Increased mucous secretion

vatsag
vatsag Member Posts: 4
in Esophageal Cancer #1
Hello

My father (aged 56) was diagnosed with Esophageal cancer 4 months back.
During last 4 months he has been completely on chemotherapy.
He was doing great till recently he encountered viral fever.
The fever has now subsided took almost a week, but has left him bedridden.

But he is been coughing up excessive clear phlegm continuously.
He is not able to eat anything, as it makes him to throw up whatever he has eaten
Thus making him even weaker and bedridden.

Anyone out there know is this normal ? or is there any more serious problems in store for him ?

Comments

  • Daisylin
    Daisylin Member Posts: 365
    #2
    Hi Vatsag
    Hi and welcome. There are lots of people here who will be able to offer you help and advice, however we will need more details about your dad. For example,

    what stage is his cancer?
    What type of chemo is he on?
    Is he taking medication for his nausea and vomiting?
    How did his diagnoses come about?
    Does he have a feeding tube or hydration?

    Having said that, I can relate to what your dad is going through. My husband has stage ivb and in the last few months has been having a hard time keeping anything down. He also seems to have a lot of foamy phlegm or saliva or something that he spits up. He is having a feeding tube placed on Monday, and everyone on this site will tell you to RUN, don't walk to the doctor and insist on having one put in. Don't take no for an answer. Your dad will still be able to eat and drink on his good days, and use the tube for the bad days.

    I know that is not much help, but just wanted to say welcome, hope you are able to give us some more details about your dad. We are all here to help and support each other.

    Chantal
  • vatsag
    vatsag Member Posts: 4
    #3
    Daisylin said:

    Hi Vatsag
    Hi and welcome. There are lots of people here who will be able to offer you help and advice, however we will need more details about your dad. For example,

    what stage is his cancer?
    What type of chemo is he on?
    Is he taking medication for his nausea and vomiting?
    How did his diagnoses come about?
    Does he have a feeding tube or hydration?

    Having said that, I can relate to what your dad is going through. My husband has stage ivb and in the last few months has been having a hard time keeping anything down. He also seems to have a lot of foamy phlegm or saliva or something that he spits up. He is having a feeding tube placed on Monday, and everyone on this site will tell you to RUN, don't walk to the doctor and insist on having one put in. Don't take no for an answer. Your dad will still be able to eat and drink on his good days, and use the tube for the bad days.

    I know that is not much help, but just wanted to say welcome, hope you are able to give us some more details about your dad. We are all here to help and support each other.

    Chantal

    Thanks for your support
    Hi Chantal

    Im sorry to hear about your husband.

    My dad's oeso' cancer is in the same stage i.e IV b

    At first he was advised a combination of chemo and radiation therapy. But since there wasnt any significant improvement with that, he was advised for just the chemo therapy.

    And he is not taking any medication for his vomiting as this has started to happen quite recently.

    So far hasnt been on any kind of tubes for food/hydration but sometimes he had been given nutrient supplements intravenously.

    I will mail more about the type of chemo he's been on.

    thanks a lot for your support !!

    VATSA
  • rose20
    rose20 Member Posts: 258
    #4
    hope this helps..
    First, I am so sorry about your dad having to fight this horrible cancer...I pray he will begin to feel some sort of relief soon!
    My brother has stage 4 cancer and he had the phlegm so very bad...this is finally what helped him, mucinex and muguard and getting hydration twice a week and also lowering his chemo.
    His oncologist felt the phlegm was from his chemo.
    He was constantly throwing up this mucous but now it has subsided. The prescription meds just didn't work for him not until the mucinex and muguard.
    And since they lowered the dosage of chemo he seems to be doing much better.
    And the hydration has done wonders.
    Prayers are going up for your dad!
    rose
  • vatsag
    vatsag Member Posts: 4
    #5
    rose20 said:

    hope this helps..
    First, I am so sorry about your dad having to fight this horrible cancer...I pray he will begin to feel some sort of relief soon!
    My brother has stage 4 cancer and he had the phlegm so very bad...this is finally what helped him, mucinex and muguard and getting hydration twice a week and also lowering his chemo.
    His oncologist felt the phlegm was from his chemo.
    He was constantly throwing up this mucous but now it has subsided. The prescription meds just didn't work for him not until the mucinex and muguard.
    And since they lowered the dosage of chemo he seems to be doing much better.
    And the hydration has done wonders.
    Prayers are going up for your dad!
    rose

    Hello Rose
    Thanks for

    Hello Rose

    Thanks for sharing your thoughts on this and more importantly for your Prayers.

