Towards the end of my radiation treatment I had weeping scabby acne like blisters. It was to the point that the nurses were asking if I had shingles and it was miserable to put my neck anywhere including the head holder on the radiation table or even my own pillow. Not only was it due to the radiation but the breakout of scabby scars and nasty blisters was due to the Iressa drug (far cry from "acne like symptoms")
What helped in my own case was Xeroform Petrolatum Dressing. The only way I found out about this was the nurses were soon putting it on me after the radiation treatments and wrapping my neck up with gauze. The nurses up in chemo would do the same thing when they saw me, just to allow me to be able to put my head back and rest on a pillow. When treatment ended and I was still dealing with the bad burn and blisters, a kind nurse told me how to get these dressings at a medical supply place down the road. We drove there and picked up rather cheaply about 15 of them... they are made by Tyco/Healthcare and they say "Kendall Xeroform Petrolatum Dressing 5 in x 9in" I can honestly say that they gave me such relief at the time, even though I remember having to take them off after a couple hours.
The nurse also suggested for even greater relief with the dressing, to store them in the refrigerator. I can vouch that there's no alcohol in them at all... they are slippery little yellow pads with fine mesh gauze, impregnated with 3% Xeroform (bismuth Tribomorphenate) in a petrolatum blend. Since they were kind of messy, we'd just sort of slide those onto my burned parts and then loosely wrap my neck up with bands of gauze just to hold it in place for awhile for it to do it's work.
As for the thick mucous. I can remember that was one of my worse side effects from treatment. Several people emailed me that sooner or later that phase would end (even though at the time, I didn't think I'd ever see the end of it) I have been keeping a daily journal and I think my bad mucous period ended almost three to four weeks after treatment ended.
If there is such a thing as a mucous fairy, she must be one horrible nasty looking little thing. Hmmmm... a "phlegm fairy" hmmmmm....
Jen
