Dry mouth lack of saliva

Plain water in a pocket spray worked best for me. Biotene spray wasn't bad either.

Send Chris Curtis of The Swallows an email. The charity supplies support boxes with all sorts and they are free. You can try different ones. Chris@theswallows.org.uk

Dani has great advice on getting a box of goodies from the Swallows.  What works for one of us is useless for another.  So experiment.  It is really early days for you, but at your stage I found Oral 7 mouthwash worked well for me.  Alas not on prescription.  I also use Biotine gel at night, which is on prescription. I found Salvex (prescribed by my hospital) absolutely useless

During the day water is OK - maybe try sparkling water.  Later on when your mouth has settled down chewing gum may help.  Try to avoid drinks with tannin in them as the tannin works to deactivate saliva glands so compounding what the RT has done to us.  I like my tea so I use white tea which has the least tannin and is least processed, but it is expensive.

You will still be in contact with your dietitians.  Give them a call as they often have a goodie box you can dip into to try various things.

Ty I emailed him hopefully I will hear back. But I live in New York State. 

markmac said:

But I live in New York State. 

PFJTHS said:

You will still be in contact with your dietitians.  Give them a call as they often have a goodie box you can dip into to try various things.

There may be charities in the USA which provide the same. Worth looking through their websites. 

Hi Mark. I live in Australia so different protocols here too in relation to getting sprays etc, and not available on prescription so have to source my own.  I find that Biotene or Oral7 moisturising spray and moisturising gel work quite well. The gel lasts longer and I use it at night whereas I tend to use the spray during the day. I can get them at my local chemist but if you are unable to you can get them on Amazon.

Lyn

Ty!  Does it help w your sense of taste??

Hi Mark. Unfortunately it does not help with my sense of taste. It is now 6 years since my last radiotherapy. I have had radiotherapy twice at different times to either side of my face for jaw cancer. After my first radiotherapy my sense of taste improved quite a lot although sweet things had a very muted taste and that did not recover but on the whole things did not taste too bad. The second lot of radiotherapy altered my sense of taste even more so that now even water tastes bitter. I have got used to it though and it does not worry me too much. It is very unusual to have 2 lots of radiotherapy so I am a bit of a unicorn in that respect. Some things taste better than others. Citrus flavours work really well for me. You just have to try out different tastes and something will resonate with you. Normally taste recovers quite well over time.

Lyn