4 weeks after 6 chemo/35 radiation still lot throat pain

Give it time. You've been severely burned by radiation more than you know, and it takes time to heal. Unfortunately, some discomfort may persist when the healing is done. I'm 19 years out, and the pain is mostly gone, but yawning can still be an issue. I suspect it's the stretching of the scar tissue that is the problem. Hopefully, your recovery will be more complete. They've made many advancements since then. Good luck!

Hi @bebard10,

I had 35 rounds (7 weeks) of Photon radiation for a total of 70Gy and 3 rounds of Cisplatin chemo for tonsil cancer back in 2008 but no surgery and I did research then and found in an England Journal of Medicine that honey could help soothe the throat pain from the mouth sores/ulcers 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 only use MANUKA honey (it’s from New Zealand) which you can find on Amazon that scores at least UMF 15+ and MGO rating of 500+ are considered potent enough for medicinal use- UMF ranges from 10 to 25, the higher the rating, the more potent the benefits are, and of course, the more expensive, the honey. Also, the higher the rating the thinner the honey and better tasting- I use UMF 18+ and 700+ even now for many health benefits it offers and my most recent cancer treatments I received. In addition, I heard very good things about Red Light therapy, which uses infrared light from a wand in the throat has worked well for many.

God bless and good luck on the journey.

@roblem I wondered many times if anyone had tried Manuka honey. I used the Manuka honey lozenges with elderberry from Amazon following my surgery and I felt they were more soothing and effective than other lozenges. The only thing that surprised me about the lozenges is that they were "blobs" - not uniformly shaped and had some sharp edges on them.

Radiation normally keeps working 2-3 weeks AFTER your last round. So you are at about peak pain and misery now . Your cancer has been nuked but unfortunately so has your throat area in the process. I would say it took me about 3-4 months after radiation before I could eat anything semi solid within minimal throat issues. It will happen very slowly. My eating and drinking was somewhat normal after about 6-8 months. Throat pain gradually decreased but it was 2 steps forward and 1 step back. There is a generic dry mouthwash at Walgreens/ CVS that really helped me with dry mouth resulting from low Salvia production. Hang in there it will slowly get better and you will have less throat pain in the upcoming weeks. Today I am 28 months out of radiation and back to about 95% normal with taste, Salvia, smell, eating about anything, energy, etc. God Speed

Hello @bebarb10 and welcome to the fun world of healing from radiation to your head/neck. As others have said, it does get better but it is a slow healing process because it is a burn. I don't know that there is a perfect rinse to help everyone, but my experience was with magic mouthwash, an Rx item from your oncologist and using it frequent;y helped temporarily with the pain. I was lucky to have an oral lidocaine gel that numbed my mouth sores before trying to eat. Ice water/chips are also numbing. You should soon start noticing an improvement in the pain, but still good days and bad. I wish I had known about Manuka honey 13 years ago when I was healing. I use it daily now in my coffee or tea and buy on Amazon from Bees n Trees. Healing, antibacterial and antifungal, helps with my allergies so I don't have to take antihistamines that dry my mouth more than it already is. Just be patient and you will start seeing week by week that things start to improve. IF pain suddenly worsens, get checked for a secondary infection . That happened to me with the tongue burns. Magic Mouthwash helps to prevent that. 6 months from now you will be eating more foods and getting some normal taste back and forgetting about that constant throat pain.