Cervical cancer: Understanding side effects of radiotherapy
Radiotherapy for cervical cancer can cause side effects.
These can happen during treatment, soon after, or much later after treatment has finished. Early (sometimes called acute) side effects happen during and soon after radiotherapy. Everyone is different so it is not possible to say exactly when side effects will start, end, or how severe they will be. The best advice is to talk to your team if you are concerned about anything at all.
You might have side effects or symptoms not listed here, because everyone and every treatment is different. They may also be caused by a different part of your cancer treatment. Research and support for side effects and late effects of radiotherapy is growing.
Joining a support group can be a positive way to share your experiences, feel less alone, and come to terms with the physical and emotional impact of treatment. Ask your treatment or clinical team if you need more support or have any side effects at all.
- Key Information: Your reproductive organs (listed below) may be in or near the treatment area. Be sure to ask your consultant if this affects you. If it does, it’s important to discuss any plans or thoughts you have about having children as soon as possible. Your consultant can provide advice tailored to your situation. This can be a sensitive topic, and you may not have all the answers yet, but having the conversation early allows you to explore your options and make informed decisions.
- Reproductive organs include: ovaries, uterus (womb), fallopian tubes, cervix, vagina.
This page looks at early side effects.
How likely am I to get early side effects?
Before treatment you will discuss and sign a consent form with your clinical oncologist or therapeutic radiographer. They will tell you what your chances are of getting early or late side effects.
When you consent to treatment, you are saying you understand that you have a chance of getting early and late side effects. Your team will use words like Expected, Common, Less Common and Rare.
This table shows what these words mean.
| Wording on the consent form | % chance of side or late effect | How many patients will get this? |
|---|---|---|
| Expected | 50 to 100% | Between half and all patients |
| Common | 10 to 50% | Up to half of all patients |
| Less common | Less than 10% | Fewer than one in ten patients |
| Rare | Less than 1% | Fewer than one in 100 patients |
Early side effects (during or soon after treatment)
- Feeling very tired (fatigue): You might feel very tired during and after your treatment. It’s important to get plenty of rest but sometimes you will still feel really tired, even with lots of sleep. Some tiredness can be caused by having cancer and having cancer treatment, and some is caused by travelling to and from hospital every day for treatment.
- Effects on the bladder: In the second half of your treatment, you might need to wee more often (frequency) or find it difficult to hold (urgency). You may also feel a stinging or burning when you wee. Some days, this might feel worse, especially if you’re getting extra fluids with chemotherapy.
- Effects on the bowels: You might get more wind or loose, watery poo, or notice a slight change in how your bowels work. This is because radiotherapy might also affect parts of your bowels that are close to the treatment area.
- Skin reactions: You might notice a change in colour, swelling, itching, or changes in the texture of your skin where you’re treated. People with lighter skin tones might experience colour changes. These changes can be pink, red or darker than the surrounding area. People with brown and black skin tones might have colour changes such as maroon, purple, yellow or grey pigment changes. Or the skin can look darker than the surrounding area. These changes usually improve after treatment, but this can take 4 to 6 weeks in some cases.
- Hair loss: you might lose hair in the area where you are treated. Often, this grows back over time.
- Sickness: You might feel sick or need to be sick.
- Vaginal dryness, discharge and bleeding: You might feel pain, discomfort and itchiness from your vagina.
- Sexual changes: These side effects can cause pain during penetrative sex.
What can help with these early side effects?
Here are some ideas you can try.
- Resting: Get lots of sleep and take breaks if you feel tired.
- Keeping active: Gentle movement can help you feel better, both during and after treatment. Your treatment team can tell you what is safe for you to do.
- Coping with bladder problems: Drink plenty of water and tell your doctor or treatment team if it hurts when you wee.
- Managing Bowel Problems: Professional advice on what food and drink you can have can help. You can also take medicine to help with diarrhea and any sickness. Tell your treatment team of any changes.
- Skin reactions: Your treatment team can suggest creams to soothe your skin. Sometimes, extra care is needed if the skin breaks down in the treatment area. Wear loose clothing and stay out of the sun. Talk to your team about washing, shaving and caring for your skin in your treatment area. You might have to change your normal routine during treatment and for a short time after, especially if you have a radiation skin reaction.
- Drinking fluids: Drinking plenty of fluids such as water and squash can help with fatigue and tiredness caused by your treatment. It can also help flush out toxins in your body caused by treatment. You can try diluted juice if you don’t like water.
- Alcohol use: Please follow the NHS guidelines on safe drinking levels and any instructions you get from your team on what is right for you, your diagnosis and your treatment. If in doubt, please ask your team.
- Vaginal Care: Talk to your doctor or treatment team about managing dryness, discomfort and bleeding.
- Dilators: These are cone shaped plastic objects that you put into your vagina to help stretch it. You can use vaginal dilators from 2 to 8 weeks after treatment to help prevent narrowing of the vagina. Ask your treatment team when you should start using them. The dilators come in sets of different sizes.
- Stop smoking: If you are looking to stop or reduce smoking, there are services available to help you. Please see the links at the bottom of this page for more information.
Learn more about late effects by clicking this link.
Further information
Learn more about sex and cancer here:
Pelvic radiotherapy for women | Sexuality and cancer | Cancer Research UK
The Pelvic People – We’re on a mission to end painful sex
Learn more about side effects and support here:
Pelvic Radiation Disease Association
Learn more about radiotherapy consent forms here:
https://www.rcr.ac.uk/our-services/management-service-delivery/national-radiotherapy-consent-forms/
Learn more about radiation skin reactions here:
Learn more about managing cancer fatigue:
Managing and treating cancer fatigue | Cancer Research UK
Cancer-related fatigue | NHS inform
Advice on reducing alcohol use:
Drink less – Better Health – NHS (www.nhs.uk)
NHS stop smoking services:
