Bill, I'm a little more than one year out of treatment for BOT Cancer and I'm 70. I just started getting a little saliva last week. No saliva IS really depressing. They tell you ahead of time but until you experience it you don't realize how important saliva is. My radiation Oncologist said that everyone recovers differently but also said that any recovery of saliva and taste will take place in the first 6 months. Mine didn't and did start just recently. Others on this forum relate changes after two years.

The reality is that everyone IS different and you'll just have to wait and see.

The other depressing thing is that it seems that every Doctor has a somewhat different, or radically different, opinion.

My ENT Doc really gave me little hope of saliva improvement but he did prescribe pilocarpine which helped some.

I use XyliMelts at night.

I'd also recommend that you take 2000mg of American Ginseng a day. Mayo did a clinical study on Chemo patients and it helped with their energy levels. Helped me for that and other things.

There are clinical studies by reputable cancer treatment providers (MD Anderson, Sloan-Kettering, Mayo)that show that acupuncture helps in starting saliva flow. I've communicated with cancer treatment survivors for whom it has worked but I tried four different protocols and none worked for me. I have not been able to find out how age affects the acupuncture effectiveness or for how long the saliva continues to be produced. One of my correspondents had success but had to keep up with the treatment and when she could no longer afford to the saliva decreased.

Having only one set of molars left after the others were pulled for fear the radiation would harm them, having no saliva, and having taste greatly affected, everything tastes really salty, I'm on a primary diet of drinking Boost VHC combined with Scandishake three times a day. That has gotten very old.

All I can say is what others on this board have said: hang in there and hope for the best.