Is there anything that can be done about the copious amounts of mucus caused, I guess, by the radiation?
My Mom would almost feel ok if it weren't for the mucus. It makes her gag which makes her throw up so then she has to take ativan and suppositories which make her feel drugged which makes her depressed.

jobeeg, I was there and know how awful that stuff is. I expect you will get some good answers about medications that help, because I have seen replies from others about that. In my case, I coped by rolling up gauze and putting it in the sides of my mouth to soak that stuff up so I could get a few hours of sleep. Puffs brand tissues are soft and strong for wiping it out of her mouth. Just today someone posted about the foam dental swabs that she used. I had forgotten those and have a whole bag of them that I didn't use because my mouth was too sore. I found the tissues worked better. Please tell your mother that it will end. When I got to the point where I was just about climbing the walls, I told myself at least it was just mucous, not pain, which kind of put it in perspective for me. There are many of us here who know just how she feels, and each one of us got through it and she will too. Good luck to both of you!

It is in the mouth, but the worst is the gunk in her throat. Swallowing it ends up making her stomach queezy and caughing it up starts the gag reflex. Very frustrating. Lost her breakfast and once the stomach gets going it seems like a downhill cycle. Didn't trust herself to keep anything down for the rest of the afternoon and finally took 1 can of glucerna into the peg in the evening. The nausea / vomiting take her totally by surprise, without any warning at all. All she's trying to do is cough to start out with. Sure am hoping for a better day tomorrow.

Hey jobeeg,
I'm not sure if your mom has had tongue surgery or anything, but I had a friend tell us to try a suction machine. Her husband got great relief while he was taking radiation for tonsil cancer. I ordered one through Neighbor Care, covered by insurance. My husband is getting radiation to his tongue, throat and both sides of neck, so his mouth and tongue are too sore to try it. He does the gag/throw up a lot, too, which turns out to be mucous mixed with blood, and then sometimes the PEG food and meds I just put in him.

Anyway, they say this thing works like a suction wand they use in a dentist's office. Ask the doc and you can probably get it ordered through home health care or try and rent it fairly cheap. Some people say it really helps.

Good luck and God bless you and your mom!
Debbie

jobeeg -- I totally feel your Mom's pain... that was my biggest struggle for awhile as well, especially during the final few weeks of my radiation treatment and the first week afterward... I got to where I could only sleep for about an hour, then I'd wake up gagging and have to run to the bathroom for a spit-and-rinse session (I'm sure my wife loved that). I always felt like a vomit was right around the corner as well, since my "gag" reflex was being tested so much...

As for solutions, my nurses told me to rinse a few times a day with a 50-50 mix of water and hydrogen peroxide or baking soda. That helped some, and joanna's suggestions about Puffs is a good one. I took an anti-nausea medicine for awhile as well to calm my rumbly stomach.

I'm not sure what the docs can do during treatment but a week after I finished my treatments, the docs put me on some kind of steroid to reduce swelling in my mouth. Literally within 48 hours of taking this steroid (I can't remember the name but it was one I took over 7 days or so), my gunky mouth was a lot better, and I was able to sleep through the night. I still wake up some nights or in the morning needing a good spit, but it is tons better than before I started that steroid. You might want to ask your doctor about something like that... Again, not sure if your mom can take it during treatment as it may interfere but worth asking about...

Hope this helps... LIke others have said, this will pass... tell your mom to hang in there and try to stay hydrated and nurished as well as possible...