Its me again with another question. Leon is almost 4 weeks out from end of radiation and has started vomiting the past couple of days. Usually after he drinks his smoothy. Is this normal? Can this still be the after effects from the radiation? He use to vomit when he was getting radiation and the RO said it shouldn't be from the radiation, it was probably anxiety? Is he just sick of 3 months of drinking smoothies? I was going to call the doctor and talk to him about this but who do I call? His family physician, the oncologist?

It could be normal. I was sick a lot post Tx for around a month or so. Mucositus and constipation (from the pain meds) being the main causes. The oncologist should be his PCP until his body chemistry is back to normal.

Try making sure that the throat is clear before attempting to swallow anything. The thick mucous can really cause some problems. I was on liquids for about 2 months post Tx. The mucositus should be ending soon and things will get a lot better.

Are the smoothies milk-based? If so, maybe try some that aren't - drs told us that milk products would contribute to mucositus. As far as nausea from radiation, our RO said the same exact thing, but I still have to wonder if the radiation doesn't cause nausea, maybe not from the radiation itself, but the mucous it creates, as Gary stated. Even when my husband's nausea problem is calmed down, seems as if he always gets sick in the morning regardless, and we are thinking it is because he is not getting rid of the mucous as frequently, even though he wakes up numerous times to expel it, and subsequently has a lot in his stomach in the morning.
Hope it goes away soon - good luck!
Michele

Just a bit of terminology - dairy products in some people contribute to the production of mucous, not mucocitis, which are those horrilbe sores that develop in your mouth. There is no question in my own experience that heavy mucous production will make me sick to my stomach, and early in the morning when I get up is the time when it is most likely to happen to me.....still many years out of treatment.

Thanks for the clarification on that, Brian. I had read that early on when I was first trying to educate myself about these things, but had forgotten that mucocitis is in fact mouth sores, not to be confused with mucous production. Because I remember now wondering why they called mouth sores mucocitis.
Michele

The soft tissues of the mouth are the mucosa, itis means inflamation of.