Off the top of my head, I cant remember many members bringing up the gag reflex as one of their bothersome side effects. Of course, that doesnt mean there arent tons of people here that have experienced it. I did a quick forum search using "gag reflex" and came up with 200+ posts mentioning it. After checking a few posts, not many have been talking about what you are. You still may want to try the search yourself and go thru the posts. Im pretty sure if you read thru a few them you will find others who had similar situations and find what helped them.

If you are starting to have trouble with the chemo, make sure your medical oncologist is aware of every single issue you are having. Cisplatin hit me hard too. My medical oncologist cut the second dose in half and eliminated the third dose completely due to my severe reactions to it. Take your anti-nausea meds around the clock weather you are having issues or not. Make sure you have plenty on hand to carry you thru several weeks past when your treatments end. Ask your doc to write the prescription with several refills too. I still have stomach issues and rely on zofran around the clock for a couple days when my stomach acts up.

Do you have a waterpik? If not, I suggest picking one up. Use it when brushing teeth (should be at least 2x a day). The waterpik (use it on its lowest setting) will get in between teeth better than even dental floss can and your mouth will feel nice a clean with avoiding gargling mouthwash so you shouldnt have any gag reflex problem. . Use warm water with a couple teaspoons of non-alcohol mouthwash mixed in. I had prescription mouthrinse, peridex that I would add to the warm water. A waterpik will replace the swishing of mouthwash and help keep your mouth as clean as possible. Anyone who has had oral cancer and gone thru rads will need to take extra good care of their teeth and mouth forever so a waterpik is a much needed device.

With only 5 more rads to go you are starting to hit the worst part where it gets very difficult. Many will have some pretty dark days at the end of rads/beginning of their recovery. When I was getting towards the end, I was so sick I tried to quit my treatments. My son and nurse refused to listen to anything I had to say about quitting. If I had quit back then I doubt Id still be here. So please remember no matter how difficult this gets, it MUST be done. Since you are nearing the end, make certain you have everything you could possibly need (prescriptions with refills, prescription to get extra hydration, etc) from your medical and radiation oncologists. After completing rads, almost all patients experience a bit of a sense of loss. Their past 5/6 weeks routine is suddenly over and patients can feel a bit isolated.

Im very sorry to tell you but the first few weeks of recovery will be the hardest part of the entire treatment regime. About the only thing that can be done to help alleviate your pain, discomfort, fatigue, nausea, etc is to push yourself every single day to take in at least 2500 calories and 48-64 oz of water. Of course taking your pain and nausea meds around the clock to try minimizing side effects along with hitting your daily intake minimums is what will help to make this as easy as possible. Make daily goals and meet them every single day. By skimping one day and thinking... "its ok its only one day" and it can be made up the next day turns into a viscous downward cycle. Thats the trap I fell into and I suffered greatly with hospitalizations for dehydration and malnutrition. Im very glad you have a home care nurse checking in on you. Talk to your doc about it and ask to keep that service until you hit at least 3 weeks post rads so your visiting nurse can help get you thru the worst part of rads.

From what you have described to me it sounds like you are actually doing pretty good. Most patients will hit the struggling part around week 3 and you made it to week 5. Im sure you do NOT feel even close to your normal self going thru this. Rads can be horrendous when having chemo along with it. Chemo makes the entire process so much harder... BUT!!!... (always a but!) chemo is helping the rads to work better so its a necessary evil.

Hang in there and do the very best you can with your intake, meds, etc every day. Check in often and we will try to encourage you and help pass along any helpful tips we have.

Best wishes!!!