When did you guys start getting a sore throat?

spector551
spector551 Member Posts: 109
in Head and Neck Cancer #1

I am finishing my third week and still no sore throat - trust me, I'm not complaining. I can still eat whatever I want as long as I can tolerate the taste.

 

When did you guys begin to suffer from a sore throat?

 

God Bless,

Jamie

Comments

  • spector551
    spector551 Member Posts: 109
    #2
    Also, I had a Peanut Plus

    Also, I had a Peanut Plus Power peanut butter and chocolate smoothie from Smoothie King today. Tasted like it was made by an angel! The small was 677 calories and quite a bit of protein. I can see that I will indulge for as long as I can taste some of it lol.

     

    God Bless,

     

    Jamie

  • catfish_58
    catfish_58 Member Posts: 138 Member
    #3
    sore throat

    I think I started getting my sore throat around the 2 to 3 week mark,Everything started tasting bad and just quit eating had a peg tube installed before treatments started and tried to go without using it,(Mistake) had become de-hydrated from that mistake,everything was tasting like castor oil to me,Chocolate was the worst.But as they say everyone is different I think some here never even had a peg tube installed,I was very thankful for mine in the end.I am 6 1/2 months post now and taste is slowly coming back now,throat is a day to day thing there are some days it seems to be harder to swallow than others,Thrush was the only other thing I remember that constantly gave my throat a fit.Oh yea the spicy food is finally coming along,sure missed my mexican food and hot wings.

  • spector551
    spector551 Member Posts: 109
    #4
    catfish_58 said:

    sore throat

    I think I started getting my sore throat around the 2 to 3 week mark,Everything started tasting bad and just quit eating had a peg tube installed before treatments started and tried to go without using it,(Mistake) had become de-hydrated from that mistake,everything was tasting like castor oil to me,Chocolate was the worst.But as they say everyone is different I think some here never even had a peg tube installed,I was very thankful for mine in the end.I am 6 1/2 months post now and taste is slowly coming back now,throat is a day to day thing there are some days it seems to be harder to swallow than others,Thrush was the only other thing I remember that constantly gave my throat a fit.Oh yea the spicy food is finally coming along,sure missed my mexican food and hot wings.

    The Mary Bird Perkins H&N

    The Mary Bird Perkins H&N team doesn't give PEG tubes unless one is in dire straights. There is a limit though, of course. If I hit 180 lbs, word is they will put one in me. I really don't care either way, but I would like to see if I can do it their way first - I only have 10 more pounds to lose. But, I can still eat fairly well since they got the nausea under control. Guess we will see what happens with that lol.

  • longtermsurvivor
    longtermsurvivor Member Posts: 1,842 Member
    #5
    I never did

    No sore throat.  Not the first time, when I had 35 rads, for BOT cancer.  And not the second time, when I had 34 rads for soft palate cancer.  The second time, I did get a whole bunch of mouth sores, but never a sore throat.    go figure.

     

    Pat

  • CivilMatt
    CivilMatt Member Posts: 4,724 Member
    #6
    we are all different (a little)

    Jamie,

    I only took pain meds once, but used 6 bottles of magic mouth wash to aid the relief of discomfort to my tongue, mouth and throat.  It really did not hurt much.  My rad onc would say “your throat is ablaze, doesn’t it hurt”.

    My taste buds went on furlough during week 3 when I ate a hamburger that I thought had gone stale.

    Cross your fingers, you may be taste bud lucky, some are, I was not.

    I did not get to dodge the pain bullet completely, during weeks 6, 7 & 8 I experienced neck burn, it is like a sunburn time 10.

    So you just go ahead and enjoy the Smoothie King (times ten).

    Matt

  • phrannie51
    phrannie51 Member Posts: 4,716
    #7
    I never got a sore throat

    either.  It was my mouth that took the beating, and made eating impossible.  All through rads I was hearing my bus partners on here who had horrible sore throats, and I thought "wow, I'm skating through this".....it wasn't rads that got me, it was the adjuvant chemo that tore my mouth up.  You may get through this without the sore throat!!  That would be wonderful!

    p

  • spector551
    spector551 Member Posts: 109
    #8
    phrannie51 said:

    I never got a sore throat

    either.  It was my mouth that took the beating, and made eating impossible.  All through rads I was hearing my bus partners on here who had horrible sore throats, and I thought "wow, I'm skating through this".....it wasn't rads that got me, it was the adjuvant chemo that tore my mouth up.  You may get through this without the sore throat!!  That would be wonderful!

    p

    Not counting my chickens yet...

    But I am hopeful, as I am sure many of us were lol.

     

    God Bless,

     

    Jamie

  • yensid683
    yensid683 Member Posts: 349
    #9
    at about 2 weeks

    I started with distorting taste and drying mouth within a couple of days, and by week two I was getting to the point that I needed the prescription pain meds.

    Things really ramped up by week 4, I described the sensation as being similar to a freshly scraped knee, dragged over several yards of hot crushed glass and then mopped with a couple of coats of fire.  Swallowing was an adventure in pain, but I kept at it. 

    here I am, 1 year, 4 months, 19 days post treatment and things are almost back to normal, saliva is about 75%, no troubles swallowing, taste is good (sours are a challenge) but all in all, I'm great!

    BTW, stage IVa BOT, primary was 3cm, largest node was 6 so I got zapped pretty heavily.

    Count yourself lucky that you're still eating!  I couldn't tolerate the cold of a smoothie by week 3

  • TracyLynn72
    TracyLynn72 Member Posts: 839
    #10
    I didn't have one

    No sore throat here.  Mine was too coated in that thick saliva to hurt :)  (again, gross...but true!)  

  • NelsonOng
    NelsonOng Member Posts: 47
    #11
    I don't hv sore throat either

    My inner left mouth was "cooked" due to radiation. Ulcers and thrushes makes mouth very sick. I survived all the way without peg tube. Good days drank 7 pkts of Resourse and bad days 4 pkts. Lost a total 4 pounds while on 33 RT and 3 chemo. All taste buds back on 5th week post n am 6 mth post. Can take very spicy food now. Mouth still dry at night and has been active in gym, running and swimming. God Bless.   Nelson.

  • donfoo
    donfoo Member Posts: 1,773 Member
    #12
    no

    All my pain and discomfort was in the oral cavity. Of course, it did hurt like hell to swallow so you might count that as throat pain.

    Your HNC center gets applause from me as I am a firm believer in getting the PEG when required, not earlier. The majority of folks end up needing them and if inserting one is as easy as so often mentioned, then why not wait until you need it? There are reports of incidents related to them that should make one think twice.

    That said, I fully support getting one up front in certain cases. Folks like P who were so thin to start were obvious candidates as she could not afford to lose much if any poundage and everyone is going to lose some, if not a lot, of weight during treatments. I, on the other hand, had plenty to give to the therapy gods so was fine with the weight loss. Mind you, my medical team was always vigilant with my weight and were far more conserative in how much weight loss was acceptable. As it turned out, once I decided to slow down the loss and stablize, my body decided to drop another 10 pounds before stablizing. In hindsight, it all worked out just fine as my current weight is a blessing. At the time, I will admit, I was getting a bit worried if I would be able to self-control the descent and landing at the desired target. Don

     

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