My husband is in his third week of radiation, the first week was with 96 hours of chemo for SCC of the base of his tongue. He started last Thursday or Friday having an excessive amount of mucous in his mouth. The worst time is at night. He gets up every 15 minutes or so and has to split or hack up the mucous. He follows each episode with a baking soda/salt/water rinse. He hasn't been able to get any rest since last Thursday. He does have a history of hayfever.

We do not see the doctors until tomorrow. The nurse for the radiation doctor hasn't been able to help.

He was told to split out the mucous and not swallow it.

Any suggestions?

Dear AHN,
My husband had a miracle rinse he used (oncology gave us a sheet on the ingredients to mix together for the rinse, and also there is a suction machine you can get if the doc writes you a prescription that helps suck out the mucous. Sitting up in a recliner to sleep even at nite also helped.
God bless and take care,
Debbie

AHN:
I still sleep in my recliner due to mucositus. Products like magic swizzle, etc are great but nothing manufactured is going to give him relief from this nagging side effect. On occassions when I have felt bold enough to try horizontal sleep I have paid the price by almost choking on mucous, not pleasant.
Common off the shelf "Tussin", an expectorant, helps more than anything. Taken four times a day, it thins the mucous.
Good Luck
Darrell

I too had this awful problem during radiation treatment.

I slept with pillows propping up my shoulders, head,and neck - almost in a sitting position.

I kept a water bottle by the bed & box of tissues.

I had an prescription for cough syrup with codiene that really helped. I needed it at night and also each day before the radiation treatments because the thick mucus would get stuck/make me cough as I was lying on the radiation table with my faced pinned down in that wonderful form-fitting mask.

I found (and still do) that warm drinks - a weak herbal tea, not too hot helped to thin the junk in my throat. ANd yes, lots of swishing and spitting.

Bear with it. Its rotten but gets bet post-rad.

good luck,
michelle

Ahn, welcome to the site. Sorry you have to be here. The mucous is a constant problem. I had it and dealt with it by sitting up in bed. Got up every hour (or less, sometimes) to spit, cough, etc. There is no help for it. When rad ends, the mucous problem keeps on for 2-3 weeks, and then corrects itself. Hang in there, it will get better. Will add you to my prayer list.

Ahn, here is a tip that helped me enormously when I was just about choking on that gunk. I rolled up clean gauze and put it in the lower sides of my mouth, between the teeth and the cheek. This absorbed a lot of it and allowed me to sleep, propped up of course, for several hours at a time. It also helped when I went out in public. Make a roll about the size of your index finger, one for each side and see if that helps.

I too had SCC at base of my tongue. I had 35 radiation treatments and 3 chemo treatments completed 3 weeks ago. That thick sticky mucus is normal and difficult. I found it was nearly impossible to sleep without constantly waking up to spit the stuff out. Many times I tried sleeping in a recliner at near vertical position which seemed to help. Drinking ice water or sucking on ice chips seemed to help with the mucus. It is finally starting to go away but that tooke 3 weeks after treatment. Good luck.

Hi Ahn,
I too had this problem. I slept propped up with cushions and pillows, and used gauze in my cheek to keep my mouth open slightly. I lay my head on an old towel and simply allowed the mucous to drain out onto the towel. It was the only way to get any rest. I still needed to sit up and spit, and rinse with a salt water solution, but it was less often. The mucousitis is a very bad side effect, but it will improve once the treatment has finished. I imagined that every time I spat out the mucous I was spitting out cancer cells.......just to help get me through it. All you can do is support your husband, and make allowances for the fact that he is exhausted and in a lot of pain. God Bless X