First time writer.My husband has just completed his first week of twice a day radiation and once a week chemo. this will last 6 weeks. He has a stage 3 cancer on the back of his tongue and tonsil. He has been given Diflucan for thrush and something for the constipation, Is this a common side effect to either the radiation or the chemo, or both. How long does it take for the Diflucan to take effect.? This thrush is making it difficult for him to eat.

Hi Maureen
Welcome to this excellent place for info and support!
I have just finished similar treatment but only had radio once daily so it might be quite different in outcome. The side effects i had were all thrown in together ie it's hard to tell pain from burning of tongue and throat, thrush or inflammation generally. Either way, the burns along tongue are still giving me grief after 9 weeks so expect a long haul! From what i gather, thrush comes and goes but if your husband takes the wash as a precaution that's all he can do. I was advised to eat natural yoghurts to try and get the bacteria rebalanced in there - tasted grim but might have done the trick!
For me the best way of maintaining oral hygiene was to constantly flush with bicarb/salt solution, made warm and forced through a monojet syringe. I gargle and flush as often as possible which prevents having to swallow green gunk that causes sickness, it also relieves the sting considerably. My real godsend came in the form of a dentist's suction pump that i carry around to remove all the thick saliva. I was overwhelmed with copious amounts of the stuff but sucking it away with that is a joy - painless and easy, instead of needind a spitoon all the time - maybe your husband hasn't developed all that yet but it may come!
Hope this is of some help to you both, good luck and keep us posted, best wishes,
Frances

Frances
Where did you get the suction ? My husband has similar problems. I tried all of your suggestions before and he couldn"t swollow yougart so I gave up the battle. He uses lidocaine viscous before swollowing anything and the green slime is constant
Thanks
Diane

Hi Maureen,
I also have a stage III, SCC, right tonsil and 17 days ago completed radiation and chemo for it. I have had 4 bouts with constipation and it can be very debilitating in its own right. It usually wipes me out for a few days and is the main cause of weight loss. If your husband is taking any kind of pain meds, it's usually that which causes it. Also diet doesn't help either. I can't eat any kind of fruit because the acidity burns my throat and tongue. I am mainly on a liquid diet (Carnation Inastant Breakfast, etc.). I have been using SennaKot-S laxatives without a whole lot of success. I may ask the doctor for a prescription laxative until I can get my diet back on track (after the mouth sores heal). I have talked to many who suffer from this, it's more common than you think. I am surprised that there aren't more posts on OCF about it. It has caused me just as much discomfort as any other aspect of this disease.

I have had thrush twice and keep Diflucan in stock. It takes about a week to clear up. Dry mouth tends to make the mouth very alkaline and susceptible to thrush. But as I mentioned earlier, acidic things like fruit or juices can be hard because of the sores. If sores are not a problem yet, a little cranberry juice mixed diluted in water will help a lot. Like Frances said in her post, natural yogarts are also recommended as a preventative. Biotene products help a lot also.

I agree with Gary that constipation is a very frustrating problem we encounter.I remember not being able to go to the toilet for a whole week. Taking prune juice can be a solution but if you have severe mouth sore and swallowing problem, it is out of the question. The doctor gave me some kind of medicine to overcome constipation but with little effect. This dark period covered about three weeks until I could take food gradually and I drank a lot of milk, cereal and soft melons to deal with it.

Karen stage 4 tonsil cancer diagnosed in 9/01.

Hi All,

Some how I missed this thread so my reply is slow. Thrush is common and easily treated with several things. My preference is the Nystatin swish (mouthwash) because it gets to stay in contact with the little Bast--- that cause the problem. That way they get killed fast (usually one day maybe two at the most).

On the CONSTIPATION issue the cause of this problem is VERY likely the PAIN medications. Many of the best pain meds cause the worst pain at the other end. (that is so you can't have too much fun) I found a dose of plant fiber lax. (like metimucel) taken just before or after the pain meds helped a little. best thing is to get off the pain meds as soon as possible!