THRUSH AND TAXOTERE....PLEASE HELP

Ask your Onc for an anti-fungal that won't interfere w/Taxotere. I am subject to thrush normally and have basically changed my diet so I don't have to keep taking Diflucan. I know when you're doing chemo, it's hard to eat anything anyway so changing your diet is not an option but the Onc should be able to give you something to knock it out.

Betsy, hugs, boy I had the same problem.  I did both diflucan and nystatin S&S starting a day before the steroids started.  A few other things helped just as much.  I got 2 toothbrushes that I threw away and replaced after the thrush went away on each cycle.  After each time you use them wash them with 1:1 mixture of warm water and vinegar.  Make sure they thoroughly air dry before you use them again.  It helps kill the fungus off the brushes and keeps you from recolonizing yourself.  By alternating between 2 brushes it is easier to make sure they are thoroughly dry. Be careful of reusing water bottles glasses etc, anything that isn't drying out well and could be a source for recolonizing.  The other thing that helped was after brushing my teeth (and my tongue) but BEFORE the nystatin I used Oragel antiseptic mouth sore rinse.  It bubbles a lot and you don't want to use it if your mouth or tongue have open sore areas from the thrush, but, otherwise, it does cut through some of the white grunge so the nystatin can actually get into the tissues to do some good.  My onc told me the steroids are the culprit causing thrush not the chemo, so we cut down on the steroids as much as we dared.  It all helped. Didn't completely get rid of it, but, it did help.  The thrush is miserable, hope you get some relief.

NIce to see  you had good support in Toronto Betsy. When I called up the chemo nurse to report that I had thrush I was told to have my family doctor have a look at it to make sure it was thrush - which took an extra day before I was able to start treatment. Arggg.

Anyway I loved the Nystatin, took away some of the pain (well at for 15 minutes at least) after each treatment and tasted better than the water and other food and drink I was trying to get in me. I wonder if the others taking Nystatin were taking the same thing? I was taking a generic oral suspension made by Ratiopharm Inc. Canada, for infants and children, The label says it contains sucrose. Anyway it worked.

I have another tip I would like to mention. When I told my family doctor that I was having digestive problems eating, she suggested I try plain yogurt (not the kind with live bacteria or pro biotics) to help adjust pH levels. She suggested getting the full fat yogurt because I needed the calories. I'd never liked plain yogurt in the past, but you know, this turned out to be one food that I was able to eat some of, and the smoothness made my mouth feel better, so that I was able to follow up with  other selected foods (like chicken) after and ended up having the yogurt at the start of each meal 3X a day. (Except for the three days with hospital meals, but that's another story - oh and the hospital provided Nystatin those days so I had some of mine own left over to head off the beginning of thrush during the next two chemos)

Kathy