Prevention/healing of mouth sores

Like most of us during chemo, I had nasty mouth sores following 3 courses of VAD. For many years, I have taken a 400unit Vitamin E capsule along with my multiple vitamins, to get the extra anti-oxidant effect. I remembered that Vit E has long been used to treat sores and scars, and apparently aids in the healing of epithelial tissue. I started biting down on the capsule, and swishing the oil around in my mouth, before swallowing. (there is no taste). Lo and behold! Within 2 days the sores were GONE! This held up through one more VAD treatment, and then 4 courses of HighDose Cytoxan/Dex. No mouth sores - no tongue sores - no nothin'.

I put the theory to the test during my SCT in March of 2003. I did not follow the hospital protocol, and use all of the rinses and washes recommended. All I did was rinse my mouth with saline, and then "chomp" a 400unit Vitamin E. Even the famous "Melphalan Wallop" did not produce any soreness. I continue the E to this day and will continue forever. I have noticed that if I accidently bite the inside of my cheek (now THAT can hurt!), the wound heals within a day - the vitamin E has got to have something to do with that. In year's past, it took many days of annoying pain before the ulcer healed.

Vitamin E is cheap, and safe, so long as you do not exceed 800units/day. Higher doses CAN affect clotting time.Obviously, you want the oil to bath the tissues as long as possible, so drinking something soon afterwards would be counter-productive.

Since my original posting, I have received 25 e-mails from patients reporting equally impressive results. Many could not completely credit the E, because they also took other medications that help mouth sores. Who cares what worked? The important thing is that there were no mouth sores.

As my oncologists are also investigating the use of Vitamin E, I would appreciate any reports of success/non success. robertoberle@verizon.net

Best regards to all! Bob Oberle, Chantilly, VA //dx 5-02 IgG lambda, 4 courses VAD moderate response; 4 courses HD Cytoxan-Dex and that did it!   SCT 3-03, textbook case. (Update Feb 2010)  Still in Complete Remission, Seven full years after the SCT. Normal Protein Electrophoresis, no monoclonal proteins detected in serum or urine, skeletal survey shows no change from priors.  Still no mouth sores, either!