Help expelling phlegm?

[ralooki]

My dad's been diagnosed with Stage 4 adenocarcinoma of the upper right lung. He's most recently gone through 13 sessions of radiotherapy and the cough that came with it is absolutely atrocious. He can feel the phlegm building up in the lung and struggles for a 30-45 mins multiple times a day to clear the right lung of the build-up.

He's also experiencing breathlessness so he's got less and less power to cough it all out. His muscles are sore due to the effort required to expel the phlegm, and now he's struggling to find comfy positions to rest.

Can you please suggest ways of clearing up the build up in the lungs? Or something that could help loosen up the mucus as it becomes quite clogged sometimes?

Thank you!

[Eglingham]

Hi, sorry to hear your dad is struggling. I was very much the same after having my right lung removed and I requested carbocisteine, within a couple of days my phlegm was coming up so easy. Speak to your dad's lung nurse about it. Hope this helps and he gets well soon.

[ralooki in reply to Eglingham]

Thank you Eglingham! Did you notice an increase in phlegm production?

[Eglingham in reply to ralooki]

Yes and it came up so easy, definitely the best thing I did. Your dad's lung cancer nurse will know about the meds and should be able to prescribe them. Hope you get sorted I know how unpleasant and painful it is.

[Cosmic54]

Hi sorry to hear your father is having problems, I can sympathise, my doctor put me on Carbocistein 375mg capsules I take 2 tabs 3 times per day I also take them with Buscopan because Carbo can give you a sore tummy. It does help. Take care 💋

[ralooki in reply to Cosmic54]

Thanks very much for the tip!

[JanetteR57]

sorry to hear about your dad's cough - it can be so very tiring too. Is he propped up with pillows/cushions? sitting up should stop it settling on his chest and if he can make efforts to keep moving about even at home, it may help release it. I had mucinous adenocarcinoma and also recently had a very nasty cold/chest infection with mucous - I tend to approach it with a number of ways - inhale over steam with Olbas oil or similar in the water, drink plenty of hot drinks to keep the airways/throat lubricated, suck cough sweets. many others get relief from carbocisteine at these times. hope he gets some relief soon.

[RoyCastleHelpline Partner Ask the Nurse Roy Castle]

Dear Ralooki

So sorry to hear about your Dad symptoms, and there has been good advice from others in the forum.

Carbocisteine is available only on prescription and there is information on this from this link from the NHS nhs.uk/medicines/carbociste...

You may wish to discuss with your local pharmacist for some advice.

This link will take you to our information on managing lung cancer symptoms: roycastle.org/about-lung-ca...

Chest physiotherapy can sometimes help ease these excess secretions in the lungs and you could ask an urgent referral for a community physiotherapist that can come to your dads house either through your GP or Oncologist.

Hope your dad is more comfortable soon and if you would like to discuss anything you can email ask the nurse at [e-mail], alternatively our helpline number is 0800 358 7200 and we are open for one day on the 29th December then back on 3rd January.

Kind regards

The Roy Castle Support Team