Thanks everyone for all that information. I appreciate the replies. I am three weeks into radiation now and insisted on Amifostine, aka Ethyol. I get two injections daily, subcutaneously. I take an antiemetic and antihistamine first, but am not convinced I need either. I am tolerating it very well. Their big concern was an allergic reaction, but there hasn't been any. The skin turns pink at the injection site for a day or two - no big deal. Turned out Salagen wouldn't work because they were going to totally destroy my salivary glands. Apparently you have to have some salivary function for that to work. I still have some saliva at this point, so perhaps it's working. If it works too well, the radiation may have no effect on my chronic oral dysplasia, but I'm hoping for a cure of that also.