I have about two dozen small white "blisters" on the inside of my lips and parts of my tongue that are very painful. Also, the insides of my lips are red and swollen, while my gums are normal. Anybody know what to do to get rid of these? And is there anything I take to kill the pain?

I finished my first week of treatment last Friday and began to get symptoms of thrush that night: tongue totally white and lips stinging. Took 150 mg Fluconazone tablet and tongue was better the next morning but I went to see my local doctor who confirmed the thrush and gave me Nystatin. Took both for the last two days and now tongue is clear but I have these small "blisters" that are quite painful.

What have people done about these?

Thanks,
David

I didn't get noticeable blisters but had thrush most of the time after about the 4th week. My docs pit me on dyflucan either oral or pill just according to how my throat felt. Dyflucan and fluconazol are the same. Good luck

The blisters may be mucositis, but the end of the first week of rad might be too early for that. Did your doc say the 'blisters' were from the thrush? I used lidocaine, liquid vicodin and the duragesic patch to get through the worst of the mouth sores. Fortunately, they're short lived.

David,

Are you using dental trays? I found that wraping gauze over my teeth and gums would help. I was told that the sores are from the scattering of the radiation bouncing off your teeth and fillings. The wraping will absorb the scattering. Good luck.

Rob J.

Hi David.

Sounds like the mucositis I had. The RO put me on something they called "magic swizzle" which had a numbing effect to it. They also upped my pain meds to help me get through it.

After it was over, the doctor told me that I had the worse case of mucositis he had ever seen.

Kevin

Thanks for all the good advice.

I am using dental shields, but I will try the gauze too -- can't hurt to have both.

My doc just emailed me back that the "blisters" may be a response to the 5-FU chemo I'm also on.

He wants me to continue the diflucan for a total of 14 days for the thrush, but he's lowering the dosage from 150/mg to 100/mg per day. And he's adding a prescription for the "Magic Mouthwash" rinse. And he also said that a lip balm with aloe vera would help ease the pain of the blisters.

Reading on the OCF dental pages made me think this was mucositis...but I don't know if there's anything more I can do beyond the diflucan, the Magic Mouthwash, and the lip balm...and pain meds.

Right now I'm feeling very discouraged that this has hit me so early in my treament. I've read about others who've suffered from this but it seemed that it azrrived in the 3rd or 4th week. It's very upsetting....

Hi David-

I also had those blisters and just upped the pain meds. I also took Diflucan for thrush & just had to wait it out. I feel for you tho cuz I remember those blister. You will get thru it. Just ask for pain meds.....

Hi David

My mouth sores began after the 1st week of radiation. I also had a case of thrush which diflucan cleard up pretty nicely. I wish I had a good fix for the mouth sores but I don't. Mine just get progressivly worse. The inside of my lips and under my tongue are the bad spots. They aren't particularly painful. I do use a lot of magic mouthwash. I have 6 more radiation treatments left. I'll just tough it out.

I hope things go well for you.

marilyn

David, ask your Doc if he will allow you to try Lidocaine 2% viscous mouth rince and Rincinol P.R.N. to see if either will help [in conjunction with the other stuff you are using]. These did give John relief from some of the same things you are dealing with. Amy in the Ozarks

Hi

I used gelclair for the mucous and sores it worked really good for the sores I am still getting the mucous.
Ask your oncologist about it.

good luck

Thanks for all the good suggestions. I found the Rincinol worked really well for me. And then I got some Gelclair and found it's the same ingredients as the Rincinol. I high recommend this to anyone who's suffering from mouth sores. My "blisters" finally got smaller and are now gone after about 10 days. As many people have said, you just have to wait these things out...but the Rincinol/Gelclair realy did help a lot.

my mother knows a man who's having extensive radiation to his face after having half his face removed from skin cancer.
He's been taking double doses of co enzyme Q10 and also double doses of grape seed extract (tablets) and he reports no blisters and can still eat comfortably. Worth a try.
My partner starts radiation next week so I've got him on it all already. It boosts the immune system apparently.

David, Where are you in upstate NY? I had mouth blisters and used gel-clair which helped some. For the ones on my lips, I used carafate, which looked horrible but dried them out and made them feel better.

Nelie