Radiation Burns

Treatment Options

Radiation burns are common for patients being treated by radiation therapy for cancer. These burns can be very uncomfortable and many times treatments offered by doctors are not very effective in healing the burns or soothing the pain. There are better ways to treat these burns, using some very common home remedies.

Understand your Burn

The first thing you need to do before treating your burn is to understand how severe it is. Your doctor should be able to help determine this. If you have minor first degree radiation burns then you can generally expect to be able to treat it easily at home. If your burn is more severe then you should probably leave treatment up to your doctor.

First Steps

One of the simplest treatments you can use for radiation burns is to take pain medication. Over the counter medications may work or you could ask your doctor for a prescription for stronger pain medication if over the counter pills do not work.

Your doctor will probably give you a prescription cream to use that is made to help heal the skin and sooth the burn. It is a good idea to follow your doctors orders as to using the cream. Some patients find, though, that these prescription creams do not offer enough relief from the pain. This leads patients to try to find other treatments that can bring much needed relief.

Home Remedies

Sometimes the treatments that a doctor gives you do not work effectively. Since this type of burn is usually very severe, you may need to find additional treatments so that you can cope with the burn as it heals.

There is one home remedy that you can try if prescription creams are not working. Aloe Vera can be a very effective treatment for radiation scalds. Aloe Vera is a natural plant that is very safe and proven effective for treating burns. It is used topically, smoothed over the burn. Aloe Vera is something that has been used for centuries to treat a variety of different burns and it has been found to be quite effective for bring relief to those with burns from radiation.

Another option that has proven quite effective is curcumin. This is found in curry and yellow mustard. It has been shown to help keep blisters from forming. To get the benefits you should ingest curcumin before radiation treatments. This is not completely tested, but since it is a natural product found in common foods it is generally safe for those without an allergy. It is worth testing to see if it can help you to find some additional relief.

Treating radiation burns can bring you a lot of relief. Having to deal with these burns can be irritating to say the least. For many cancer patients, dealing with the burns from radiation can be something that is the hardest part of the illness to deal with. Having home remedies and other options for treatment can make it easier to deal with your burns and accept the cancer treatment that is helping to cure you. Top