They told him to rinse right? I think it was salt with water, but I can look up my old notes if they didn't and you want to know what they said.

Also, I remember them telling me to use a soft tootbrush only. Also, they said if I didn't floss before not to start during treatment. If I did always floss then I think it would have been ok to continue. Not sure about that.

I never had any mouth sores and I did rinse often. Course, different drugs and different doses maybe have had me having them, I don't know. I just was always glad I didn't have them.

I hope his heal up soon and don't come back. Hope the next chemo treatment goes well. Brenda

Oh, one other thing. They told me to buy mouthwash that didn't have alcohol in it. Can't remember the name of one, but it should say it on the bottle at the store. I know Proctor & Gamble made one that said alcohol free. Ok, that's it for now :-)

Hi, Brenda -

For starters, it's good to know you didn't have the same severity of mouth sores. That alone is encouraging to hear! Ted's were so bad, even the doctors flinched when shining their flashlights into his mouth.

Yes, he did rinse, following all prescribed criteria, but ulcers developed anyway. A tooth brush - even foam swabs - were out of the question for at least a week. Eventually Caphesol rinse, by prescription, became the only liquid his mouth could tolerate.

Someone said it was because EC chemo often targets healhy cells that line the mouth, as well as the cancerous cells (same type) that line the esophagus. This made sense to me.

Ted's case was extreme - he ended up in the hospital & on morphine for the pain. His mouth is back to normal now, but as we approach treatment two (chemicals adjusted), I've been wondering how others have been affected, & how to best cook for the times ahead.

Bari

It sounds like Ted's mouth sores were worse than mine, but I did have them. In anticipation of them, the oncologist prescibed a pain-killing rinse which really helped with the pain. I have also been told that rinsing with warm salt water helps. I was also told not to use strong-alcholol based mouth washes like Listerine. It has been over a year since my last chemo treatment, but my mouth still seems to be much more sensitive to spicy foods and hot drinks than it was before the treatments -- even though the oncologist says the effects of the chemo should be gone.

We haven't yet had to deal with mouth sores, my friend Dave is only in week 3.5 of chemo, but here's what we're doing to help him to consume more calories and keep his weight up. He's drinking 2 high-calorie protein shakes per day that we make (much better in my opinion than ensure etc., which are full of chemicals). We're making lots of flavorful (doesn't have to be spicy) soups, like lentil with cumin, black bean, coconut milk/squash, etc. I highly recommend a Vita-Mix, which you can get half-priced with proof of cancer diagnosis. Here's the recipe for the shake:
Place in blender: 2 bananas, broken in pieces, 2.5 scoops protein powder (we use Whole Foods Whey Powder), 4 tablespoons almond butter or peanut butter, 2 tablespoons flax seed oil,
Then fill the blender with cold soy milk, 1 inch from the top of blender
Blend thoroughly.

We're following much of the nutrition advice set forth by Keith Block, MD in his book "Life Over Cancer: The BLock Center Program for Integrative Cancer Treatment."

Best wishes!!!

Sorry it took so long to thank you for your responses. It was hard to find free time during the holiday rush. I appreciate everyone's good advice!

Our team recommends Biotene...available at Target, Wags etc in the mouthwash dept. They said to use it every time he ate.

My husband started to get sores and used it and they cleared up right away.

Thanks, Margaret. We have the Biotene, but my husband has only been using it in the am & pm, before & after bed. After meals he's been swishing with a baking soda/salt /water mixture, but I'll put a second bottle of Biotene downstairs, too. So far he hasn't gotten the mouth sores reaction he had the first go-round, and we're trying hard to keep it that way.

glad to hear things are going better.

margaret