I still can't quite swallow well. The Rad docs think I might have some scarring from he therapy. I supposed 2 see a speech therapist in 2 weeks. I think it's 'cos I've been directing so much mucus & food (during chemo) the other direction since November.

Can ne1 offer suggestions on how 2 improve swallowing. The main probs are sometimes the liquid wants 2 go up my nose when I take 2 big a sip & I think one side of my throat is stiff.

Hi Minky,
what you are experiencing is fairly typical at this stage. Try to take smaller sips. I always use a straw. Make sure that the phlegm is as cleared as it can can be. Avoid dry things like bread (unless you dip it in olive oil). There will be some scarring and texturing of the muscle tissue but it will improve over time. I am almost a year out now and my swallowing is fairly normal now.

Hi Gary!

I'm such a full speed ahead type person that I get frustrated by the smaller sips & end up popping a can of Osmolite 4 the tube.

I've yet 2 try using a straw. I feel like a toddler. Itsy bitsy portions & I never really know what anything is gonna taste like.

Thanx

Baby steps is important - Aspiration into the lungs can cause pnuemonia. From the radiation and surgical damage to atrophy, it will take time to get the swallowing mechanism back in order.

I found in the early stages of swallowing solid food that "prepositioning" it on the back of the tongue helped, you just have to experiment what works best for you. Always remember that moist foods work best (even now a year out).

It is hard to find a restaurant that can cook chicken without drying it out. You'll discover all kinds of things you took for granted before.

This disease and the recovery from it forthwith, will stretch your bounds of patience.

Hi Minky,
I to have my drinks coming out of my nose. My speech theripist told me to tilt my head down and than swallow. It seemed to help.
Each swallow of food for me is a thought out process. Like Gary said it takes time and will get better in time.
Funny how sometimes I can drink without a problen and the next time it starts dripping out of my nose. I was at a resturant today and was joking with the waitress about it! (I asked her for a couple of extra napkins) She is also a oral cancer survivor with a reoccurance. Her name is Peggy Radtke. She doesn't own a computer or TV.
I wish she did so she could vent and share her experience with other OCF members. She is a very nice person who has battled like hell for two years now. Her and I are buddies!!!

Keep your chin up as my Grandmother used to say!!!

Dan

Dan,
Peggy can always have access at the public library.

I too am having a hard time swallow anything. I choke on every sip. Any help is sure a sweet thing for me.

hi,

i had chemo&rad that gave me eating problems.. i did 8 months with a speach person, which helped big time... they know lots about eating...

then i got my esophagus stretched twice... seconday rad had caused it to be very tight.. it is now close to normal size. initially it was about 2 mm diameter, now it is 42 mm. in the general population, 50 mm is typical... however my doc didn't want to stretch again, so i am happy to leave it alone.

my eating is much improved, but lack of saliva continues to be a problem.

i found that getting help with this was something that i had to push for. the doc's didn't offer it. i had to ask for help.

cu,larryb

I'm sorry 2 hear you had to push to get help larry-b. Glad you knew what to ask for. Me & my husband were @ 1st confused as 2 how a speech therapist would help when the Rad Dr. set up an appt.

I'll have to try tilting my head down today like you suggested Dan.

Dear Larry,

I'm very interested in information on esophageal stretching. Dennis is still having great difficulty swallowing, and to be honest, we are tired of hearing "this is a normal side effect of rad and chemo."

Do you have any advice for us regarding this procedure?

Thanks in advance,
Mandi

Hi Mandi, I believe Danny DIGTEXAS had this done (esophageal dilation) so hopefully you can get some information from him too.

hi,
swallowing is really tough for me too.
it takes forever to eat.

I saw a speech theraphyst and it did help some with swallowing. She told me to create suction in my move to help gather the food into a ball.

Also, for me, I tilt my head up a bit to swallow. It makes me feel like a crane or some sort of bird, but it helps. It puts the back of my tongue closer to the throat so that the food slides down.

I drink several glasses of water per meal, basically using water to help swallow food. Yes, cutting food up into baby-size pieces helps. Adding liquid - I use canned chicken or beef broth or milk or whip cream to moisten food.

Some soft foods, like mashed potatoes are actually harder to eat because they stick to my mouth like eating spoonfuls of peanut butter! But if I mix a little mashed potated with a solid piece of food like chiken then it has something to stick too and slides down ok. Or I add liquid to thin it down.

I also find that some days I eat more solid food, then go back to liquids or yogurt for a while.

good luck, michelle

I am 14 months out from radistion ( I had sugary prior to radiation) and am limited in my ability to swallow. Yogurt, cottage chesse, sour cream, puddings, mashed potatoes, creamed spinach and ensure are my main food items. However, I have recently added some thin turkey, chicken and angel hair pasta to my diet. It takes me a long time to eat each meal. I have never thought about stretching the asophagus. How do you determine if that is the problem.

Don't you just hate that it takes so long to eat that you have to reheat your food? I guess I should just be grateful that I can eat at all.

hi,

esophagus stretching seemed to be the proceedure of last chance... i waited for the spit to subside. did 9 months of eating school - which help lots. then waited 6 months before getting the stretch... they did 2 barium swallow exams - i think that was as waste of time.

i could tell that my epoglatus was functioning somewhat, but it seemed that the pipe was too small.. my burps strained to get air out... small stuff was always getting stuck in my lower throat...

so i asked my ENT to schedule me with a GI doc. GI listened to me, then set the date... did the first proceedure... no pain during.. but afterwards for 1-3 days were not real fun... after 10 days things felt better... he told me that he increased the size from 2 to 20 mm... or about the size of the wire in a large paper clip to half the a dime... the second stretch got me to 42 mm, normal population is about 50 mm... now things go down much better... thats roughly the size of a dime... doc does not want to do this again, so i'm happy... the proceedure: they knocked me out... put a wire with a ballon down my throat and inflated.. 1st time i don't recall anything. second time, i was not completely out and remember them pushing thing down my thoat an asking me to swallow... it was weird but not painful.

i recommend this proceedure when someone is ready for it... i waited because i wanted my throat to have lots of time to heal from rad/chemo and to try everything else first... but in the end, it was what i needed. now i eat much more normally... still with low saliva i need moist stuff.. however, if you didn't know my background, i probably could eat without you knowing that i am wierd... or strange... any way,
i hope that fills in some background for you all. it certainly is something that should be considered.

in my case, the damage was probably from secondary radiation. GI doc said problem was outside not inside so it is likely that the stretch will last.. i know a woman who has to be stretched every 3-6 months.

cu,
larryb
i am better with numbers than spelling.. sorry.