    I don't want to sound to dumb but what kind of hydration are we talking about when you refer to hydration ? And yes, even in my dad's case the dosage of chemo has been lowered at present owing to his present condition.

    Good to hear about your brother and hope he comes out free of this dreaded disease
    Thanks again.
    Love
    Vatsa
  • Daisylin
    Daisylin Member Posts: 365
    #6
    vatsag said:

    Hello Rose
    Thanks for

    Hello Rose

    Thanks for sharing your thoughts on this and more importantly for your Prayers.

    I don't want to sound to dumb but what kind of hydration are we talking about when you refer to hydration ? And yes, even in my dad's case the dosage of chemo has been lowered at present owing to his present condition.

    Good to hear about your brother and hope he comes out free of this dreaded disease
    Thanks again.
    Love
    Vatsa

    hydration
    Hydration is simply a matter of hooking up and iv with saline, and they can also add whatever your dad is lacking. For example, my husband started getting daily hydration last Wednesday. They have added potassium to his, as his levels of that were down. I would assume they could add other things, depending on your dad's needs. I don't know where you are, but here in Canada, they have been sending a nurse to the house to hook it up. Some people go to the hospital to have their's done. Lee's takes about 4 hours each day, 1,000 ml of fluid. Lee's case seems to be similar to your dad's, can't seem to keep anything in him, hard time swallowing even liquids some days. The hydration really seems to have helped a lot, he's so much perkier than he was before. As mentioned, he is getting a feeding tube put in tomorrow, so I imagine he won't need hydration any more. ( I could be wrong about that though)

    Hope that helps, and please remember, no question here is a dumb one! We all have to learn as we go, and reading on this site will give you a lot of knowledge and helpful tips on dealing with issues that may arise. 7 months ago, I didn't even know how to spell esophagus!

    Chantal
  • cher76
    cher76 Member Posts: 292
    #7
    Mucous secretions
    Welcome Vatsag to our site. My husband was diagnosed with stage IV EC in October 2010. Mucous seems to be a big part of this disease, especially in stage IVs. My husbands doctor prescribed a medication called glycopyrrolate to help keep down the mucous secretions. This has worked fairly well. I also think sleeping elevated at night helps too. We have been out of town this week and away from our adjustable bed, and we seem to notice he is having a lot more problems with the mucous in the mornings. I know I read once that if you suffer from reflux it is good to sleep elevated because your body secrets saliva even while we sleep, and this saliva helps to neutralize the acid in the stomach, and gravity helps to move it down to the stomach during the night. So it just makes sence to me that that might be what is helping. Also I have been meaning to bring this up as a topic, I saw a "mystery Diagnosis" show one evening where this gal was having problems with copious amounts of foamy saliva and has having great difficulty getting any food down. She ultimately was diagnosed with achalasia. This desease seems to have many of the same symptoms as EC, but without the cancerous tumors. I have wondered if the same kinds of treatments and drugs might be successful for EC patients as for achalasia patients. Has anyone else ever read about this? I research some but haven't had a chance to dig deeper into it. Sometimes I feel like I need to hire a research assistant! We have also noticed that sometimes when he eats he feels like food gets stuck and then nothing will go down, not even water. He usually tries to bring it up, but if that does not work, he waits awhile for it to work it's way through, but in the meantime the mucous keeps coming up. So that leads me to believe that the body is creating the mucous to try to carry the offending piece of food down into the stomach. I may be all wrong on this, but these are the senarios that I have observed. I wonder if there is an EC doctor out there who has actually lived with an EC patient day to day as a caregiver. I bet they would have a much better understanding of this disease if they did.
    Vatsag, I would also like to suggest that when you have some time you fill out the "About Me" page. That helps all of us know your story, to better help you, and also helps us keep everyone straight. I will keep you, your father and your family in my prayers! I truly believe they are a powerful tool!
    Cheryl
    Wife of Rickie dx EC stage IV Oct. 2010
  • vatsag
    vatsag Member Posts: 4
    #8
    cher76 said:

