neck swelling

dennis318
dennis318 Member Posts: 349 Member
edited March 2014 in Head and Neck Cancer #1
I have had radiation, and chemo as of January of this year, I have a trach, which I hope will be removed next week or soon, this is not what I expected, my chin, jaw and throat are swollen, what is causing all this swelling, I tried massaging, and the doctors tell me it may or may not go down, what kind of wild quess is that????Someone been here like me to explain it, this is getting to be a downer ever day..Thanks Dennis, i know alot has to do with the trach, stretching hurts like you know what.

Comments

  • Skiffin16
    Skiffin16 Member Posts: 8,305 Member
    #2
    Turkey Neck.....
    Hi Dennis,

    You might have what we all call Turkey Neck. For me and several others my throat puffed up under my chin. Usually worse in the morning, but pretty consistant. If it's that, more than likely you are a new member to the "Turkey Neck Club"....

    Again, if it's that the cause is from the radiation damaging the lyphmhatic fluid flow. The fluid builds up because the pathways were damaged. Lyphmhatic flow is somewhat gravity induced naturally. You can try gentle massage or massage theraphy. Some on here advocate types of stretching and exercise also.

    Usually and eventually the fluid starts establishing new routes and will deminish. You can see on my photo that I still have some, but I'm more down to maybe a small chicken neck now after a year, LOL.

    Best,
    John
  • Hondo
    Hondo Member Posts: 6,636 Member
    #3
    Hi dennis


    It seams like every time our doctors try something new it always comes with a lot of side affects that we are told about, I hope it is just drainage from some of the lymph noise.

    Take care
  • Scambuster
    Scambuster Member Posts: 973
    #4
    Should Go away ..
    I went through a few photos taken in January 3-4 months out from Tx, and I was shocked to see that I had a monster turkey neck. Now 5 month later, there is no sign at all. All chances are that yours too Dennis will subside and go away in time. just a bit more crap to deal with for a while, but more just appearance than anything debilitating.

    Scam
  • MarineE5
    MarineE5 Member Posts: 1,034 Member
    #5
    Sleeping and salt?
    Hello Dennis,

    I am curious as to how you are sleeping? With a Trach, I am guessing you are sleeping in a incline position, or I hope you are. If you are sleeping flat, the lymphnode fluids will build up in our face and neck during sleep. As you mentioned, you have tried massaging. How often do you do it? A gentle massage may last between 4-6 hours and need to be repeated. As mentioned above, we have gravity on our side and taking walks help.

    Cut out as much salt as possible for awhile, it retains the water in our bodies, even though we still need to hydrate ourselves, we need to flush our bodies in the first year. Anytime we have our head and neck below our heart level and do any lifting of a heavy object or continued exercise as simple as raking leaves, we swell up in the head and neck. Then we need to massage the fliuds to move them. As mentioned already, the lymphnode system will re-learn new avenues to travel and the Turkey neck will slowly go down.

    Once you have the Trach removed, you will be able to help more by doing some stretching exercises. I know it is difficult to try and do stretching at the moment as the Trach hits the walls of your throat with too much movement and causes discomfort.

    My Best to You and Everyone Here
  • dennis318
    dennis318 Member Posts: 349 Member
    #6
    MarineE5 said:

    Sleeping and salt?
    Hello Dennis,

    I am curious as to how you are sleeping? With a Trach, I am guessing you are sleeping in a incline position, or I hope you are. If you are sleeping flat, the lymphnode fluids will build up in our face and neck during sleep. As you mentioned, you have tried massaging. How often do you do it? A gentle massage may last between 4-6 hours and need to be repeated. As mentioned above, we have gravity on our side and taking walks help.

    Cut out as much salt as possible for awhile, it retains the water in our bodies, even though we still need to hydrate ourselves, we need to flush our bodies in the first year. Anytime we have our head and neck below our heart level and do any lifting of a heavy object or continued exercise as simple as raking leaves, we swell up in the head and neck. Then we need to massage the fliuds to move them. As mentioned already, the lymphnode system will re-learn new avenues to travel and the Turkey neck will slowly go down.

    Once you have the Trach removed, you will be able to help more by doing some stretching exercises. I know it is difficult to try and do stretching at the moment as the Trach hits the walls of your throat with too much movement and causes discomfort.

    My Best to You and Everyone Here

    Sleeping
    I'm sleeping with pillows under my head and shoulders, i wear a shiley, neck strap which is velcrod around my neck, the tube slides in and out, because if if i strap it tight, my neck has no room to bend and rubs the plasic oval, the worst part is if it come s out, it's been downsized to a 4 which means you need nerves of steel and a strong stomach to slide it back in without tearing the hole back up, I feel the plastic in my throat, or at least i think i do, and i feel what phlem does come up get wrapped or caught on it. I call the doctors who installed this sucker, and feel a aspirin should take care of the pain......WRONG, Let me come to your office drill a hole in your throat and stick a tube of plastic in your neck, and expect to take it out and clean it.....My hyperbaric treatments seems to open my throat up and my breathing has gotten better, some of the prroffesionals i have or assistants, missed the lesson on patient pain, JJEESSSHHH, Thanks for the info guys, your all great, and sorry I sound grouchy, I have every right...LOL..DENNIS
  • Skiffin16
    Skiffin16 Member Posts: 8,305 Member
    #7
    dennis318 said:

    Sleeping
    I'm sleeping with pillows under my head and shoulders, i wear a shiley, neck strap which is velcrod around my neck, the tube slides in and out, because if if i strap it tight, my neck has no room to bend and rubs the plasic oval, the worst part is if it come s out, it's been downsized to a 4 which means you need nerves of steel and a strong stomach to slide it back in without tearing the hole back up, I feel the plastic in my throat, or at least i think i do, and i feel what phlem does come up get wrapped or caught on it. I call the doctors who installed this sucker, and feel a aspirin should take care of the pain......WRONG, Let me come to your office drill a hole in your throat and stick a tube of plastic in your neck, and expect to take it out and clean it.....My hyperbaric treatments seems to open my throat up and my breathing has gotten better, some of the prroffesionals i have or assistants, missed the lesson on patient pain, JJEESSSHHH, Thanks for the info guys, your all great, and sorry I sound grouchy, I have every right...LOL..DENNIS

    Pain Relief
    Know what you mean with some MD, they need a little pain in their lives LOL, to truely appreciate what we deal with.

    Take whatever meds you need to get you through. I know some people are resistant to the heavy pain killers, but the way I look at it is you need to deal with what you have at the moment and survive this treatment. If you have a problem with the pain killers after the fact, then deal with that then. At least you are alive to do that right...LOL.

    Sorry to hear of your ordeal, it sucks I'm sure...just keep on dealing day by day. Sometime in the near future it'll be history and more than likely you'll find humor in it, not that you don't seem to be having a problem with humor in it now....

    Good Luck, God Bless,
    John

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