Local pain relief - which one is the most effective?

Every one reacts differently to the radio therapy. It may be that this is the limit for comfortable eating for your husband. I personally never found any combination of pain relief including morphine that was enough to make it pleasant to eat. I did make it to week four but gave up then & relied solely on my rig for the rest of treatment. Do try to keep drinking though because maintaining your swallow is very important if possible. 

He will get through it. I'm just approaching 3 years post surgery and can eat virtually anything including curries which at one time I would have thought impossible. 

Hang in there, hope this helps.

Wendy

Every one reacts differently to the radio therapy. It may be that this is the limit for comfortable eating for your husband. I personally never found any combination of pain relief including morphine that was enough to make it pleasant to eat. I did make it to week four but gave up then & relied solely on my rig for the rest of treatment. Do try to keep drinking though because maintaining your swallow is very important if possible. 

He will get through it. I'm just approaching 3 years post surgery and can eat virtually anything including curries which at one time I would have thought impossible. 

Hang in there, hope this helps.

Wendy

Good evening TinyM, I don't think there are any long-lasting sprays or gels that will help, Gelclair is one of the best but the effect soon wears off. If he is in pain it might be better to change to pain patches rather than taking the tablets as these can cause constipation if you are not careful. Pain patches will deliver a constant flow of pain relief and can be topped up with a liquid painkiller like Oramorph or Short-tec (oxy-codone). Another suggestion is to use the PEG/RIG feeding tube fulltime so it gives him some relief from swallowing food as i expect some of the acids , spices  etc in the food/liquids are making the ulcers worse. I like many on here used the feeding tube as swallowing became uncomfortable and sore due to the ulcers and burns caused by the radiotherapy.I must admit he is doing well up to now so maybe give the RIG a bit more use. Wishing you both all the best, take care.

                                                                                                         Chris x

Thank you so much for such a fast reply - really appreciated! I have suspected that the effective local pain relief might just be unobtainable - hence the RIG tube fitment... I must say that we have only used it for water so far, would it be ok for me to simply blend meals and feed through the syringe or do we have to get the ready made food? As the weekend approaches, I don’t think we have time to get the special feeding ordered... I am sorry if my questions are a bit silly, but it’s a lot to take in and it feels like every day is different from the previous one and brings new challenges. Thank you once again for your help!

Thank you so much for such a fast reply - really appreciated! I have suspected that the effective local pain relief might just be a dream in this case... He is not in constant pain at the moment, but I will bear in mind your advice about the pain patches - I am already learning that there can never be too much pain relief and yes, he is already having to take laxatives. I see your point about the ulcers being irritated by food etc., we will start using the RIG more. The last thing we both want is for him to start losing too much weight (he’s already lost 3 kg with the tube op and after the 1st chemo, but we have managed to maintain the weight for the last 2 weeks). Thank you for your help and I wish you all the best too! 

Hi again TinyM, No question is silly on here as its all new to you both, i would not put blended food through the RIG, one reason it will be too thick to syringe through and the other is contamination, maybe if you phone tomorrow you will get it for Monday,  give your husbands dietitian or your Dr a ring so they can get the ball rolling as they do next day delivery. I have Ensures but there are other brands that are all much the same. Yes, its certainly a big learning curve, and each day differs, good days and bad days. I expect you will get a few more suggestions tomorrow from the others on here. Keep up the good work as he is going in the right direction, take care. 

                                                                                       Chris x 

Hello TinyM,

My hubby had the same cancer as yours plus lymph nodes affected and is now 6 weeks post chemo & radiotherapy treatment. He was finally prescribed a mouth numbing spray called Xylocaine, which has been a godsend for him. The effect doesn’t last very long but numbs long enough so that he can get some scrambled eggs, or a liquid feed down. He often has to re-spray halfway through but at least food/drink goes down. He also uses boots own brand sore throat spray (the green one) with lidocaine in it, he doesn’t have a sore throat but it numbs the mouth ulcers for him. We get the Xylocaine spray from the GP surgery now.

Very best wishes to both of you,

Jo

Hi Tiny M

I was prescribed Xylocaine Viscous anaesthetic solution to help with eating. You can swill it around your mouth and also swallow it. It deadens your mouth for a short time only approx. 5 -10 mins. I found this was enough time to get down as much of the pureed food I could eat in that time. I found I could not manage any texture so had to have the puree ready to go as soon as my mouth deadened enough. The Xylocaine was quite expensive and had to be prescribed by my oncologist but was worth every penny.

It allowed me to eat throughout my radiotherapy where I would have found it really difficult without it as my mouth was so painful. I still lost 10k.g. I drank Sustagen as well but since then I have found Fortisip much better to help keep up the k.g.’s.  I got a referral from my Dietician for the Fortisip and it was cheaper that way.

However I live in Australia so there may be a different approach to getting these items in the U.K.

Wishing your husband all the best as this is a really difficult time for both of you.

Lyn (AKA Sophie66)

Hi Tiny

the others have mentioned the local anaesthetic spray. Be very careful using that as it is easy to bite your tongue 

Having said that, we all react differently. By the end of week three I had a nasogastric tube placed and it was a Godsend. What it enabled me to do was to stop fighting to eat and bring terrified of “meal times”. 
I had long acting morphine twice daily supplemented with oramorph and paracetamol during the day. I fed at night with a pump. It meant I could be normal during the day and get on with “normal” things Like getting out for some fresh air. You can maintain your swallow with exercises and you can play with food you CAN get down. 

Hi this is Hazel I am 2 years post radiotherapy for tonsil cancer with several affected lymph nodes,everyone  has already said what i would say. It comes to a point where the rig or peg is needed to maintain nutrition and hydration I had a n g tube fitted week 3 for 45 days and that left me free to concentrate in treatment and try to eat tiny morsels or sip water. All med went via via tube . I was given an oral suspension with lidocaine to aid eating but to be honest it wasn’t a great deal of use .if he does the swallow exercises and uses the rig he will be in a better place .again don’t use  blended foods as the consistency can block the tubes. The ready made prep s have the right calories and are balanced nutrion wise for yiu hubbys needs. He can ask dr for Ensure or fortisip drinks to try and maintain oral nutrition but honestly it’s not the end of the world  speak8ng from experience . Now I can eat quite well most foods apart from chicken and pork.

If yiu look at our profiles yiu will find more personal info hover over photos

Hazel x