Hi Sarah's Daughter,

Welcome to this site -- I know you'll find a lot of helpful information here, not only on this forum, but on the many reference sections that you can access from the home page.

I agree with Minnie that your mother probably needs more for the pain than what she is using. Many of us can relate to the fear of addiction that she apparently has, but the fact is that radiation can produce such painful side effects that some type of medication is usually necessary to help cope with this. If she doesn't react well to one medication, please insist that her doctors try something else until you have a program that works for her.

Nutrition is also an ongoing challenge after the end of radiation. The general rule of thumb is that you should expect one month of recovery time for each week of radiation, although different people may vary from that one way or the other. The point is, if she just stopped radiation, she likely won't begin to see noticeable improvement for at least several more weeks. In the meantime, she needs to get regular meals in whatever form she can tolerate -- whether it's the tube or ingesting soft (drinkable) meals by mouth. Everything tends to taste terrible for weeks after radiation, so she can't let her taste buds control what she takes in. She also needs to stay as hydrated as possible -- I know it's hard because I remember how I screamed even trying to drink water at that stage.

Another risk in the weeks post-radiation is mouth sores that can lead to infections (this will only exacerbate the pain). Please be sure her doctors have told her what signs to watch for so if she needs medication to counteract it, she can be prepared.

Please stay in touch and let us know how she is doing.

Cathy