How do I produce more saliva?

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Comments

  • Norton
    Norton Member Posts: 8
    #22
    drevman said:

    Saliva
    Hi Dr. Drevyanko (A head and neck cancer victim)

    Hopefully you had IMRT or similar treatments so that some of your salivary galnds were spared. Gum will make your remaining salivary glands work harder, not too hard, they don't burn out that easily. Choose a gum that is pleasant to you. This is the hard part. Now that you have been irradiated if you choose the wrong gum, those that are advertised as intense, you will be drooling all of the time!! Pick something that would be considered a classic. Not intense but flavored. PS I gave this advice to one of the internists who happened to get tonsilar cancer after I did and it worked for him.

    Dr. Drevyanko

    Salivary glands
    I'm about to start rad and maybe chemo. I have spuamous cell cancer in the lymph node. I had surgery last week.
    When they do rad do your salivary glands always get wiped out ?
  • SASH
    SASH Member Posts: 421 Member
    #23
    Norton said:

    Salivary glands
    I'm about to start rad and maybe chemo. I have spuamous cell cancer in the lymph node. I had surgery last week.
    When they do rad do your salivary glands always get wiped out ?

    Salivary Glands
    Hi Norton,

    Not in all cases. It all depends where they have to aim the beams and if your salivary glands are in the path.
  • Dazey
    Dazey Member Posts: 91
    #24
    Norton said:

    Salivary glands
    I'm about to start rad and maybe chemo. I have spuamous cell cancer in the lymph node. I had surgery last week.
    When they do rad do your salivary glands always get wiped out ?

    Sash is
    right - I am four weeks out from radiation treatment - no chemo- I would rate my saliva, taste and swallowing at about an 8 out of ten. Still inflamed, lots of mucous, but assured by my doctor today that I am healing, have patience and the CAT scan from last week is "perfectly normal" Stay positive! Dazey
  • Tootsie47
    Tootsie47 Member Posts: 8
    #25
    Hondo said:

    CajunEagle

    Glad to hear you are hanging in there, when I finish Radiation & Chemo I too could not walk straight, I would hit the side of the doors trying to walk through it, needless to say how much it hurt. I starting using a product called Ambrotose and with in a few days was walking better and not running into the walls.

    After Radiation and Chemo everyone’s body reacts differently so this might or might not work for you, but it was a blessing to me, I am back at work again as I work for a large Diving company doing maintenance.

    If you are interested I think the web site is www.mannatech.com

    Take care God bless.

    Ambrotose
    Hi Hondo, I read your comment under How do I produce more saliva. In what areas do you think the Ambrotose helped you. My husband is 2 1/2 months out of treatment Head and Neck SCC, Occult Primary. His saliva is nonexistent and taste horrible so having extreme difficulties finding things to eat. Thank goodness for old "PEG." We have heard about Ambrotose from a friend and are mulling getting it so really curious about your experience. They use it for arthritis. Can't say my husband had the walking into walls problem--except when talking Ambien. That stuff is scary!

    Still lots of phlegm and trouble sleeping at night due to the dry mouth.

    Thanks for any help you can give.
  • Scambuster
    Scambuster Member Posts: 973
    #26
    Norton said:

    Salivary glands
    I'm about to start rad and maybe chemo. I have spuamous cell cancer in the lymph node. I had surgery last week.
    When they do rad do your salivary glands always get wiped out ?

    Save your Salivary Galnds
    HI Norton,

    I would ask your radiotherapy team who will make your mask and set the beams etc to PLEASE SAVE YOUR SALIVARY GLANDS !

    They are usually professional types but it wouldn't hurt to emphasize your concern so they take extra care.

    All the best with yr treatment.

    Craig - Scambuster
  • Johnlb09
    Johnlb09 Member Posts: 4
    #27
    Norton said:

    Salivary glands
    I'm about to start rad and maybe chemo. I have spuamous cell cancer in the lymph node. I had surgery last week.
    When they do rad do your salivary glands always get wiped out ?

    Salivary glands
    Hi

    I also had squamous cell carcinoma - started in my left tonsil (interesting that most seem to have started here on this chat page) and then also ended up in my lymph node - in my case it was not encapsulated just in the node but also was in the surrounding area - so the radiation destroyed my left saliva gland. Now they were also concerned that it may spread to my right node so they also destroyed the saliva gland on my right side as well. They use conventional ration therapy (CRT) which is more spread out. if it was more encapsulated in the node then they have been able to use Intensely modulated Radiation Therapy (IMRT). SO it really depend on your situation - you should talk with your radiation therapist. I ended up with 37 radiation treatments (daily) and three high dose chemos. I handled it fairly well as I was relatively young (45) and physically fit. I lost 20 pounds during treatment. Then after treatment and the last chemo, I couldn't keep anything down (even water) and lost another 25 pounds in three weeks. I never needed a feeding tube and have since gained back about 10-15 pounds from the 45 I lost. I work out regularily and that helps. This happened from May to June this year. then last month they did a neck dissection to remove any remaining tissue from the cancer (part of my jugular vein, some muscle tissue and a bunch of nodes). The operation went well and except for a bit of swelling I am feeling pretty good. Through it all I never lost my appetite. I find I am always hungry now, although I am at a healthier weight. I have a little saliva from under my chin area - aside from that I am pretty dry - drink a lot of water when I eat and try to sleep with my mouth closed. I take salogen pills, I don't know if they really work much but they do make me sweat.

