Hi its been a long time I have been cancer free 9 years but had radiation to my neck. Well I have been having a lot of flushing and feeling like my throat is closing and went to an Allergist from MGH Boston and was surprised to hear that she had other patients like this who was wasting away like me and unable to eat. After all the allergy testing and other diseases were ruled out in the ER and one week in the hospital I met with this new allergist and she informed me that this is long term results from radiation. One women she knew personally and could only eat 4 foods had no choice but to go back to the stomach feeding tube. How far do I let this go? Do I want to live on a stomach tube for the rest of my life however long that is? I am not sure. If anyone has any answers or had this happen to them, let me know. Thanks

I have a friend going through something similar but she is fairly recently out from a non-cancer, non-throat surgery, no radiation at all. They think it might be her thyroid going wonky ... but there are a lot of confusing allergy symptoms appearing too. (The results keeping alternating between yes allergies and no allergies ... driving her nuts, as you can imagine.) Because what you are describing sounds so much like what she's going through, I'd really ask about thyroid related issues ... I know the rads did a number on my thyroid right away.

I have very little real experience with this, of course, and I do hope others chime in. The only person I've met in real life who stayed on a feeding tube was an in-law, and to my understanding, whatever her condition was, she simply never got off the feeding tube in the first place and gave up hope. Very different scenario. (She's no longer with us, so I can't ask her the details ... she was very old.) She never said anything about throats or swelling ... I wonder if I could get someone else in the family to clue me in on more details.

I've been waiting on my dentures for about six months now (due to some funky issues with my surgeon) and nobody seems to be batting an eye at how much weight I've lost or the fact that my diet is crap. I suppose if I had more severe symptoms like you, they'd be paying attention ... and you're totally right to be concerned about that. Whether you need a tube or not, the issue needs fixing because that is just plain miserable. You need to be able to breathe too! That's the part that bugs my friend the most.

Do allergy meds help? Have you tried an inhaler (if you have one)? This has been a rough season for breathing for me, and I've used my rescue inhaler more times this season than I have since I was issued the thing. Oddly, though I'm not sure at all what the issue is, except my palate dropping while waiting for the dentures, it does seem to help ... which argues for swelling in the airways, at least. If you have an inhaler and it seems to help, consider inflammation as a possible part of the problem.

No, I am NOT a medical specialist, just a confused patient like everyone else, but these are the things I've been seeing and experiencing, so maybe some of it will help.

I would suggest you get a barium swallowing test. Your doctor can refer you to the hospital for this. With a swallowing test, the doctors or speech language pathologist will be able to determine how well you are swallowing or what are the problems with your swallowing. They study the mechanics of swallowing through imagin, so it takes the guess work out of it. I don’t know if there’s a waiting list in your area. Where I live, in Ontario, Canada, there is a ten week wait. So get on it right away in case you have to wait, and do ask to be put on the cancellation list if your time is flexible.

You can search under thread " Eating, Speech, Swallowing, and Alternative Feeding ".

Thank you so much yes I do believe that I have too much thyroid meds in me, I complained last year about chest pain and agitation, but the symptoms are much worse this time, I am skeletal 95 pounds and flushing all on my face. Thank you I will keep stressing the importance to these doctors.

msweet2995,

In addition to the above, my experience with a SLP, was that with a referral by my ENT, who worked in the same office in the hospital, actually several I’ve been to. Every hospital may be different, but that was my experience, and a good that they were there, and saw me just in passing many times, and checked my status.

Good luck!