I ended treatment in July 2008. I had dry mouth at times, but other times it seemed a little moist. In the last couple weeks my mouth has gotten even dryer than before. It is so dry now it almost feels like there is an astringent applied to it.

Anyone seen this before? Any advice? Could the fluoride treatments be doing this?

BTW, a radiation therapist told me that acupuncture can help restore salivary function. Has anyone here tried this?

How about that here in LA we are experiencing the worst Santa Ana desert winds conditions in 3 years- and the relative humidity is about 0%...... Welcome to how the new you interacts with changes in your world.

I never thought about the humidity effecting dry mouth.
I am going to Phoenix for a few days next week so I will plan for it.

Hey Andrew

If you search for acupuncture here, you will find that it seems to work for some and others not. If you're open to giving it a try, go for it and see how it affects your situation.

Kevin

Mine is dryer then a desert sand storm. I am up to brushing ,3 to 4 times , my entire mouth and especially where my teeth were and the tongue and roof of it,. It makes a big difference.

Hope you are feeling a bit better Andrew. Recovery from OC soemtimes takes much longer than any of us expect and the setbacks can be difficult.

Ive heard good news about accupuncture from my dietician in regards to saliva. Hoping Curt'sWife jumps in on this, I think she is very familiar with this topic.

Hi all, and first off sorry for delay in replying to this. I do have an opinion on this subject, and am actually quite passionate about it. I know all treatment doesn't work for everybody. However.....accupuncture was life changing for my husband. We go to Dr. Richard Niemtzow in Maryland. Found him about two years ago, and because we live on the West Coast tried to find someone closer who would do what he did. Failing there, we made an appt. with him, flew there (with no guarantees, mind you but we had NOTHING to lose). Curt's quality of life was so diminished with his complete dry mouth. Anyway, he looked at all the radiation records, evaluated Curt and said he thought he could help. Basically we fly in on Friday night, stay at a hotel near his office that he recommended, then Curt has an appt. on Saturday a.m. and Sunday a.m. (about an hour each). Needless to say, he had very positive results on the first visit. Almost unbelievable. As stated earlier, he had abolutely NO saliva. Always carries a water bottle. Constantly wetting his mouth. After the first treatment, we left the office with sugar free breath saver candies, with instruction to suck on every two hours (that's something he couldn't do since pre Cancer. Then we walked around the National Mall in 80 degree weather for over four hours. Curt did not need to wet his mouth at all. Now, I don't think he'd say the return was "normal", or even "great", but certainly "good" and life changing. (He's a teacher and coach so is constantly talking. This treatment certainly makes his job easier.) On the plane home, we both cried. We wanted to shout it to the world! He's an amazing man, and we love him! Very nice, professional, positive, real, experienced. He�s a board certified MD, a Colonel in the USAF.

The reality of it, however, is the results are temporary. After the first visit, Curt was with saliva for about 7 months. Then it was gone. So, we made another appt. (and Dr. Niemtzow is very quick to get you scheduled) and he had again good results. We are due to go back for a third time in January.

Again, there are no guarantees. But it worked for Curt, so we're very positive about it. What we learned from research and talking with Dr. Niemtzow is that he believes you only need two treatments. In fact the last time, he had such good results on the first day that he said Curt may not need the second appt. (but he still kept it since we had come so far and wanted to be sure of positive results!) I�ve read other posts where people have tried accupuncture and go consistently/indefinitely with varying results. I can only vouge for this Dr. and his results with Curt. Check out his website: www.N5EV.com and email him. He's very good at getting back to you quickly!
Hope this helps!

I don't think it's the fluoride -- Mine is slowly getting better, not good, but better -- I use the Biotene mouthwash for the enzymes and found that chewing the Biotene gum will increase saliva flow.

Of course, right now I can't really tell because Light EggNog is in my coffee and I drink it with meals -- It really tends to coat everything -- Plus I am still drinking my Nutren 2.0 (still have five cases!) with NesQuick flavoring (560 cal total) and that leaves a coat!

Hi Andrew,
My boyfriend martin is going throught the same thing. Everything seemed to be going well and better and now 12 weeks after treatment his tongue is like sandpaper again and even wet things taste dry. He has terrible salty taste again and his speech is strained because of the dryness of the tongue. The consultants told us if taste and saliva came back before, they would come back again, just to be patient, but it seems like a big set back.
Has anything improved for you since your last post?