you for replying , not going abroad this year sadly but was just worried about it becoming worse while i was away , i think i will go see gp tomorrow - he should be able to sort me shouldnt he ? cant believe i have taken so much care to ensure this didnt happen and it bloody did , hows your treatment going ?
Hi Trish I too would go see you GP they will be able to advise you & give you the creams/ gel pads you need I think the most important thing will be to keep it infection free
All the best & have a lovely holiday
Mekala x
I trish, my treatment is going very smoothly. nice bunch of people, pleasant surroundings and only had to wait 10mins so far.
GP would do, but your radiation department would have more experaince of the burn because they see them all the time, they will probably have the dressings there. You might have problems filling a prescription at the chemist, I know the chemist did not have the special dressings I was prescribed for me knees after the fall, and the doctor had to look up in a book what the best ones are.
Hi Trish,
Poor you, that’s not good. I had 25 rads and my skin started to split just at the end. I saw a specialist nurse at the hospital who gave me some special burns dressings and tape - mepiplex (self adhesive) polymem (moisturising) and mepitak (special tape) and then sent me to my GP with a list to get them on prescription as they are expensive and you need a reasonable supply(I think the tape is about £25 a roll!). It’s really important to avoid infection and, if it is near operation scars that they use a non-debriding dressing. If you can get to the hospital that did the rads I’d go there and insist on seeing a nurse as I don’t know whether a GP would know the best kind of dressings (as they won’t see that many cases). A chemist might need 24 hours to get these dressings in (so I discovered the hard way) - so if you can get them from a hopsital pharmacy that’d be better.
To reassure you, my burns healed beautifully and haven’t left any significant scars. Also, I went away literally the day of my last rads (only UK granted) with my dressings and was fine.
Hope all goes well. Take care and have a good holiday.
hi Trish I had the exact same problem, under my arm came up like a water blister then it burst, I couldnt put my arm down at one point,
DO NOT use deodorant, I know yuk but it feels like you are pouring vinegar on it, it feels the same if you tend to sweat a lot too,
I was given FUCIBET cream, after I had applied it a couple of times I could actually feel it getting better, it took about 3 days to see a proper improvement, the skin healed and turned brown, it is now 4 weeks later and the brown skin is peeling slowly but it is healed underneath,
I know exactly how you feel it makes you proper miserable but I think if you can get to your doctor you will be ok for your hols,
have a lovely time and I hope you get some relief soon, Liz x
hiya ladies . thank you for replying to me , i think what i shall do is take a note of the dressings and creams you have mentioned and go see gp in morning , if he cant help then i shall have the rest of the day to go up to the hospital , there is an area under my arm that is dark brown and its that thats started to break down , it`s sore but sure can be sorted , i shall try to have a good jolly , didnt expect this to happen , took such care creaming etc , oh well maybe if i walk around top naked with my arm up in the air the sea breeze will help - i may clear the resort but hey ho lol x
Hi Trish,
My skin broke down at the end of my 4th week out of 6 I like the Rev saw a specialist nurse at the hospital who gave me mepiplex and polymem dressings and then sent me to my GP with a list. My chemist needed 24 hours to get these dressings as she told me that one of the dressings were £50 a box and most chemists wouldn’t keep them on the shelf.
I too went on holiday the after I finished rads and three days later after starting new gel (intrasite) my skin had healed and I had a great relaxing holiday.
I hope you get something tomorrow to help you and that you enjoy your holiday
Lizz xx
If the hospital’s not too far away I’d skip the GP and go straight to the hospital, as they know exactly what they’re dealing with. As you’re going away in a couple of days you want to get the healing started instantly, and that will happen if you see the nurses at the rads department a lot quicker than if you go to the GP.
hiya cm , called the hospital this morning and she simply said get some polymem , i said no antibiotics or anything to which she replied no you wont need them - walls have ears , phones have eyes ! think my gp will sort me , my daughter works in pharmacy and said if i take prescription straight in she will get them ordered for the morning , i dont know just seems to be one thing after another doesn`t it xx
hey trish
that’s good you’ll get something sorted, can I suggest that you ask for tape too as the polymem is non adhesive and I had to keep replacing it onto my breast as I had ran out of tape, and as I was having to wear vest tops as was unable to wear a bra it kept falling out of place.
Lizz xx
Just to agree with biff - you will need tape too and mepitak is the one they recommend. Hoping they’ve explained to you how the polymem works? Just in case they haven’t, here’s what I was told.
Boil and cool some water and keep it in a clean (ideally sterile) dish or jar. Cut the dressing to a size that’s about 1 cm bigger in each direction than your wound. Add a few drops of water to the not written on side of the dressing (it makes sense when you see it). Then tape in place. Do not use anything else on your wound. It might seem to get worse for a few days, but soon it will be fine and forgotten.
Take care and have a great holiday
thank you revcat , no i didnt know how to use the dressings , can i use micropore as tape ? went to see doc , he has prescribed fucidin cream , antibiotics and dressings , i dont wear a bra and haven`t for a while now , cropped tops rubbing on the wound too so i am " free as a bird " , thankfully at the grand old age of 49 tomorrow i dont yet have drooping boobs - an attribute i feel to all the swimming i used to do , well the packing is done and i am chilling with a nice glass of rose, lovely , thank you all for being so lovely and supportive xxx
Hi just read your post rev regarding putting water on the dressings first- I wasn’t told about that I wonder if that’s why I didn’t see much difference until I changed to the mepiplex dressings and intrasite gel which after only three days had cleared up a great deal.
Glad your all sorted for your holidays Trish hope you enjoy the break and I wish you a happy birthday for tomorrow- it’s my youngest boys birthday on Saturday and he’s been hyper for days now
Lizz xx
Hi Trish,
I’m not sure about micropore - I’m tempted to say it’d be fine, as I used it on my scars 23 hours a day (i.e. except for around nuking time) to keep my PS sweet (she insists on tapes for 3 months!!). But I also think it may have contributed to pulling off the damaged skin. I’d ask the pharmacist or GP; hopefully they’ll give you a prescription for mepitak tape or something similar if they think mircropore is a bad idea.
Biff - who knows? Evidently polymem has moisturiser in it which is activated by water. The boiled/sterile water is about avoiding infection.
Hi girls. I’m 10 days after finishing rads and was fine initially. Over last five days area getting increasingly painful and dark red particularly in booster area. Tiny area broken down under armpit bu v painful. Have been on holiday this week oh in uk so couldnt get to GP. Can I buy any of thiose dressings till I can get to docs.
Polly x
Hi, I am 2 months and 2 weeks post rads. I am fine now, no soreness or fatigue, well only a bit, but I had a very sore patch under my breast where it meets the chest. It also wept and was oozing yellow stuff, so I did what the ladies at the rads place told me to do if this happened,. I rolled up a clean handkerchief (cotton) and placed this between the breast and chest. It worked. So yes, you have to have some sort of barrier between your armpit and where it touches other skin. I also did not put cream on when it was like that as it made it worse. chris xx
Hi Polly Pocket - it is posisble to buy them (e.g. online) but they are very expensive so if you can wait to see your GP to get a prescription I would - also they usually have to be ordered in so take 24 hours from you handing over the prescription. If you can keep your wound clean and dry - no creams, no gels, no ordinary dressings - that is the best thing in the meantime.
Hope all is soon better.
Thanks Revcat. Will try that. I’m taking my mum for a hosp appointment on Monday so i’ll pop and see my BCN.
Polly xx