Hi Everyone,
Well the vomitting has finally stopped and the thick mucous is getting easier to remove from the throat with the sea salt and baking soda solution that my husband has been using. Now the question is how do you get more that an hour or two of sleep with the dry mouth. Any suggestions would be most appreciated.
Wendy

Hi Wendy,

Bottle of water by the bed and a "humidifier"...I still use mine to sleep at night. I'm sure there are more tricks and helpful hints coming your way.

Take care,
Dinah

Hi Wendy, he must be doing pretty good to put any kind salt in his mouth. I couldn't do it towards the end of treatment. Even nasal saline solution burned too much. 1% saline solution was too much. The mucous was a real nuisance for a while and at about three weeks or so, post Tx, it just stopped.

I found that if I managed to get the phlegm cleared early in the day, it made eating & swallowing, without nausea, a whole lot easier. There were times I didn't want to sleep because I hated waking up choking. My throat hurt enough that decently hacking or coughing it up didn't work. Sometimes just sipping water first thing in the morning worked to loosen it up.

I don't have many problems sleeping at night with the dry mouth now, but for a while, I would wake up and every thing in my mouth was stuck together! Like Dinah, I still use a humidifier and keep a bottle of water always close by. Watch out for any kind of diuretic (i.e., anything caffeinated or with alcohol) or salty foods. Many meds will also cause dry mouth to be even worse.

It will get better.

I needed a humidifier next to my bed for about a year (through the winter...and they last a long time here)

Before bed drink 1 tall glass of water then swish with Biotene mouthwash and spit out most of it (it is ok to swallow a small amount). The Biotene is thick enough to stay with you for quite a while. I had a bottle next to the bed for those times when I was sleeping with my mouth open. (that is not fun).

Hi Wendy, I use Biotene Oralbalance gel.
I brush/floss and use the Waterpik to get a good cleaning, then rub the gel into the gumline and
everywhere else. Not too much or it gets a little
slimy. I don't drink anything after 'cause it
will wash the gel away. That lasts me all night.
There's a little gel left over in the morning,
but it rinses right out.
I do my fluoride treatments in the morning
before work. O-O

I agree with Powerlifter....Oral Balance (from Biotene) works for me....

But have been told to do the floride treatments with weekly frequency.....Not daily

I usually am able to sleep for a few hours and then the dry mouth wakes me up. In the middle of the night I use the Biotene oral jel as well, but it only lasts me a couple of more hours.
I did buy a humidifier but did not find that it helped that much. It sounds like a lot of you guys are sleeping much better than I. They say that you can learn to breathe through your nose while sleeping, but I am not sure how to train myself to do that!

Danny G.

In response to the fluoride treatment, I use
GelKam (.4 percent). Both my regular dentist and
oral surgeon said to use it everyday.

As far as sleeping at night, exercise works for
me. I work full time and find time to pump iron.
The cancer thing plus my job can cause some
stress, but heavy lifting takes care of that!
O-O

Hi I'm 13 years out of mouth cancer and still have to have a cup of water. I only have one kidney so that wakes me up at night anyways I then drink water after that. I'm now having to remove what is left of my teeth and have to have hyperbaric treatment before I have them out.
good luck, Cathy