[cancercured] Re: Delayed Death of Salivary Glands? Pilocarpine, etc

Hi, Vincent et al.

I did a bit more research on atrophy of salivary glands and possible
remedies for such. Here is what I found:

"Administration of 400 to 1000 rads of x-ray temporarily reduces the
secretary capacity of the salivary glands, but approximately 4000
rads are required to produce permanent atrophy. Individual variation
in response to radiotherapy is common. In fact individual salivary
glands in one patient may respond differently to radiation."

I do not know how many rads I received, but I expect it was
significantly more than 400. I guess I'll contact the radiologist to
find out.

Damage to salivary glands from radiation generally happens very
quickly. But it appears that salivary glands may atrophy over time
due to stem cell damage.

With regard to the efficacy of saliva substitutes and Pilocarpine,
the Merck drug company says the following:

"When no specific treatment is available, saliva substitutes are
marginally helpful. One drug that does help some people is
pilocarpine. Some Trade Names are:
ISOPTOCARPINE PILOCAR (Salagen), but the drug is often ineffective if
the salivary glands have been damaged by radiation."

So apparently, if the salivary glands have been seriously damaged or
destroyed, Pilocarpine will be of little to no value, which makes
sense, since, if Pilocarpine is supposed to stimulate salivary gland
production, and there are no salivary glands, then there is nothing
to stimulate.

Also, Pilocarpine is not inexpensive. The BEST price I found for it
is 75 dollars for 100 5 mg capsules. Finally, it is not without
significant undesirable side-effects.

Here is a link:

http://www.merck.com/mmhe/sec08/ch111/ch111a.html

Best wishes and best of health,

Elliot

Yahoo! Groups Links

<*> To visit your group on the web, go to:

http://groups.yahoo.com/group/cancercured/

<*> Your email settings:
Individual Email | Traditional

<*> To change settings online go to:

http://groups.yahoo.com/group/cancercured/join

(Yahoo! ID required)

<*> To change settings via email:
mailto:cancercured-digest@yahoogroups.com
mailto:cancercured-fullfeatured@yahoogroups.com

<*> To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to:
cancercured-unsubscribe@yahoogroups.com

<*> Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to:

http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/