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Saliva and dry mouth: Head and neck cancer and treatments
Many of us have this problem. Three years after RT and lots of talks by oncologists at our meetings and I'm still learning new details about this side effect. Some people have no saliva for life because their glands have been wrecked by the treatment, some recover some function as late as 2 years after (is that right?). Most people though have to manage a more or less dry mouth with constant to frequent sips of water or gels and sprays.
Even worse is what lack of saliva does to your teeth. I've learnt that normal saliva is continually building up the teeth and that without it we are in danger of rampant dental decay without extra fluoride treatment or heroic effects to keep out mouth acid neutral.
How do other manage this problem? What tips do you have?
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Sad to say , he is losing this battle after all this time but the jack Daniels suits his needs well
He just tried it by chance and it is very effective. He will never be able to swallow and the works wonders to help get rid of mucus
Sounds like nothing works clearly and definitively. I find the Oral 7 gel helpful during the day and on long walks.
Hi. I use it each night when it is the worse. Thank you.
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1 ReactionHave you tried Biotene? I’ve found their products to help a bit.
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1 ReactionI also dealt with a mucous that was difficult to remove. When I had my trach tube, I had a device that would suction to mucous and saliva out. I wonder if your husband might benefit from something like that? I apologize that I don’t remember exactly what it was called, but it worked well! If I remember correctly, I rented it from a medical device providers. Has the feeding tube been manageable? Has your husband been able to adapt to using it for nourishment? Also, big congratulations to him (and you!) for 15 years of survivorship!
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1 ReactionHi. I have been using Prescription cevimelene 30 mgs. for dry mouth. It is expensive and my insurance doesnt cover it. Go figure. But I pay for it and seems like it helps.
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3 ReactionsThe home remedy! There's no easy way to deal with mucous although I've heard of fizzy soda water being effective. There's surprisingly little good medical advice for these ongoing issues so well done for finding something that works for him.
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1 ReactionHi @norpel1313 and welcome to Connect. You'll notice that I moved your message to this existing discussion about saliva and dry mouth where you'll meet others talking about coping with dry mouth. I'd also like to introduce you to @mrsjhagen18 who had tonsil cancer, and @adriennef who just recently had the feeding tube removed.
How did you discover that Jack Daniels works for your husband to loosen the mucus?
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1 ReactionMy husband is 15 years out from tonsil cancer with radiation. He is unable to eat anything and uses a feeding time, he had all his teeth removed and gets really thick dry mucus buildup in his mouth. Takes a sip of jack Daniels and it loosens this mucus so he can cough it out. The Jack is the only thing that will cut through the mucus.
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