Swallowing feels like razor blades

Haha. I am almost at the end of week 3. Tomorrow is Friday. The reason for haha...Monday throat pain was 5 out of 10. Days later....8 put of 10. Lidocaine and Tylenol reduce pain to 5. I swallow liquid nutrition with much pain. I spit out the mucous. I need to make it through 3 more weeks plus recovery. Praying and hoping.

Hi,
Suggest your oncologists prescribe a slightly higher dose of pain medication to lessen your pain. At this same stage of my treatment, pain was lessened by dosage of oxycodone. Praying for you. Hang in there. You will get better. Please please have your doctors help you to lessen pain.

I'm so sorry you're going through this. My mouth soreness/pain is just starting, but the things that are helping so far are creamy foods (like pudding), gabapentin, the baking soda/salt water rinse (warmed). I have magic mouthwash and yes, you swallow after swishing. I also wonder if sipping on some really nice extra virgin olive oil might be soothing? Peace be with you.

Hi,
I did research years ago when I was going through my tonsil cancer journey and found in an England Journal of Medicine that Honey could help soothe the throat pain from the mouth sores you will get. I did shots of real honey not the ones you find in your local grocery store which most all are synthetic and don’t have the same benefits. It definitely took some of the edge off for me. I would use Manuka honey which you can find on Amazon that scores UMF 10+ and MGO rating of 100+ is considered potent enough for medicinal use- the higher the rating, the more potent, and of course, the more expensive, the honey. In addition, I heard very good things about Red Light therapy, which using infrared light from a wand in the throat has worked well for many.

Hope this helps and good luck on your journey

Hi @anndri3, it sounds like you’ve been there and done that. Have you also had treatment for a head and neck cancer? When? How are you now?

Yes. November 2024. It is a LONG recovery process.

I had treatment ending in September 24. Still cany swollow solids. Do you also have dry mouth?

Hello bri3sd, I did not have throat pain as my radiation left me with more oral pain. Magic Mouthwash from the radiation oncologist was helpful, and you could swallow some of that not just spit it out. I had an oral lidocaine gel that I used just prior to eating. That was prescription also. Maybe a bit thinned with water could be swallowed to coat the esophageal lesion? I like the Manuka honey idea....that helps everything heal. I like the Bees n Trees brand that I get online....very quick response and a great product. As a veterinarian, we have used a slurry made from Sucralfate, a coating type of ulcer medication, for dog esophagitis. You could ask your doctor about that also. Have you tried applying an ice pack to his neck to see if that numbs it at all? Don't fight with this issue alone, but utilize the oncology staff to help you get this pain under control. You are his best advocate so be the squeaky wheel until you get the response that helps.

A little bit—that and painful swallowing are going away.

I started using Omnilux Neck and Decollete red &
near infrared light therapy device for the wrinkles on my neck daily. I realized a few days later this must be the reason I was eating faster since I was doing nothing else different. My throat didn't hurt as much anymore and it was so much easier to swallow. The near infrared red goes deeper than the red, but they both are used to decrease inflammation for many situations(wounds, injuries,etc.)
I chose this one because I can walk around without being plugged in and it was on sale.