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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I went through the same frustration a couple of years ago. I told my radiologist they specialized in permanent strep throat. It was a good 6 month before i could eat much of anything solid. Soups, Boost, Yogurt, then peanut butter.
It will get better, take each day as they come and do the best you can. I lost a lot of weight which is good but the throat cancer method is not a good weight loss method. To this day there are certain foods that get stuck in my throat. French fries of all things!
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