General radiotherapy side effects

Radiotherapy can cause some general side effects, such as tiredness and skin reactions.

Radiotherapy can affect your bone marrow and blood cells. This is more likely if you're having treatment to a large area of your body. 

You should try to eat a healthy and balanced diet during radiotherapy. You may have problems eating if you have radiotherapy to your head or neck.

You might feel tired during your radiotherapy treatment and for a few weeks afterwards. Read about why this is and things you can do to help. 

Radiotherapy treatment can affect your skin making it sore and look redder or darker than usual. Find out about ways to help your skin. 

Radiotherapy to your lower abdomen or pelvis can affect your fertility and sex life.

Radiotherapy to your lower abdomen or pelvis can affect your fertility and sex life. Problems can include pain during ejaculation and difficulty getting an erection.

You might feel many different emotions during radiotherapy. Being tired can make any of the emotions that you're feeling even worse. There are ways to get help and support.