Chewing/sucking ice for prevention of mouth sores during infusion:

Hey, fellow journeyers! I've been treated for ovarian cancer for going on 7 years now. My latest treatment is Doxil, which once created really miserable mouth sores, to the extent that I was unable to eat/brush my teeth, and talk without pain.

My oncology folks prescribed a dexamethasone mouth rinse, which helped some, but the pain was still awful. I consulted Dr. Google and found a suggestion on the Mayo Clinic site that chewing/sucking ice cubes may help.

Reader, this changed my life. Once I started chewing ice during my infusions, the mouth sores stopped. I still get one or two between infusions, but they are mild and only last a day or two.

An infusion nurse explained to me that, keeping a cold mouth prevents the chemo drug from affecting it.

I don't quite understand why my onc practice doesn't recommend this, but I've become an evangelist for it. Please give it a try if you suffer from this miserable side effect. You are all in my heart.