I'd like to see if anyone can offer any advice or suggestions. My husband has been finished with his radiation and chemo 5 weeks today. He sometimes bites his tongue, especially while asleep, due to numbness and nerve loss on the right side. Has anyone else had this problem? If so, can you recommend anything to alleviate or help the problem? He also complains of his tongue being swollen, or at least feeling swollen, and we're not sure if this is from the biting issue, post-treatment side effects, or what.

Also, he says that his throat and mouth are still really sore and hurt. He says that one sip of water will go down fairly well, but by the second sip the phlegm is washed away and it burns. He does have the magic mouthwash, but it gets washed away too. Any ideas here? Should he be pushing himself to eat, or just wait until the pain improves?

Thanks so much for any insight you can give us!

I wish I had some advice to give him. I haven't had the rad or chemo yet, but will soon. I still have those problems since aug.3rd when I had surgery to remove most of the left side of my tongue and had 8 nodes removed. LOL Now I can think about it not improving. Get his tongue checked, as mine felt swollen . It was,, infection that had to be drained.

My suggestion is for your husband to use the magic mouthwash as much as possible. At 5 weeks post treatment, Im sure his mouth is still pretty sore. It takes a long time to heal. Even water can hurt after treatment. If he is able to use the magic mouthwash wait 5 minutes then try to eat something like yogurt or thin pudding he may be able to do it. He may have problems with the taste of food right now.

Personally, at 5 weeks, I was struggling alot too. I did not have the swollen tongue or biting my tongue problem, so Im not sure what to do about that.

Now Im 3 1/2 months post treatment and still depend on the PEG for my main nutrition. My mouth and throat are much better but still a little sensitive. Try to encourage him to eat and drink so he doesnt have movement and swallowing problems down the road.
Best of luck to you and your husband.

Hello,
I bite my tongue in my sleep sometimes too. I wear a mouthgard every night to help prevent this and tooth grinding, but still bite unconsciously at times. Without the guard it is much worse. The bite wakes me as it hurts, but then I get back to sleep. Does it harm the tongue? Who knows...... I hope not. I feel there are things even the doctors do not know. Just my opinion.
Good Luck!
Gerry


2 time tongue cancer survivor.