Has anyone practiced holding their breath during radiation therapy?

Yes, my radiation treatment had me hold my breath. It helps to expand your lungs and keeps the treated area farther away from your heart. My treatment was on left side, same as heart. You don’t have to hold your breath for any ridiculous amount of time through. They also let you breath a bit between the rays. You’ll do fine. Radiation was a breeze for me. I had 20 rounds.

I'm about to start radiation (today) but I second Julia's take on the duration of the breath hold. 15 seconds was what they asked for. My tumors were on the right side. I hope I can say it was a breeze too when I'm done!

I had a right breast mastectomy but was still told to hold my breath. I was quite anxious about it at first but then got used to it. The team was supportive.

I wish I had been told this!!! Mine was on my left side, and after 20 treatments I was left with scarring on my left lung. 5 months later and I am still dealing with shortness of breath and a dry cough.

I just finished radiation. It was on my left side. I found it was helpful to count while holding my breath so I knew how much longer I had to go. It was easy. You’ll be fine

You may be asked to breathe into a tube and then hold your breath. They may put goggles on you so you can watch your breathing. It may sound stressful, but you'll do fine. Breath holds are very brief. Practice holding your breath lying flat. Very different than when you're sitting up. Good luck!

I finished radiation 6 weeks ago & my oncologist didn’t say any thing about holding your breathe during radiation, has anyone have short hard pains after radiation? Mine is random, I had 20 rounds of radiation on the right side, it’s like a short pain that goes thru you on the side of the breast

I did. I also was not told to hold my breath. Watch for coughing and shortness of breath. I was diagnosed with radiation pneumonitis. 6 months later and I am still having issues.

My radiation team has me hold my breath to stabilize the area of treatment. It's usually 30 seconds or less. I have permanent tattoo dots for alignment of the machine for each dose and future treatment if needed for recurrence. One thing I learned is that radiation is a cumulative treatment and needs to be monitored for life. I never heard about protecting my heart from the radiation for my left breast.

I began my 25 radiation treatments by practicing to hold my breath for the required amount of time I needed to receive the dosage. I went into the unit so the staff could do a few dry runs and for tattooing and placement on the table. Once they decided that I was able to do this adequately they proceeded with the scheduled treatments. I had this at NYU in New York City in 2022. The staff told me that the machine would stop if I suddenly had to exhale and breathe, so there would be no risk of being irradiated if I couldn’t hold my breath for the full increment.

I just finished my right breast radiation of 21 rounds. I was never told to hold my breath but was told to hold still. My biggest issue was 2nd degree burns and due to exposed skin, I wasn’t able to finish the last 4 treatments. It’s been a month since then and skin is still very sensitive and itchy all over.

The stories of getting through radiation is inspiring. I will have to do 20 sessions. The tumor was on my right breast but they will do 16 sessions for both breasts and then 4 just on the right. I hope I don’t get that irritated, my skin can be sensitive. And they also said there is a rare chance I could break a rib … Also waiting on whether I need chemo on top of that. It was stage 1, didn’t spread. But the pathology reports are still pending.

I worked through radiation. I would leave work for treatment then go back. I was exhausted and suffered some significant burning under my breast but the nurse gave me a foam bandage for the burn and I tried to not do much other.than work. I only had 13 treatments so it was doable.

At my first meeting with my radiation doc she said the same thing if my heart is in the direct area they need to radiate. Makes me nervous. I’ve decided not to start radiation until first week of July because I am leaving for a European 3 week trip and want to be able to swim, scuba dive and have energy. Haven’t told my doc yet what my decision is yet 🙏. Has anyone else done this

Oh yes. My radiology team told me to practice holding my breath for 30 seconds, which I cannot do. They said there’s a way around it by using a probe? Not really sure. I start radiation in a week and I’m terrified!

Karen L and Anne J. I'm not sure where y'all live but there are hospitals that can do focus beamed radiation on the tumor only (I live in the Dallas Texas area). And you lie prone. Depending on where the tumor is at they should be able to do zap it laterally. But here again it's all based on the location and the availability of the equipment at your facility

I will start 21 rounds of radiation in a couple weeks for L breast IDC 1.4 cm Stage 1 Grade 2 ONCO 0 ER & PR +, HER2 -. I am 76 & FT caregiver for my husband w ALZ. They did tell me to practice holding my breath for 30 secs to expand lungs & distance to heart. Will I be able to drive there & back? & cook, clean, laundry etc? Thank you!

Im 70 just finished radiation on my left side. They might tell you radiation is a breeze, but the effects are no joke! The first two weeks are easy simple you’re in and out in 15 minutes. The actual radiation is only like 12 seconds two times. On the third week radiation it began to cause, redness and blistering on the chest area. By the 16th round, I was over it and did not return for the last four treatments. The doctor was not super happy about that but I figured after 16 times it had to have gotten anything that was left. For me after surgery it appeared everything was gone as I only had a little tiny, HER+ spot. So I felt OK about stopping. My breast was on fire and the burn was real and hurt really really bad. I am now two weeks past my last day of treatment and things are calming down. The skin still hurts, but not nearly as bad make sure you have your creams That they suggest along with aquifer. I drove myself as I didn’t feel it necessary taking anyone with me. I continued to babysit my two grandchildren -make my meals - do laundry and whatever else I had to do with my husband. That part was fine. Just know there is pain involved.!!

I had a bilateral mastectomy to remove my tumor on the left side but during surgery they found one positive lymph node and are testing the surrounding lymph nodes to determine if they too were cancerous. They say I may have to do radiation. I will know next week. This information has helped a lot. Has anyone else went through the process and either had to do Radiation or not?

Dana Farber used breast- hold technique routinely for my breast cancer radiation. Very very important!

Just finished 21 treatments to L breast and yes. breath hold technique to expand lungs & prevent heart damage...15 second increments...easy peasy...the treatment itself does not hurt & is pretty fast once they get you in correct position. Week 4 got red, rashy, itchy...cortisone cream, then aloe/calendula kept in frig, then Aquaphor...takes a couple weeks for that to go away.

All doable and life saving. Calendula helps … start using it before treatment.

Radiologist wanted me to do 20 Treatments but i studied about the 5 day photon treatment w holding breath and since my 3 cm tumor stayed within the duct and no signs in lymphnodes i decided to go that route. it bypassed my heart and barely touched my left lung. I feel fine just some warm feeling in left breast every now and again.

I am almost done with 20 radiation treatments. I asked for proton and was denied. My cancer was stage II grade 1b. Was told not sick enough for the good treatments. Had to be stage 3.5 to 4 in Pennsylvania to get the proton referral for treatment.

Photon is different than proton treatment. Photon targeted just the bed where my tumor was. You are in control of your own body and that made the most sense to me. I was grade 3 TNBC and stage 2A but no signs of spreading outside the ducts. Also had 4 bypass open heart surgery 16 yrs ago so saving my heart was important to me.