|
| Joined: Mar 2002 Posts: 4,918 Likes: 67 OCF Founder Patient Advocate (old timer, 2000 posts) | OCF Founder Patient Advocate (old timer, 2000 posts) Joined: Mar 2002 Posts: 4,918 Likes: 67 | The answer is yes. I am one of the people ( there are others here) who have had swallowing issues develop 5-9 years out from treatments. There are a multitude of reasons for this, but much of it comes down to two things. 1. The initial anatomical changes that take place from the treatments, both surgical and radiation induced. Even in people that had no intra oral surgeries and just had radiation, the radiation actually burns away anatomy. 2. The nerve damage which occurs from the radiation. The ability to consciously control the swallowing mechanism, and the autonomic nervous control of portions of the swallowing process such as peristalsis waves that move the bolus of food once it enter the esophagus are both degraded. The damage to the nerves is slowly progressive over time. Another example is the impact on my facial muscles that received the largest doses of radiation. I am now at 10 years from treatment, unable to control certain facial muscles on the right side, including the right side of my mouth and lips as the nerves that control them have been damaged. None of this occurred in the first 5 years after treatment, but has progressively worsened since then. At least for me there is no solution to these problems. The incidence of silent aspiration has gotten worse (Have a barium swallow test to evaluate for this.) and the ability to take simple things like pills has gotten worse with it. I have had aspiration pneumonia several times in the last few years. As I age and this continues to get worse, it will become a progressively more dangerous problem.
Brian, stage 4 oral cancer survivor. OCF Founder and Director. The first responsibility of a leader is to define reality. The last is to say thank you. In between, the leader is a servant. | | |
Forums23 Topics18,253 Posts197,151 Members13,338 | Most Online1,788 Jan 23rd, 2025 | | | |
|