Hi,
My husband was diagnosed with throat cancer, right Vallecula SCC with right neck metastatic disease p16 positive squamous cell carcinoma, in November 2021. He has finished his chemo and radiotherapy and all things point to it having been successful at treating the cancer, which is fabulous news. We just have his final scan to do and then the results will be in!
At the moment, one of the main problems he is dealing with is a thick catarrh like phlegm at the bottom of his throat, which makes him cough and spit stuff up, or he chokes on it. I will be talking to his oncologist when we see her but I wondered if anyone, who has been through a similar type of cancer, has any insight into how he can deal with this better. As he has virtually no saliva at night, he doesn’t get much sleep and coughing/choking/spitting happens a lot…sleeping, not as much!
He is using artificial saliva, which has helped, but has this improved over time for people, or is he going to be stuck with this forever?
Many thanks,
xx
Hi Scooby. I’ve posted similar on another thread
Well done on getting through the treatment.
Yes thick mucous is par for the course. I managed just by steaming over hot water but lots of others got help from a nebuliser. Keeping a vaporiser by the bedside can be useful. Drinking lots of water does thin it down too. If none of these help you could ask your team if they might consider a drug called carbocysteine which can do the trick with some people. The sticky stuff does go. Mine went practically overnight by six weeks but we are all different.
i spat into kitchen roll by the bedside a lot and always had a glass of water handy. I got quite adept at sipping it almost in my sleep.
The lack of saliva is another problem. Mine has come back slowly and by six months was acceptable.
Have a look at my blog. There’s a couple of posts on acupuncture which helped me loads.
Chewing xylitol gum stimulates saliva too
At night I still use xylimelts which keep my mouth moist. They are worth trying.
It all takes time I’m afraid.
i hope this helps.
Dani
Base of tongue cancer. T2N0M0 6 weeks Radiotherapy finished January 2019
has this improved over time for people, or is he going to be stuck with this forever?
Dani has covered the short term very well Scooby, but from a longer perspective, I'm eight years post treatment now and I'd say my saliva is now as good as it was pre-treatment. That's obviously a way down the road for your husband, and progress is slow at times, but there is light at the end of the tunnel!
Metastatic SCC diagnosed 8th October 2013. Modified radical neck dissection November, thirty-five radiotherapy fractions with 2xCisplatin chemo Jan/Feb 2014. Recurrence on larynx diagnosed July 2020 so salvage laryngectomy in September 2020.
Thank you Beesuit, I will suggest a nebuliser to my husband, all suggestions are gratefully received. 
Thank you MikeO, it’s really good to know that it isn’t necessarily going to be permanent, light at the end of the tunnel is all I need!
Hi Chas, thank you, good to hear!
