I am at 26/33 rads, finally sores and lesions started to appear on the tongue amongst other places. [It is not an infection, I just came off a couple of days of diflucan]
Basically within one day, the ability (desire) to talk and eat normally went out the window. Today, I tried some Lidocaine oral topical solution 2%. You mix this with some water and swish it around. Talking is now not a problem and eating should be ok as well again.
I previously tried some oramagic also with Lidocaine, but that did not work at all. It may be that my sample was too old.

Anyway, I thought that it may be worthwhile to point out again. I believe that this was already brought up in this forum. Also, if the viscous lidocaine provides relief it makes (to me) a lot more sense than heavy ocyocodone or morphine dosages.


Markus

My Dad used Lidocaine prior to surgery to relieve the sore spots in his mouth so he could eat and speak. He simply swabbed it on the affected areas. It provided only about 20 minutes of relief for him, which was long enough for him to get the food down, but his pain was pretty severe. It was a blessing for him. It comes in different stregnths and he was using the low dose at the maximum times per day. You do have to be careful about how much you use, so it's probably not a good substitute for a narcotic pain reliever, but it sure does provide some relief for the break thru pain.

Markus, another handy thing to have on the med. shelf is Rincinol [made by G.U.M. and over the counter] John used it along with Lidocaine to have with mouth sores. Amy in the Ozarks

Any advice anyone?
Back in April, I was in America with severe jaw pain from tumour and 'little men with knives' inside of lip where nerve is exposed from jawbone thinning.
I found in walmart something called 'Oragel MAX' which is 20% Benzocaine---blissful relief to rub inside jaw before eating, and on lower lip when 'stinging' badly.
On my return home, asked my daughter to send me some more, which she did--and although don't need it inside jaw any more, it still helps inside of lip.
Maxioll-facial surgeon he was surprised it worked at all and not to use it too often!
Any thoughts on this one?
brenda

Hi Brenda --

Since you are in UK, go to the chemist and buy some Difflam -- which contains benzydamine HCl , shown in clinical trials to be the single most effective medication against mucositis and oral sores. It has been approved and is sold (usually over-the-counter) in 37 countries but not yet, alas, in the USA. It is a topical NSAID (not ingested) so I am not sure of FDA's issue with it -- perhaps they are being super-careful with new NSAIDs in general after Vioxx. Our dental oncologist (an expert in radiation issues) was in a trial for this medication and thought it was very effective. You rinse and swish and then spit.

There are also Difflam lozenges but these may not be sold in UK, at least I didn't see any when in England in January (might ask about these). Barry got some last year from an Aussie friend and we picked more up when in Oz last August, they are on counter next to all the cough drops etc., he found them very soothing -- I have used myself with canker sores.

Rincinol also helps, it is the OTC version of GelClair which is a pretty expensive prescription material.

Gail