At about 29 months post treatment , my husband has some weird stuff happening in his mouth. Wanted to see if anyone else had had anything similar. I posted a while ago about "worrisome doctor visit" at which both periodontist and ENT thought he could have leukoplakia developing. But they decided to "watch and wait". Well, now he has his entire mouth irritated to the point that he is having about as much trouble eating as immediately following radiation. "Bumps" all over his tongue, in the area of the white spot. We are thinking this has to be some kind of fungal infection. Bad as it is, I'm feeling oddly good about it - doesn't really seem like a recurrence or second primary to me. Any thoughts?

Thanks so much for any feedback,
Anita

Dear Anita

If I had 'bumps' on my tongue I'd be on my way to a doctor faster than you can say 'weird'!

I certainly hope your positive thoughts are correct -please let us know what your medical team decides.

Wishing you both all the best, love from Helen

Anita, I have a continuing problem with occasional thrush-like symptoms. I say that because there are no visable signs, only irritation. (which can be quite severe). Nystatin works every time. two days of swish and no more problem. This is still happening 4 plus years out. About once a month for me.

Aloha Mark,
My husband has thrush-like symptoms and has been using nystatin for almost 10 days now. The thrush seems to be abating somewhat but his tongue is thick and sticks to roof of his mouth. Is this a side effect of the nystatin? Have you experienced this? Barb

Anita,

Has he been on antibiotics? That is a sure fire way to get thrush-like problems. Anyway, if he has it, Diflucan(?) also works well and it will treat his entire system.

Glenn

I actaully started this thread back in September. The periodontist (and also the PA at the ENT office) insisted it was leukoplakia but - partly because of the responses here - I pushed for getting an ati-fungal prescription. That started helping almost immediately.

But 2 months later he started getting it all over again. I think it has to do with the dry-mouth, but I'm not sure. My Accupuncture/Chinese Medicine friend says that thrush is often a sign of a compromised immune system. We're trying some herbal remedies but, per Marks reply, think we will also try to get some Nystatin to have on hand.

Thanks,
Anita

The "simple" test for candida/thrush is that it can be scraped off with your fingertnail. If it cannot, then you are looking at something else, and there are a variety of thigns - of course leucoplakia being at the top of the list. Scraping the white off with your fingernail isn't going to make anything better, Diflucan will still be required, I mention this just as a way of determining that it is actually candida.

Barb, (TomM) If his tongue is thick in size it could be from fluid retention (edema). some mornings my speech is affected by swelling. It goes away by mid-day.

Brian's comments are true but consider that the visable signs of thrush are what a person with normal saliva exhibits. Sometimes in the radiation affected mouth, thrush does not show anything to be scraped off.

Thanks everyone. Tom still has a couple days left on the nystatin and his mouth is looking somewhat better. We're keeping a close eye and will not hesitate to request the Diflucan if this persists. The thick tongue is a new all day thing. He may not be drinking enough water which could cause the edema to persist throughout the day. He has not been on antibiotics recently.

Anita, the lack of saliva and the chemistry changes in the remaining saliva seem to make it easier for thrush to develop. Watch the sugar and starches when eating because it is food for thrush organisms. Brushing right away after eating seems to help keeping it at bay too.

Anita, Diflucan was the only thing that really knocked my thrush down. The rinse would slow it but not get rid of it. My doc tried the scraping on mine but dislodged nothing. Thrush was a battle for most of the year following tx. I stayed on diflucan for months.

My tongue still thickens on occasion. More fluids is usually the answer for me. The thrush eventually goes away, so tell Tom to hang in there. Tom J

In addition to Diflucan *and* the Nystatin rinse, Barry used Kefir -- a probiotic dairy product available in many supermarkets, including our local Giant -- as a swish and swallow several times a day to help beat his thrush infection. Kefir contains a number of important native oral bacteria, more than in yogurt. It comes in various flavors.

He had rather bad thrush for about 4 weeks and then it suddenly went away -- what did the trick we are not sure but happy it never came back.

Our dentist also recommended chewing Xylitol-containing gum after eating, the gum is developed especially to reduce the sugars (which feed both yeast and cavity-causing bacteria). One other benefit of the chewing is that it stimulates salivary production. The gum Barry uses (I am using it too for dental health) is from Finland and has a mild fruit flavor.

Gail

Thanks, Gail, the Xylitol sounds like an interesting option. He has been swishing with acidopholous for awhile - based on the idea that the mouth flora is out of wack. At one point, I thought that all the yogurt he ate should help with that - but it was pointed out that the sugars in the dairy and flavoring were feeding the thrush faster than the cultures could help it.

In response to Brian's post, the whole "scaping off" part was what the different health care providers seemed to be in disagreement about.

Anyway, things are okay - just minor issues - in comparison to what others are facing.

Thanks,
Anita