I did not have ethyol, although it was discussed at great length with the RO. She figured that given the side effects that it can have (has) it was not worth it in my case. Note!! this does depend on what exactly gets radiated. The radiation field may be quite different from patient to patient. Especially with IMRT the parotid glands (or one of them) are often not destroyed. Also note that there are other salivary glands (submandibular and sublingual)... which are more likely to be in the radiation field (depending on cancer location)

That said, I can eat pizza (stromboli actually), soft bread etc without having to drink water, although I usually do. I have issues with crumbly food and taste that is not quite where it should be.

Markus