Christine,
I am 8 months out of treatment and I just got thrush! You are right it can be painful. I had thrush while in treatment also. Currently, I am taking diflucon 100 mg once a day. Seems to be helping. I still have it though, but not as bad. I still have 5 more pills left to take. Are we prone to thrush mouth? Is that because the mouth is dry? I was just wondering because when I got thrush this last time I was very scared that something else was going on. Take care.

Debbie, Christine, Angel, and the rest,

Just thought I'd weigh in here with some hope. I had thrush only once and that was during treatment. I'm 2 years out now with a VERY dry mouth, and still no thrush, so I don't know about how much more likely we are to get it, but at least know it's not a "given" that you're doomed to a lifetime of it.

Lani

Christine,
I had the same increase in my sense of smell a few months after radiation. It was wodnerful. Everything smelled so fresh and clean that spring. Food smelled marvelous, and even though there were and still many things I couldn't eat, it certainly helped my ability to eat and probably helped my taste recover.

As to thrush, one is likely to get a flare up every time you take an antibiotic. I use to take Diflucan with the antibiotic to prevent it. Thrush feeds on sugars. A dentist told me to avoid eating anything white because of the sugar in the carbohydrates. It affects your taste, brushing your tongue lightly with a soft tooth brush helps. It's also a bitch to get rid of. One of the many joys of having radiation.

Take care,
Eileen

Not having had the problem, I hadn't looked into thrush until now. I was just looking around on some sites and learned a lot about it. I'm sure this site probably has a ton of info on it, but I'm sure you all already looked there, and I'm stuck inside today with not much to do anyway in this bone-chilling 60 degree weather.

Though we are at very high risk during and right after treatment, it seems the risk lessens as our immune systems recover. Many OC survivors suffer from problems with malnutrition which contributes to rhe risk. The mouth dryness is a factor, too. Maybe Biotene products can help there. Sugar, as Eileen mentioned, feeds the yeasy fungus, as do breads and other carbohydrates. And antibiotics kill the bacteria, etc, that keep it under control, so taking something to counteract that with them makes sense.

The sites I saw all recommended uncultured yogurt (yech), so if you can stomach it....

There's a lot more that I'm sure I'm forgetting in this post - I blame my rad/chemo brain memory - but that's a lot of it. It did say that HIV and cancer patients have the danger of it spreading down the esophogus and hitting organs, like the kidneys and liver, so treating it quickly when it does rear its ugly head would be very important.

Hope this helps some.

Lani

Angel, very typical for your tongue to be anything but pink where you're at in treatement and it will take a while thereafter to recover. Radiation kills the taste buds which I believe are located on the top surface of the tongue. I got thrush a few months after tx and it was pretty nasty. Had to go back to magic mouth wash and an antibiotic to clear. Hang in there.

I never had to deal with thrush and I'm over 2 years out.

Nor I, at more than 2.75 years out.

I had one bout with it post surgery. It was painful but I attributed the discomfort to losing a hunk of tongue. Went in for my first follow up and got nystatin and was cleared up in a day or two and so was the pain. Never could understand why a yeast infection hurt but what's life without a little mystery. 18 months later no more thrush incidences and I've had the joy of being on antibiotics once or twice in that time without bringing it back. My guess is like everything else we all react a little differently.

Susan

Thank you all for the information. I gotta tell you, this stuff is yucky and the sides of my mouth burn like crazy and I haven't been able to use my flouride due to the burning.

The Dr. gave me 2 prescriptions, Nystatin (swish and swallow), and Flyconazole (pills). I do believe the nistatin makes me have nausea bad and I am still waiting for one of my nausea pills to get pre approved. But I have been luck and have not thrown up, just get sick at my stomach. Hope everyone has a great day tomorrow.

Btw, I have been driving myself to radiation lately. Angel

I drove myself to radiation (Forty miles) until the very last few when a friend insisted that he drive me, so I acquiesced -- I've learned that it's good for the other people if they can assist in some way, however small (Hard for me to do because I am sometimes a very stubborn and independent cuss...).