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Chemo mouth and side effects

helpagirl
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Hi. 
Round one of chemo for breast cancer had flattened me, far more than I thought it would. From constipation to diarrhoea in 24 hours, raging acid reflux and indigestion, trapped wind, bone pane from injections, terrible chemo mouth. I am feeling quite pathetic. Still waiting for a call back from the doctor for advice. 

What helps with any/all the side effects??
Will I feel like this all the time (chemo mouth etc) or will there be an improvement before the next round? 
How do I prepare better for the next round? 

All advice would be so very much appreciated, if you lot don’t know the answer then I don’t know who will! 

  • Offline

    Hiya, my wife had this bad too during her chemo. Most important advice is, get on top of it pronto. Chemo mouth can stop you from eating and drinking, and can risk tooth loss due to not being able to brush.

    What we found worked, was using a bona fide baby tooth brush. They're soft as soft can be. My wife had awful issues with toothpaste. The mint hurt like nothing else, plus it tasted awful due to the altered taste she began to experience. You have two options, either get kids toothpaste that is either strawberry or banana, or Amazon sell a toothpaste called Oranurse. It has zero taste and is made specifically for people receiving chemo or those who can't tolerate mint flavour. Being in the UK kids toothpaste is utterly fine for adults because they have more fluoride put into them due to the UK's awful relationship with all things oral healthcare.

    You hospital tean can give you spray that numb your mouth too. So speak to them too.

  • Offline in reply to ProfBaw

    Ah thank you times a million, I can’t tell you how relieved I am to have some advice. Soft toothbrush I have and have bought biotene mouth wash and gel to try and get some relief. I’m send out for toothpaste pronto and ask about the spray too. I feel somewhat abandoned to it and maybe that’s my own fault, I haven’t called to ask about my mouth and think I should. 

  • Offline in reply to helpagirl

    Nah, it's not your fault. You're going into this blind and have a lot of information to process as it is. Almost everyone learns as they go, so don't go beating yourself up.

    I worked in a dental environment for years, so I had prior knowledge, but some things still slipped under our radar when my wife was going through treatment. So what chance did you have thinking of all the smaller details? None.

    The problem with the mouth and chemo, chemo is designed to attack fast growing cells, and your mouth has an abundance of fast growing cells. It's why a lot of people have this issue. Chemo can't differentiate between normal cells and bad cells and it can cause major issues.

    About mouth wash, stick to that one. Normal ones one dry your mouth out because alcohol dries your mouth and makes things worse. It's also an irritant.  If you start to get dry mouth get that seen to quickly too because no saliva = cavities. But the mouthwash you're using should hopefully stop that from becoming worse.

    Also stay away from tomatoes. Especially tomato soup. That will hurt like nothing on earth. If you're needing more advice on your mouth, feel free to ask anytime.

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