Hi again, The only problem Richard is having right now is Thrush. They put him on Diflucan. He started taking them on Friday for 10 days. I'm wondering if this will last through treatment or come and go. I've heard of Nystatin and oral gel clair. Is anyone familiar with these meds? Margaret, I'm glad to hear you were able to keep up with your routine and thanks for the feedback about Emend. Lori, thanks for your post. I'm pretty sure we will be dealing with one thing after another. Richard had such a violent reaction to the first chemo that it totally threw us. We were expecting problems, just not so soon. Geri

Rob had thrush from day three and was on Nystatin throughout his treatment.It came in the form of a liquid and a dropper,which was quite easy to use.

Robs pain med schedule was

Fentanyl,Morpine,Soluble Paracetamol,Voltarol.Different types of meds are required for different types of pain surprisingly,so one size does not fit all.Large doses of fentanyl or morphine DO NOT necessarily eliminate all pain types,particularly nerve pain like trigeminal neuralgia.

Thrush is something that is very sneaky. Ive had it 4 or 5 times sine OC. Be aware it can and does come back and it moves very quickly. Ive taken all those meds for it, they do work. My favorite is the lozenge that dissolves in your mouth, very easy.

I think a lot of us have struggled with the thrush. I had it several times throughout my first round of IMRT. I had both the Diflucan and the Nystatin and had success with both like Christine.
I was usually able to tell I was developing thrush by an odd taste in my mouth. The white patches are one of the symptoms but with the IMRT I had those all the time and they weren't necessarily thrush. But every time, I developed an odd taste in my mouth. I can't describe it but it was a noticeable change.

I also had thrush several times. My did not show up until 5-6 weeks into the action. I think where it bother me the most was after treatment. I was not feeling well, working some, putting off calling the Dr and did not pay attention to my body. Then I would need to call and get a script. I would have a funny taste and white patches.I responded well to Diflucan.

They told me at the CCC, that I held the record for being on high dose Diflucan (400 mg/day) for the longest time (although AIDS patients have way higher maintnance doses) of any of their H&N patients. I read somwwhere that the maintenance dose for thrush is 50 mg/day but I would double check that with a pharmacist. I tried Nystatin too but that orange flavored crap left a gross taste in my mouth -almost as bad as Boost or Ensure.
It's hard on the liver (I have hep C) so I take Clotrimazole troches now instead.

Well, after a wonderful weekend, we are back to reality. Because of 2 mouth sores, Richard will drink his first ensure+ and try the peg tube tonight. This seems too soon to be having this problem, but I'm learning to expect the worst and be happy for any good times. The RO gave him some oral morphine to use on the sores, but it doesn't seem to be helping. We will see her tomorrow and see what else we can do. Geri

Ask the doc for magic mouthwash. It has several names and combos. Mine was lydocaine, malox and benadryl. It helped so much. Just swish it around in your mouth a few seconds then spit it out. It will numb his mouth and give him some releif.

Geri I had the same "magic mouthwash" that Christine had and it was a big help.

Patty

Make sure he try's to swallow every day to keep those muscles in tone.