Soreness on Tongue

jtjones56

I had base of tongue cancer in September 07 and finished radiation and chemo therapy at the end of December 2007. I have been back for checkups in April and June and the tumor is gone.
When I went back today for a recheck, it still looked good in that area but I told them about soreness on my tongue on the left side (where most of my radiation was). After checking, there was something there (not real visible) just mainly sore. The doctor prescribed Diflucan as I have had numerous yeast infections since the radiation and I go back on September 3 to be looked at. Hopefully, it will be gone, but if it hasn't cleared up, they are going to do a biopsy. All of you have been so helpful to me comparing notes on our progress and questions after our treatments. Have any of you experienced anything like this? Please respond. It always helps to get support. Thank you.

slickwilly

tongue soreness
Hi JT. I will start out by saying I am sorry that you are dealing with a sore tongue. Daily soreness and pain tend to wear on a person as most of us know. I guess I would wonder if it was radiation damage or damage from the cancer being in nerves. It can take many months for nerves to repair themselves if they ever do. I was told that after 16 months there was little chance of a nerve repairing itself. They were right with me as I lost the feeling in half my face 5 years ago and never got it back. Sometimes its painful and other times it feels like I am living with a golf ball inside my face. I am a male and never worried about yeast infections until I had chop+rituxin and 25 doses of radiation. Now it seems to be a constant battle. Groin, inner ear ect. I have no doubt my body chemistry has completly changed. Eating Yogurt, cheese ect might help "so my doctor says". I buy yogurt by the case and still get infections. keeping clean and dry don't seem to matter. I would make Monk the T.V. detective with his cleaning disorder look dirty. I hope you find some relief or at least an answer. Take care, Slickwilly

jtjones56

slickwilly said:

tongue soreness
Hi JT. I will start out by saying I am sorry that you are dealing with a sore tongue. Daily soreness and pain tend to wear on a person as most of us know. I guess I would wonder if it was radiation damage or damage from the cancer being in nerves. It can take many months for nerves to repair themselves if they ever do. I was told that after 16 months there was little chance of a nerve repairing itself. They were right with me as I lost the feeling in half my face 5 years ago and never got it back. Sometimes its painful and other times it feels like I am living with a golf ball inside my face. I am a male and never worried about yeast infections until I had chop+rituxin and 25 doses of radiation. Now it seems to be a constant battle. Groin, inner ear ect. I have no doubt my body chemistry has completly changed. Eating Yogurt, cheese ect might help "so my doctor says". I buy yogurt by the case and still get infections. keeping clean and dry don't seem to matter. I would make Monk the T.V. detective with his cleaning disorder look dirty. I hope you find some relief or at least an answer. Take care, Slickwilly

Thank you for your empathy
I'm just hoping the soreness on my tongue is only the recurring yeast infection. That I can live with!! And thank you for sharing your experience.

Jan

sassyque

Tongue soreness
Hi TJ I had cancer of the tongue 5 years ago.I think it is from the radiation.Somedays my tongue feels fine and other days depending on what I eat or drink it gets sore.My tongue is still very sensitive.Glad your doc is checking and good luck with your continuing recovery

geezer

I had throat cancer
I had throat cancer requiring radiation and chemo, treatment ended April 2007, and still deal with tongue discomfort. Have a spot on the side of my tongue that got badly burnt during radiation and is still sensitive today, even non-alcohol mouth wash burns.

dragonfly2

Sore Tongue
Hi JT,

I just want to say I will be praying your soreness goes away, and I will be waiting to hear good news from you on the board. I do know that it never ceases to amaze me all the little and big, annoying and disturbing things that happen even months after radiation and chemo treatments have stopped. Every little sneeze, mouth sore and nap my husband takes makes me wonder if he's ok. After everything you and others had to go through to get rid of the cancer I feel how dare it return! But if it does, thank God the doctors find it with their diligent watchful eyes and amazing medical tests. I feel we need to be strong to continue the battle. My husband has had two different types of unrelated cancer. He went through chemo 9 years ago and felt if the cancer ever returned he could not go through that again. Well it did return, only it was a different kind... metastatic squamous cell carcinoma of the head and neck. Primary sight unfound, but he had stage 4a due to the lymph node involvement. Once again he had to go through chemo and they added radiation 2 times a day for a week at a time with the chemo 24-7. This went on for 6 months plus. It was really tough, but the cancer is gone again now. We really just kept the faith, and still pray alot.

I will be praying for you, and waiting to hear good news).
It just has to be a yeast infection or food irritation to this tender spot. Have you been eating lots of acidic fresh fruits or tomatoes?

I know the waiting is really hard.

Best Wishes,
Dragonfly2

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