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Getting frustrated with throat pain post radiation
Now 5 months post radiation. 33 treatments of targeted radiation plus chemo therapy for my stage 3 Metastatic Squamish Cell Carcinoma back of tongue R/S. A few weeks ago my throat pain was subsiding enough whereas I finally started eating soft foods with some good success. This week the pain increased to where I have had to go back on liquids. The pain is either on the left side, right side or back of throat. Sometimes the entire throat hurts like strep. The pain is always present but is really bad when I swallow something. Seems to be 2 steps forward and a few back. My oncologist claims that the pain will eventually go away but cannot provide any kind of time frame. Has anyone with similar treatment experienced throat pain for an extended period post radiation? If so, how long did it last? I was getting really excited and optimistic for a couple of weeks while eating very saucy soft foods. I was finally making progress and then things just got worse again. Nobody said this was going to be easy but it gets discouraging when I appear to be making progress just to fall back again.
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@colleenyoung
Thanks for asking. Yes, there have been further improvements—subtle day-to-day, and not linear. The same big picture concerns dominate. Keeping my weight up and managing pain. I’m getting better at these and they are getting easier. Still 90% Boost diet, slowly introducing normal food as much as the throat can stand. And am starting to wean off pain meds. Sense of well-being has been helped by interacting with others in my same boat.
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3 ReactionsI had a similar treatment schedule for the same thing.
It's been 8 weeks since my last treatment and the timeline doesn't make sense.. it's not been like recovering from a cold or any kind of injury I've ever had.
Just exactly like you said, sometimes I can eat soft foods with relatively low pain.. but other times my whole skull hurts from chewing and/or swallowing.
Event water hurts to pull down. Zooming out at the bigger picture there was a point I could hardly talk. But now I'm back to work full time.
Thank God for the G-tube and the boost shakes or I'd be a gonner. I'm totally battling my weight also. Have been trying to find any type of soft foods to add to my diet, but it's slow going and again doesn't make sense when other recovery periods were definitely liner in progress.
The graph for the pain is like a fun house mirror, why Wednesday was excrusiatingly painful but Friday was nearly pain free I can't find a reason.
But others that are many months ahead of us are having good results, so, we press forward!
Good luck with the food search!
I'm 6 months out (Rt tonsil HPV cancer surgery and 25 rounds radiation) and I'm not having any type of foods I can't eat. Tasting them is another story? I'm getting some tastes on food items with oil in or on them? Strange huh? Almonds, Avocado. Breads and sweets are still difficult but doable. But, my tastes are slowly returning. I have a knot in my throat from Radiation Fibrosis that I'm constantly fighting with and working on. But, I have no pain while eating or swallowing. I did not have a g-tube.