Anyone know of exercises or therapies to improve swallowing?

My tumor was in my mouth. It resulted in not being able to swallow or open my mouth as the jaw muscles tightened. My last chemo was a year ago Feb. I worked with a physical therapist and continue to do exercises on the muscles in my face, jaw, and neck with no noticable improvement. All I can say is keep trying and don't give up. Also, I was given a feeding tube due to weight loss. Please be aware that is an option before you lose too much weight. Best wishes to you.

I’m still on liquid diet and I feel my tumor shrink but still have pain to swallow and I have a lots of mucus coming out, I always have my yaks bag with me. I’m done my radiation and chemo last week. I’m getting IV Hydration since i continue losing weight. Is anyone has the same symptoms? Thank you

Hi
Regarding swallowing, all I could do is sip water when I went to ER and ended up having endoscopy that found cancerous tumor in lower esophagus. The good news is that after initial 3 chemo treatments, the tumor swrunk 40% and I could swollow soft food. Have you had an endoscopy yet?

My daughter is a speech language pathologist (SLP). She works with many stroke, esophageal and head and neck cancer patients in her practice. Many of her patients have significant swallowing issues and benefit from
the rehabilitative therapies she provides. I would strongly the recommend that you seek a consult with an SLP for help with your swallowing issues.

@mtrombit and @grac3honolulu, I moved your questions about swallowing and espophageal cancer to this existing discussion:
- Anyone know of exercises or therapies to improve swallowing? https://connect.mayoclinic.org/discussion/therapy-for-swallowing/

I did this so that you can read previous posts and easily connect with each other and fellow members like @dsh33782 @lori57216 @puprluvr @56899t52 @dsd1939 @cookierockwell @dave640 and others.

@mtrombit, how is your brother doing?
@grac3honolulu, has the swallowing improved? How are you doing?

From my wife’s recent experience, I think you can have faith that the radiation is effectively killing the cancer cells. Her worst weeks were the last week of radiation and the two weeks afterwards. Then, the inflammation seemed to quickly reduce, and before long she was eating completely normally again and feeling much, much better. That continued until her surgery. So she had a good period of time to recover and feel well prior to surgery. I hope the same will be true for you!

I started the chemo rad treatment Sept. 26 last year for the same cancer. It was such aggressive treatment and I ended up not being able to keep anything down by the end of chemo w one week to go of proton therapy. I ended up in the hospital on IVs for a week afterwards, and finally able to keep food and drink down. Please know that this therapy takes a toll on your body and chemo can cause muscle atrophy. I lost 20 pounds in two weeks, was inactive, and I am still trying to recover my strength, especially in my shoulders. I was referred to PT, and I recommend this for those who lose muscle from such dramatic weight loss and atrophy. Keep us posted.

I had cancerous tumor in lower esophagus and also had 28 days of chemo and radiation. After 6 weeks of introductory chemo, the tumor shrunk 40%. I also had similar symptoms. I could not swallow whole food, so I got feeding tube and used it for several months as I also could not swallow Ensure or Boost. I was constantly coughing up phelm and was always tired. I lost about 20 pounds, but I did not have serious pain. It took about 6 weeks after treatment before I really started feeling better. I pray you start feeling better. Let me know if I can help answer questions?

On March 27, 2023 I was diagnosed Esophageal squamous cell carcinoma stage III. I’m on Chemo /week and radiation therapy, 28 days.
I’m getting pain in my esophagus when I swallow and I constantly coughing.
Due to the tumor are swelling and I noticed this week my saliva will not go down to my throat and I keeps drooling. I have to go 3times a week of IV HYDRATION.
I lost weight from 120lbs. to 98lbs. I don’t have any energy, ensure and boost is my daily foods intake and now this week in my 5week of radiation I can’t drink it anymore it will cause excruciating pain in my esophagus.
May 17 is my last chemo radiation treatment.
Please let me know is anyone have the same experience or advice that can mentally support me. God Bless and thank you.

Has anyone experienced inconsistent swallowing with adenocarcinoma esophageal cancer? My brother cannot swallow during the day and can only swallow at night. If you have, do you know what causes it? If so, can you please share if you had a remedy?