6 Months After Treatment/Tonsil and Lymph Node

ric0197

I am now five months out from seven weekly chemo treatments and thirty five daily radiation treatments for squamous cell carcinoma of my tonsil. My taste has improved slightly but only for the first few bites. The bigger problem for me right now is the lack of saliva. I saw my radiologist Monday and told him I was still having trouble swallowing and I felt as though my throat was still swollen. He examined me and assured me my throat was healing fine and the difficulty swallowing was the result of no saliva. The doctors as well as the dentist are very vague when I ask about when I could expect this to improve. Has anybody else experienced this and is there hope that saliva will return in a reasonable time?

wbcgaruss

Hello, ric0197, and welcome to the CSN H&N forum. At 5 months you are still somewhat early out of treatments and still have time for recovery and an increase of return of your saliva. Recovery from H&N treatment is a slow process measured in weeks and months. Things come back slowly and gradually. My taste has come back after treatment and my saliva but not back to pre-treatment times. It is a little hard to judge it in the percentage of return. Each persons cancer, treatment, and recovery are different because of location, how big, how much radiation and strength, and so on. It is a very common thing to at times have something taste very good in the first few bites and then it fades away. You still have time for your saliva to get better I would say up to a year or more but everyone's different. In the meantime deal with what you have for now and adjust as it improves. I am always sipping coffee or water or chewing gum. It would be your choice of liquid drink but sip what you need for now to keep your mouth moist. When eating anything that seems too dry you are going to have to sip a little bit of water or the liquid of your choice in the amount that makes the food moist enough to be easier to chew up and swallow. You will have to experiment with this to get the amount of liquid added right for you. Think of the consistency you can swallow pretty easily now such as a thick smoothie and try to copy that. Chewing gum helps activate saliva somewhat. Choose a gum with Xylitol in it. The more the better. The closer to the top of the ingredients Xylitol is listed the more it has in the gum. I use Trident sugarless as Xylitol is the third ingredient listed. At night I use Xylimelts sometimes but you could use them anytime. Since you had treatment in this area and your saliva affected you are going to have to start being super fussy about caring for your teeth, flossing, brushing and going to the dentist regularly, at least every 6 months. This is what I have come up with it is what works for you in dealing with this. Some have found lozenges that worked for them. What you are dealing with is your new normal as we call it. There is no set time on when or how much these things will improve, only time will tell. This is where patience comes in.

I would highly recommend you have your medical team assign you to a good Speech Therapist, they deal with all things Head and neck related to swallowing, breathing, voice, or any other problems in that area. They will probably even have you take a swallowing test to evaluate your problems. A swallowing test shows in real time what if anything is causing swallowing problems and it is recorded so they can play it back. These folks can work wonders. I am surprised you don't already have one assigned to you. They will take into account your treatment, lack of saliva, etc., and help you.

I hope this helps a bit.

Wishing You the Best

Take care, God Bless-Russ

Swallowing and Speech Rehabilitation for Head and Neck Cancer

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uhwFg8oyGMY

What happens during a swallow test?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dRvYL_TAtKI