Your doctor and nurse will tell you about the side effects you need to watch for and how you should deal with them. You should contact your doctor or nurse if you have any unusual symptoms during your treatment such as coughing, sweating, fever, or unusual pain. Most side effects that occur during radiation therapy, although unpleasant, are not serious and can be controlled with medication or diet. They usually go away within a few weeks after treatment ends. However, some side effects can last longer.
Many patients have no side effects at all.
Throughout your treatment, your radiation oncologist will regularly check on the effects of the treatment. You may not be aware of changes in the cancer, but you will be able to notice decreases in pain, bleeding, or other discomforts you may have had. For some cancers, the doctor may order an X-ray exam or CT scan to see whether the tumor is shrinking. Tumors that are fairly large and more dense than the normal tissue around them can often be seen with the standard X-ray. Each patient responds to radiation therapy in their own way.