My husband went for his radiation simulation- had a hard time with the bite block and he has a strong gag reflex- any tips from those more experienced with this? Said he felt like he was drowning in saliva.

Some members have taken medications to relax. Sorry I didnt take this so Im not sure what ones they used.

What kind of medications?

I didnt use this myself so Im unsure of what other members have used. Im sure someone who used this will be along soon and give you some names of medications.

I use lorazepam (ativan) to help relax. Hope that helps :-)

Others have said Ativan as well but that was to take the edge off. Not sure I've ever read about excess saliva being a problem. Perhaps a antihistimine may work but of course discuss EVERYTHING with your RO before you act.

Ativan is definitely a help. For me anyway it takes a bit longer to kick in and the effect also lasts longer. Xanax - again for me - is more immediate and shorter acting. It also seems stronger, at least initially.

I also haven't heard about excess saliva at this point in treatment. Maybe that's just nerves too, although I think the reverse would occur for most people. David's suggestion of an antihistamine might help, dunno. But worth talking to your docs about.

Thoughts with you both.

Did everyone have a bite block? Kevin didn't.
I know when I worked in the dental profession bite blocks were tough. They are way back between your molars to keep your tongue back. You would produce more saliva having it in there because your body is trying to get it out. They may be able to use a pediatric one that wouldn't gag him as much. Just a thought.
I'm just curious to know if everyone had one.
I know Xanax worked for Kevin on a couple of other things. He said it has a pretty immediate effect. Hope you find something that works.
Kathy

No bite block for Bill either...just checked with him to make sure but I knew that he would have squawked if there had been one.

When I was going through radiation, they put what looked like a fudgesickle in my mouth for me to bite on. It did make me gag a bit, and to me, was worse than the actual mask.

The bite thing could have soemthing to do with where the tumor is located.

I didn't have to put anything in my mouth either.

It's a terrible feeling to have so much saliva that you feel like drowning during the radiation. The "bite block" sounds like the problem and it can not hurt to require a justification for using it. I never had any type of bite block, or stick etc for any of my three different rounds of radiation over 5 years.
I did try use my fluoride trays during the first round but they did generate too much saliva.
If the doctors are insistent on drowning your husband, then ask for a prescription for Robinul, which will stop the saliva.
I need to take it now for my MRI and Petscans since after the surgery and not being able to swallow, I have tremendous amounts of saliva and phelgm that I need to spit out constantly. The Robinul drys it up in a day or two.

Ativan is useful for the one hour procedure of Cyberknife so I could hold still that long, but not for IMRT unless there are anxiety issues.
Again, ask about the bite block, sometimes radiologists just do things because they always have done them without reqard for the individual patient. Put the burden on the doctor to solve the saliva problem that he is causing
Charm

I never had either. The bite stick, I believe, is made during the simulation, and used to limit tongue movement when radiation is given in certain parts of the H&N, and they may be used as radiation marker, although I had tattoo's. A mouth guard is to reduce radiation scatter, thus Mucocitis, from dental work, and often made by the dentist.

I had one, I used Xanax before each treatment as the gagging is scary.My doctor said it was there to move my tungue away from a radiation line and save some tase (which it did). The saliva problem is not fun as the block makes it hard to swollow. I would deffinitly use it if you want as much taste as you can get on the back end.

Jen had a bite block made out of putty as well.

The technicians told us it was used to make sure that the lateral tongue would remain still as there was a heavy concentration of radiation focused in that area.

Perhaps the reason why some have not had the bite block / stick is because there was no radiation treatment actually focused on the lateral tongue?