    Mucous secretions
    Welcome Vatsag to our site. My husband was diagnosed with stage IV EC in October 2010. Mucous seems to be a big part of this disease, especially in stage IVs. My husbands doctor prescribed a medication called glycopyrrolate to help keep down the mucous secretions. This has worked fairly well. I also think sleeping elevated at night helps too. We have been out of town this week and away from our adjustable bed, and we seem to notice he is having a lot more problems with the mucous in the mornings. I know I read once that if you suffer from reflux it is good to sleep elevated because your body secrets saliva even while we sleep, and this saliva helps to neutralize the acid in the stomach, and gravity helps to move it down to the stomach during the night. So it just makes sence to me that that might be what is helping. Also I have been meaning to bring this up as a topic, I saw a "mystery Diagnosis" show one evening where this gal was having problems with copious amounts of foamy saliva and has having great difficulty getting any food down. She ultimately was diagnosed with achalasia. This desease seems to have many of the same symptoms as EC, but without the cancerous tumors. I have wondered if the same kinds of treatments and drugs might be successful for EC patients as for achalasia patients. Has anyone else ever read about this? I research some but haven't had a chance to dig deeper into it. Sometimes I feel like I need to hire a research assistant! We have also noticed that sometimes when he eats he feels like food gets stuck and then nothing will go down, not even water. He usually tries to bring it up, but if that does not work, he waits awhile for it to work it's way through, but in the meantime the mucous keeps coming up. So that leads me to believe that the body is creating the mucous to try to carry the offending piece of food down into the stomach. I may be all wrong on this, but these are the senarios that I have observed. I wonder if there is an EC doctor out there who has actually lived with an EC patient day to day as a caregiver. I bet they would have a much better understanding of this disease if they did.
    Vatsag, I would also like to suggest that when you have some time you fill out the "About Me" page. That helps all of us know your story, to better help you, and also helps us keep everyone straight. I will keep you, your father and your family in my prayers! I truly believe they are a powerful tool!
    Cheryl
    Wife of Rickie dx EC stage IV Oct. 2010

    he is no more

    Dear Cheryl / Rose / Chantal

    I have some bad news to share with all of you.

    My dad unfortunately breathed his last this Tuesday evening.

    All of this happened so sudden that its beyond my comprehension.

    I want to take this time to thank all of you for your love and support.

    Hope we shall be in touch and my prayers shall always go out to you and your loved ones.

    VATSAG
  • cher76
    cher76 Member Posts: 292
    #9
    vatsag said:

    he is no more

    Dear Cheryl / Rose / Chantal

    I have some bad news to share with all of you.

    My dad unfortunately breathed his last this Tuesday evening.

    All of this happened so sudden that its beyond my comprehension.

    I want to take this time to thank all of you for your love and support.

    Hope we shall be in touch and my prayers shall always go out to you and your loved ones.

    VATSAG

    Vatsag,
    My heartfelt
    Vatsag,
    My heartfelt condolences go out to you and your family. Once again this monster of a disease has taken a good man too soon. I pray that you and your family will find comfort in your memories of your dad, and in knowing that he is in a much better place where the pain of this disease can no longer touch him.
    Cheryl
    Wife of Rickie dx EC stage IV, Oct. 2010
  • Daisylin
    Daisylin Member Posts: 365
    #10
    cher76 said:

    Vatsag,
    My heartfelt
    Vatsag,
    My heartfelt condolences go out to you and your family. Once again this monster of a disease has taken a good man too soon. I pray that you and your family will find comfort in your memories of your dad, and in knowing that he is in a much better place where the pain of this disease can no longer touch him.
    Cheryl
    Wife of Rickie dx EC stage IV, Oct. 2010

    Vatsag, so sorry for your loss
    I am so sorry to hear of the sudden loss of your dad. This disease is so painful and unbearable. It is so hard to comprehend why wonderful loving kind people are made to suffer. I hope you find peace in the memories of your dad, and comfort knowing that he's not suffering any more. I am so sorry, words cannot express how sad I am to read your post.
    Please take care,
    There is lots of love and support here if you want to post memories or shed some frustration here.
    Chantal
    Wife of Lee, IVB
  • rose20
    rose20 Member Posts: 258
    #11
    vatsag said:

    he is no more

    Dear Cheryl / Rose / Chantal

    I have some bad news to share with all of you.

    My dad unfortunately breathed his last this Tuesday evening.

    All of this happened so sudden that its beyond my comprehension.

    I want to take this time to thank all of you for your love and support.

    Hope we shall be in touch and my prayers shall always go out to you and your loved ones.

    VATSAG

    Oh my dear I am so very sorry...
    I just seen your post...I will send you a private message.
    I pray for your broken heart.

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