Radiation Question

[Tammy]

My Mom had 35 treatments of radiation and was feeling good. She started having a little trouble swallowing complaining that it felt like it gets stuck. Well he radiation treatments stopped this past friday and she thought that this was it and was so excited. Since friday she has this pain like just below her breast bone and says that its hard to swallow. The Dr gave her a medicine that she can take that numbs her throat so she can swallow and told her to take that and to try and drink 6 cans of Boost a day. He said that its because the radiation was so close to her throat ok fine but how long will this last? She has been so strong with this but no I think she is discouraged. Any advise or help on this I would love to her stories.

Thanks!

Tammy

[Hebbie]

Hi! So sorry to hear that your mom is having such a tough time of it now! Tell her to keep her chin up because this is only temporary! I did ok for about the first 4 weeks of treatment and then had a horrible time eating anything. After the 6th week and treatment ended, I was so happy! I started to feel a little better and then WHAM! I felt so unbelievably bad -- I couldn't even swallow the Boost shakes. EVERYTHING hurt! They gave me all the medicines to numb my throat too, but nothing seemed to help. It lasted about 3 weeks, they even ended up doing a scope to see what was going on down there because the doctor thought I should have been feeling better at that point. He said usually the pain starts to subside 2 weeks after treatment. Of course, I had to go and be an abnormal case...

In any event, tell her to muddle through and suck down those Boost shakes if she can (I also found chicken noodle soup to go down ok!). She's in the home stretch!!!

[Snowflake]

Tammy,

I found that the last week of radiation and the weeks immediately following it were the worst. When the irritation began, my radiation oncologist suggested drinking aloe - the brand was "George's", I think. As the irritation worsened, the new cocktail was a shot (yep, a shot glass) of the aloe to soothe followed by Carafax to coat the esophagus (an older drug used for stomach ulcers). I had problems swallowing liquids and found that taking less than a "swallow" in my mouth at any time helped.

An example of the irritation - when having my Double-Stuf Oreos and milk (gotta keep them CALORIES going), it was easier to swallow the chewed up cookies than the milk chaser.

Eventually, it goes away. ...and it goes away gradually, not overnight. If it gets progressively worse or there's blood involved (going up or down and out), I'd definitely let the doctor know.

My primary complaint with radiation was that I was one of the lucky few that experiences a metallic taste in the mouth with treatment. Best thing for that? Sucking on sour candy during treatment - I like the Altoids tangerine sours. The first pucker is the best one! The trouble swallowing came later...

Becky

[Tammy]

Thanks! She was able to get one can of Boost down so far with the help of the numbing meds. What do you think the pain between her breat bone is? Her way of explaing it is you know when you feel like your going to cry and the lump you get in your throat? Well hers is down between the breast bone area. I hope it clears up soon. Thanks so much for all the help.

Tammy

[norme]

Tammy,

What your mom is experiencing is the same as my husband had with the radiation. He lost a lot of weight throughout this period because he could not eat. The pain she is experiencing is probably the burn from the radiation. My husband had that also. the did two bronoscopes on him because it took a good three weeks after each treatment, he had 25 treatments the first time after they took out his lung, had 10 whole head when the mets went to the brain then had 10 for the mets to the liver. Each time he had trouble swallowing. At one point the radiation dr seemed like he never heard of this happening but hey, most people having radiation at that spot gets the swallowing problems.

I feed my husband homemade chicken noodle with broccoli heads in it for nourishment and home made beef vegetable soup. He could only do a little at a time. I was really worried at that point until i got on here and found out it is common....at the end of each full treatment, it took a good three weeks for him to start back to eat. also, he hated the boost but could tolerate carnation instant breakfast and is still drinking it once a day to hold his weight. Good luck with your mom.

[Tami]

I went through 12 weeks of radiation/chemo and I also had the stuck in the throat feeling. It felt like a ball of bread dough was stuck in the back of my throat. For almost two weeks all that I ate were popcicles. Mine continued for a couple of weeks after my radiation was over. But it's funny how quickly I went back to eating! I STILL after over 1 year have problems swallowing. Not very often but every once in a while things get stuck in there or I choke/gag on things a little easier but that lump feeling is gone. As far as the feeling in the breast bone--I'd tell her not to worry. Radiation is powerful and I felt funny/lumpy the whole way down. I also developed heartburn for the first time in my life. I think it swells everything in there.

Hang in there! It gets better.