hi, my 77 year-old father is currently in his 3rd week of radiation treatment and now has a lot of pain inside/outside his mouth and in his throat. the doctors have given him codeine/paracetamol pain killers and tell him to gargle with salt water. there must be other things to ease the pain. i feel so bad for him, please help! we're located in England.. thanks so much

A mouth rinse most of us have used is made of 16oz water, 1 tsp baking soda nad 1 tsp salt. If that burns his mouth then decrease or omit the salt.

For pain, Ive had the fentanyl patch which is changed every 3 days. Then there are other medications that could be given for break thru pain like oxycodone or lortab. A mouthrise called magic mouthwash is very helpful to temporarily numb a sore mouth. Its prescription with several different ingredients. The one I used was benedryl, lidocaine and malox. Your father would swish this around in his mouth for a few seconds then spit it out. It will numb his mouth enough so he can eat easier.

I used viscous lidocaine for numbing relief when I had to swallow any fluids. Other than that, Oxycodone and Fentanyl are both good ideas, the former a tablet and the latter, as Christine mentions, a patch.

Hang in there.
David 2

Magic Mouthwash is a compound made up by the pharmacist and can also contain morphine which is a fast acting pain killer. Codiene is a moderate pain killer and probably not up to the task of mitigating mouth sore pain.. The mouthwash is only for short term pain anyway, incidentally, don't swallow it - it is a "swish & spit" application. For long term pain, time release Fentanyl or Morphine patches work very well. proper pain management is a combination of long term and short term (for breakthrough pain) meds. It is also a balance between the 2. if he is taking too much short term meds, they will adjust the dose rate of the long term meds upward accordingly.

During much of radiation I was on a time released oxycontin for long term pain and oxycodone for short term breakthrough pain. Near the end of treatment I was switched to the Fentanyl patch for long term and liquid oxycodone for breakthrough pain and it was managed well.

I really liked the liquid oxycodone, it had a sweet taste and kicked in quickly and could be easily shot through the feeding tube.

Hi All

I just wanted to report in and extend heartfelt thanks for the timeliness of the advice on this thread. I was up at some ungodly hour this morning unable to sleep (as often happens before my Alex sees his doctors and I have to sort through our issues and priorities).

Latest drama is the management of his ulcers and phlegm (pain and choking). He has stopped talking due to pain and banned me from the house. When he sees me, the phlegm goes berserk in anticipation of talking. This causes him to need to swallow which in turn causes more pain as well as choking. Communication at the moment is by text and email. It would be funny if it wasn't so pathetic (and he is a dreadful speller ).

Anyway, a couple of hours before the appointment, I came across this thread which reminded me to ask about Fentanyl. GP didn't even question it - wrote the script asked what else we needed (long acting oxcodone please and short acting oxycodone for breakthrough pain as per the experience of those on this site). Not a problem anything else? Umm well, yes, but a houseboat doesn't come on script does it?

Happy now, hope this helps Alex get through the next couple of weeks - he has done so well considering the early complications we had during induction chemotherapy. Alex is also happy because he feels like there is something else that he can do and even if it doesn't work, it gives him something to be able to control in his life, which for the last 6 months, has been totally at the mercy of others.

thanks everyone.
KLo