Swallowing issues

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anthony1
anthony1 Member Posts: 1 Member
edited October 2022 in Head and Neck Cancer #1

Hello everyone. I was diagnosed with HPV throat cancer and have recently completed 34 radiation treatments and 7 chemo treatments. I’m almost 5 weeks out of treatment. Over the last couple of weeks I have started having some swallowing problems. Liquid tries to go up my nose when swallowing and having trouble swallowing pills. This just started out of the blue. Wondering if this is something others have experienced. Thanks

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  • MarineE5
    MarineE5 Member Posts: 1,030 Member
    #2
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    Hello Anthony,

    I am sorry to hear you are now having issues swallowing. Since you are nearing the 5 week mark, you are almost at the end of a period we call "Cooking" after treatments. The treatments continue to work on us full blast for several weeks. Some recover sooner and others later from the treatments. One thing we need to be aware of is any swelling around our face and neck area. If your radiation was aimed near your neck, the swelling not only reacts to the surface of our neck but also inside to our throat. This causes a narrowing of our passage way and swallowing becomes an issue.

    Lymphedema is also an issue, the build up of fluids causing a puffy face and neck. You may want to ask your Doctor(s) about this and seek Physical Therapy to learn the gentle massage to move the fluid build up from your face and neck. I had this happen to me that is why I am mentioning it to you. I hope that this issue subsides quickly for you.

    My Best to You and Everyone Here

  • wbcgaruss
    wbcgaruss Member Posts: 2,275 Member
    #3
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    I would have to concur with what MarineE5 said. You probably have swelling and lymphodema and are probably somewhat sore in some areas too. This recovery is a slow process and just requires a little patience. It could be several months or more till it all works out.

    Wishing You the Best

    Take Care God Bless-Russ

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