Hi everyone. my mom made it through the second round of chemo last week, and did rather well. we thought it would be ok, and then this week i guess as a residual effect, her mouth is sore and raw and inflamed. can hardly speak and cant drink even water. she is on pain patches tho. any suggestions on helping ease the pain?
eight more radiation sessions and it is done i hope. she is ready to get back to her life and shopping, i know that is what she misses most. but the positive thing is she is saving money right now ha!
i was reading a lot of posts last night while i was at work, and noticed a name of a med for helping the saliva production, anyone can you tell me what it is and does it work?
tomm we are going to look for a suction device, she had one in the hospital and really enjoyed it.
thanks again for all of your positive replys and encouragement.
when she is up and around i will introduce her to the website and she can continue. i have printed her out many of the responses to read.
jamie

Jamie,
I'm glad she is getting through this. I used a humidifier during my treatment and for months afterwards, it seemed to help me.
Take care,
Minnie

Jamie,

I am glad your mother is reaching the final stretch of radiation treatments (and chemo). There are two drugs that have shown positive results in stimulating saliva production, Saligen and Evoxac.

Ed

ed, back a while ago, you suggested domeboro for the bloody neck mess. well i went and found it today at the pharmacy, box of 12pks now, the box doesnt give very good instructions, says mix 1,2,or 3 pkgs with 16oz water. so i mixed some up for her today and put 2 pkgs in to stay in the middle realm. how did you mix it? also we got the aqua stuff too and some emu oil spray from the radiologist office as samples.
other subject, she needs something to reduce the saliva, not make more, that will probably come later, but right now it is so thick, she gags on it. my brother is trying to create some time of suction device, like they use at the dentist to get it out of there. saw one online but it was like 800.00 unless the insurance would pay, dont want to go that high. really since this is very common, someone should invent a home one. so anyway, anything to lessen or make the mucus less thick?
thanks jamie

Jamie, the mucous is just something that happens, drives you crazy, then stops. For me it was 21 days and it was gone. I wiped it out with Puffs brand tissues, which are the softest and strongest. I wish I had stock in them because I went through dozens of boxes. If you do a search, you will see that some people have had success with some cough preparation, I believe. I am sorry that I do not know the details of that. One last thing, I slept in an elevated position, and rolled up gauze to put in the "gutters" of my mouth. This absorbed the gunk long enough for me to get a little sleep. Tell her it WILL end.

Jamie, Let me second Joanna's post. The mucous is a nasty side effect of the rad (I think) that starts toward the very end of treatment, gets worse for a while, then tapers off. I'm 5 months post rad and still have a little of it from time to time. It clears with a cough or two and a sip of water. Even when it was the worst, I slept sitting up and got up to spit and choke and cough every hour on the hour, or even on the half hour, for a few weeks. It's part of why we get so tired during treatment. But as Joanna says, it does end. I found that it made me vomit, so if she is just choking and gagging, she is either lucky, or it may get worse in the future. But it does go away so tell her to hang in there, there is a light at the end of the tunnel.

How about the PILL form of Robittusun? I say pill b/c I tried the liquid version during my thick saliva phase and saw stars from the burning.

Hang in there. It does get better.

Sabrina

Jamie,
When the mucous was really bad the hospital prescribed me a Yankauer suction device ( similar to what the dentist uses to suck up water in your mouth). I kept it by my bed at night and by my easy chair during the day and it was somehow easier than going through so many tissues.

Danny G.

Jamie,

Danny is right. The suction machine is great. It was a real help to Heather. Her insurance company paid to rent one.

Joanna's suggestion of using rolls of gauze to soak up some of the gunk was also a big help.

Rosie

yeah,,,i finally found people who understand the suction device, now i just need to find one. my brother is trying to create some invention right now but where or where can i find one, and if the insurance pays it would be great! there has to be some personal ones out there for use at home that are not really expensive. any ideas, let me know....thanks to all of you. i look forward to reading this site every chance i get, funny how things change, i used to come home from work and do email and play games, now i go on this site to talk to my "new friends".
jamie