    At the end of the day though, the alternative was not good (being death), so all in all, although I wish my mouth wasn't this dry, I am happy to be alive and cancer (I am assuming) free. I hope to live another 40-50 years.

    John
  • Scambuster
    Scambuster Member Posts: 973
    #28
    Hondo said:

    Good Question
    I have used both Salagen & Evoxac and did not find either one worked very well for me, but none of us are alike, what works on one may not work at all for someone else.

    I have found that mouth sprayer’s work best for me, especially at night when trying to get a good nights sleep. I can go almost 6 to 8 hours with out waking up for the need of water.

    The one that works best for me is Stoppers4 Dry Mouth Spray and I get it on line at http://www.drugstore.com/

    Wish you all well in finding what works best for you.

    Stoppers4 test
    Hi Hondo, Appreciate all your considerate posts on this forum. I have ordered a couple of bottles of the Stoppers4 to arrive in Oz about when I get there for the Xmas Vacation. The shipping was a knockout but will be well worth it if it works as I am really starting suffer from the dry mouth. I am willing to try most things. I will also be doing Acupuncture when I get organized as a busy week now with Drs Friday in HK then probably PEG removal Monday. As I live in China it makes logistics to the Docs a bit arduous with having to pass through immigration and rely on ferries/buses to get there. Anyway i will report back on how the Stoppers4 goes and also the acupuncture. Shame you can't find an acupuncturist in your neck of the woods.

    Cheers for now
    Scambuster
  • naturenaw
    naturenaw Member Posts: 26
    #29
    Norton said:

    Salivary glands
    I'm about to start rad and maybe chemo. I have spuamous cell cancer in the lymph node. I had surgery last week.
    When they do rad do your salivary glands always get wiped out ?

    Saving some spit!
    As far as possibly saving some salivary gland function.... Look into IMRT (Intensity Modulated Radiation) instead of standard radiation. It can help save parotid glands, and aid in less dry mouth after this is all done. Although if you have some cancer in the parotid gland, they may just have to treat it harsher anyway. But it's worth asking about. If it's not available where you live (it wasn't available in our town but was available an hour away), ask where is the closest location that does have it.
  • Hondo
    Hondo Member Posts: 6,636 Member
    #30
    Scambuster said:

    Stoppers4 test
    Hi Hondo, Appreciate all your considerate posts on this forum. I have ordered a couple of bottles of the Stoppers4 to arrive in Oz about when I get there for the Xmas Vacation. The shipping was a knockout but will be well worth it if it works as I am really starting suffer from the dry mouth. I am willing to try most things. I will also be doing Acupuncture when I get organized as a busy week now with Drs Friday in HK then probably PEG removal Monday. As I live in China it makes logistics to the Docs a bit arduous with having to pass through immigration and rely on ferries/buses to get there. Anyway i will report back on how the Stoppers4 goes and also the acupuncture. Shame you can't find an acupuncturist in your neck of the woods.

    Cheers for now
    Scambuster

    Scambuster
    Hope the Stoppers4 works as well for you as it does for me, also please let me know how the acupuncture works for you and what type of acupuncture you will be taking. I have a trip to Singapore coming up and that might be the right time to get the acupuncture done.

    Take care
    Hondo
  • fsdman
    fsdman Member Posts: 51
    #31
    hisnibs said:

    Korean Accupuncture
    Never new it was available. As reported above, I got minimal results from chinese accupuncture. My doctor was confident that it would get better but at the same time didn't fkinch when I said there was little to no improvement. I still have some faith in Accupucture working for some. So if I can locate a korean practice I may have to try it.

    accupuncture
    My radiologist showed me a study of accupuncture for radiation induced xerostomia-dry mouth. I had to find someone who would follow the proven protocol and knew about the specific treatment. I did and he researched the pin positions. After a few weeks I noticed MAJOR improvement in taste buds ,my tounge stopped burning after 5 weeks and generally my mouth problems got much better.Saliva increased with sugar free lozenges during treat ment.I did 13 weeks and I am very much better in many ways.Pin position is important .2 in the ear and 1 in each forefinger.I got more out of this than I expected.

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