What do you suggest if having pain in mouth after oral suregry for cancer?
Patient: I have oral lichen planus and dry mouth pre surgery. In July of 2013 I had oral surgery for cancer on my tongue. By the 5th day of radiation I was hospitalized as I could not even drink water because of the pain. I had a feeding tube inserted. A year and a half later I am in constant pain...some days better than others. My doctor recommended GelClair. This is in appeal with my insurance company. Do you know of any way to get a sample to see if this even works? My doctor called the company...no luck. I have to wear an uncomfortable chin strap to sleep or I wake up in agony. Forget the whole eating problem. So far nothing has helped for more than half an hour. Do you have any other recommendations? Doctor: Hello,I can understand your concern. Pain is the most common and agnosing complication after cancer detection and treatment as it is also a side effect of all the treatment modalities including surgery, radiotherapy and chemotherapy. GelClair is a special formulation designed to mechanically adhere to the oral mucosa and thereby soothing the surgical and other lesions of the oral cavity. It has shown success in inflammation of the oral mucosa following cancer treatment and irritation caused by surgical lesion. I am sorry to inform you that there is no way we can provide you with samples of the molecule for trial. But I can sure advise you to go for it as it is worth giving a try in failure of other methods to control pain.If the pain gets intense, there are some advanced pain control options such as neurolytic therapy and opioid deliveries etc. that can be advised to you and referred to the specialist performing them by your oncosurgeon. I hope this information helps you. Thank you for choosing HCM. Let me know if I can of any further assistance to you.Best,Dr. Viraj Shah