Short Term Side Effects of External Beam Radiation
| Short term side effects generally start showing up after two or three weeks of treatment and fade away after two or three weeks of completion (though it takes two or three months to be totally back to normal.) |
| Organ | Side Effects | Treatment |
| Whole Body | fatigue or light-headed | rest and nutrition |
| Skin | itchy, red or sunburned | aloe, Sween, cortisone creams |
| Rectum | burning, itching, bleeding | nupercainal, prepH, anusol, sitz bath, Tucks pads, cortifoam enemas |
| Bowels | gas, diarrhea, cramps | Imodium, diet changes (low residue, avoid fresh fruit, vegetables) |
| Bladder | frequency, burning | fluids, cranberry juice, pyridium, ditropan |