Is there anything that can be done for excess secretions? My husband has excess,seems to be gagging him and making him cough a lot,further inflicting throat pain....any suggestions? HELP! Will this end after tx complete, or am I assuming too much?

Ask the nurses to suction him out. Ask the doc for a prescription for a portable suction machine.

Try rinsing several times per day with a mixture of 16 oz warm water, 2 tsp baking soda and 2 tsp salt. If it burns too much cut back the salt to 1 tsp or omit it completely. Since the salt will help with heeling, try to get some of it into the mixture. He should be rinsing at least 4 times a day with this.

Use a water pik on the lowest setting with a mixture of biotine mouth rinse and water.

Some have gargled with seltzer water. I didnt use that but other have reported success.

Most of us experience what he is going thru and for me it lasted about 2 weeks and then it gave way to the dreaded dry mouth. I kept a Styrofoam cup in my pocket and would spit in that damn thing all day. At night I would have to wake up all hours with a mouth full and barely make it to the BR sink. I also had a hard time with nausea and this didn't help as it would often cause a gag reflex causing me to toss my cookies. Try all of the things people suggest and hopefully one may help but do remember this phase is temporary.

What type of secretion? thin like drooling or thick rope type mucus, maybe yellowish? Radiation can sometimes cause "hypersalivation" and reduced clearance of saliva, so can an oral infection cause this. On the other hand, the thick rope muscus is caused by the destruction of thin saliva produced by the salivary glands, mainly paritoid. Until the glands start recovering, which was about two post treatment for me, you will have the rope mucus, which is common.

As suggested, keep rinsing, sleep on an incline, use a humidifier, drink liquids, mucinex and robotussm help some, rinsing with papaya or pineapple juice or seltzer breaks up the mucus, even meat tenderizer diluted in water to rinse with. Good luck.

Thanks for good suggestions,went out to store earlier and picked up water pik, seltzer and placed in bathroom.... All ready to go! Now to get him to use it... (Another issue....). Oh secretions clear and delivery of portable sx machine tomorrow.

Colleen: I feel for your husband right now. For me, the secretions were just about the worst thing I went through out of the entire treatment, chemo and radiation. I couldn't sleep, swallow, drink, eat or even speak for a month because of them. Docs told me it was the lining of my mouth sloughing off, which grossed me out so much, I refused to swallow the stuff and walked around spitting up in tissues. My secretions also lasted a lot longer than what most have described, from about week 5 of treatment (I had 7 weeks in all) until about a month after treatment. I would literally lie in bed talking to my mouth, asking it to stop secreting. Nothing helped me. The suction machine did not help. But a Water Pik was the best piece of advice I got. While it didn't stop the secretions, it made my mouth feel fresh. I used it about 5-6 times a day. The secretions did stop eventually, in their own time. I didn't believe they ever would. And then came the dry mouth, which is another beast. But tell your husband that the secretions will stop. He will heal. It just takes time. I will say prayers for you both. -Michelle

[quote] And then came the dry mouth, which is another beast.[/quote]Hi, Do you mean dry mouth syndrome STRATED after treatment stopped? I just finished treatment(chemo-rad) and the thick spit thing is starting up on me. Nothing really painful or a problem, I'd classify as annoying in having to always consciously think about where to spit out that wad of spit somewhere.

I always have seen dry mouth referenced much earlier in treatment. As I am just entering post-tx, I want to have my current list of "symptoms" to be looking out for.

Don

The dry mouth starts after the sticky secretions end. The DM phase will last for the rest of your life and at first will be (probably) extremely dry. Over the course of the next 2 years it will S L O W L Y improve to some point and then you will see no further improvement. I saw a slight but welcomed improvement in my 4th month post Tx; more my 5th month; the biggest improvement in my 14th month and then a tad more in my 24th month and none since. I estimate that I am 90% back to normal. Your taste will improve along with the improvements with your saliva. I say estimate because once you loose your saliva and taste it was impossible for me to remember what my 100% normal was so it's not easy measuring where you are post Tx to what you used to be.

Remember each of us can be different but don't expect miracles.

Colleen, you are one great caregiver! Right on the ball with everything. I hope you dont forget to take some time for yourself too. Being a caregiver is a tough job and you sure do it very well! I wish I had been lucky enough to have you for my caregiver!

If your husband is having alot of pain talk with the doc. Ask about pain meds. Being in pain is NOT helpful to the patient at all, it only makes recovery more difficult.

Thx Michelle helpful info. Thx too for the prayers !