Suggest Treatment For Oral Mucositis

Posted on Tue, 26 Apr 2016

Medically reviewed by Ask A Doctor - 24x7 Medical Review Team

Tue, 26 Apr 2016 Answered on

Wed, 15 Jun 2016 Last reviewed on

Question : I have been diagonosed with post mucositis, which is caused from radiation and chemo treatments, which the dr's told me there is no cure for, it, my tongue and my mouth feels as though it is on fire - I went to (4 different dr here in Albany, ga and all did not know what it was and how to treat it, is there anyway that yu can help me with this problem, I had cancer in my mouth underneath my tongue, was sent to XXXXXXX ga for surgery, on 6th of XXXXXXX 2013, the removed a 1/4 of my tongue, and took 34 lymph nodes from rright side of neck, then I came back to Albany, Ga and Dr mendenhall Cancer , he recommended that I have 6 weeks of radiation 2times a day 5days a week 1 treatment of chemo 1 day aweek' please advise if yu can help me in any way, my email address is YYYY@YYYY , phone#000000,

Answered by Dr. Kathy Robinson (3 hours later)

Brief Answer:
difficult problem

Detailed Answer:
Hello and I a sorry that you are having this problem.
It is a difficult one and western medicine does not have many suggestions for treatment. Here is a link to an article about all the things that have been tried.
http://www.oralcancerfoundation.org/dental/pdf/mucocitis-recommendations.pdf

The best you can do is make sure that you see a dentist regularly. Use moistening agents like Biotene and stay well hydrated. You can also talk to your doctor about a medication like gabapentin which may help some with the pain. Anti-inflammatory medications like advil or aleve may help if your doctor says it is okay for you to take them.
The next thing you might try is to see a Chinese medicine practitioner. Acupuncture and herbal medicines may be able to give you some relieve when western medicine can not help you.
I wish you the best,
Dr. Robinson

Above answer was peer-reviewed by : Dr. Chakravarthy Mazumdar