Grape Flavor

If you have radiation or chemotherapy induced mucositis, this product just might be Heaven sent. It is expensive, but it absolutely WORKS! I was diagnosed with HPV related tonsular sarcoma. The prescribed treatment is 35 daily maximum doses of radiation to the neck, throat, and lower jaw area, and 6 doses of Cisplatin chemotherapy. Any oncologist will tell you that the most painful cancer treatments are those of the mouth/neck area, along with those of "the other end", as they call it. They destroy the tumor, but they also destroy a ton of good healthy tissue around it, that's just how radiation works. I can tell you from personal experience, that is absolutely true. First the treatment robs you of your sense of taste, while enhancing your sense of smell. Shortly after, it kills your salivary glands. At some point, the pain begins. That started later for me. But when it did hit, it hit like a truck. The final ten treatments are "focused", meaning the usual dose of radiation that was being spread out, is now focused solely in the tightest area possible around what is left of the tumor, to kill what is left, and make sure it does not return. The result is radiation induced mucositis, which presents as yellow/white lesions in your mouth, in your throat, and on your tongue. These lesions are extremely painful. You mouth is already dry. Everything they give you to moisten your mouth, hurts. Even if you can eat, drink, and swallow, you're miserable. This continues long after the seven weeks of treatment. At some point, you have thick fluid that resembles saliva, you have mucous, and you have phlegm. These will become your constant companion, 24/7, with the painful lesion. I stumbled across Helios in a desperate search for relief, any relief. The strong pain killers they prescribe aren't enough. I order the Helios, and asked my oncologists if I could use it. Believe me, at this point, their permission was a formality. The first jar arrived, and I mixed the first dose with cool filtered water and crushed ice. I prepared myself for terrible pain, and took the first drink. I was stunned. There was no pain, only cool, soothing relief. I anxiously took each drink, swished it around my radiation mangled mouth, savoring the relief until it was warm, and swallowed. It was amazing! I began to look forward to each dose like a 5 year old looks forward to Christmas. Each dose was a blessing in relief and comfort. I took four doses daily for at least twelve weeks. Yes, It cost me $68 every 10 days, but never was a dollar better spent. The Helios soothed my constant pain, and healed my mouth, tongue, and throat. We accidentally got a jar of unflavored Helios with our normal shipment of the grape flavor, and I gave it to the nutritionist and my radiology oncologist's office. If you're using this product, and you're not seeing relief and healing, see your doctors, and have them check you carefully, something else is going on. In my case, after treatment ended, and after the medication they give you to prevent you from getting fungal infections due to the treatment ran out, I got a fungal infection which caused more pain, and brought healing to a stop. Helios works, and it didn't stop working, but only clearing up the fungal infection will help if you have one, and they are common, and oft overlooked. Helios is an amazing product, it is a shame that every oncologist everywhere doesn't know about it and recommend it to their patients. It's an absolute Heaven sent blessing to anyone suffering from radiation and/or chemotherapy induced mucositis. I cannot overstate what Helios can do for you. Oncologists should be allowed to prescribe Helios so that it is covered by insurance for those who struggle to afford it. It's worth every single penny.

Today I’m 9 days from the end of 6 weeks of radiation, following TORS, for cancer in my throat / base of tongue. No chemotherapy. I credit this product for keeping my mouth and throat repaired and making it so that I survived radiation maintaining weight without a feeding tube, and minimal opioids. My doctor said that patients receiving radiation on the head and throat get the worst side effects. The goal is maintaining weight while you have terrible mouth sores and no taste. A friend brought Healios to my attention. My thought process was, “This is expensive but if it saves me some sores then it gives me the chance to get through this without a feeding tube - which will be unpleasant and be far more expensive.” I bought one jar of each flavor, Orange, Grape, and Unflavored. I started with Orange, transitioned to Grape when done with the Orange, and then went to the Unflavored. I don’t recommend opening all three jars and mixing because the powder will be subject to moisture when opened. Just finish one jar out and move to the next. None of the flavors are unpleasant. Grape was the best of the three and I was able to taste it slightly even when my taste was gone. I’m finishing up with the unflavored right now and it’s fine. I would likely go with all grape had I to do it again. I still had sores through treatment. Some sores would only last a single day. I credit Healios with keeping my mouth and throat repaired. Think of it as costing your mouth so that the glutamine absorbs through the mouth lining. Coat and let it absorb, coat and let it absorb. Sip it down your throat, wait, sip some more from your mouth down your throat. Coat, coat, coat…. It’s providing the cells with the building blocks they need to fix themselves. Then don’t eat or drink for at least 30 minutes. Let it absorb. This past week, the week after radiation therapy ended was the worst. That surprised me. I developed severe sores that I ended up taking hydrocodone for for about 3 days this week. However, now it’s Sunday and all of those terrible sores are mostly healed. I firmly believe that the Healios twice a day really did a great job of keeping things repaired. I’ve made it through radiation without a feeding tube and minimized the damage. Of course, everyone’s experience will be different, but the way I see it is, “Healios isn’t cheap, but it’s cheaper than a feeding tube. And it’s hard to put a price on pain.” I truly think it helped. One word of advice, buy the three jars at once, up front. Open the boxes, not the jars. There’s little mixing bottles in each box. Wash up those three mixing bottles and rotate them so you’re not having to clean them after every time you use one. I really appreciate this product and all the suffering it saved me.

On the recommendation of a dental oncologist, my son used Healios during his 3 weeks of conditioning chemo before his stem cell transplant. No mucositis!!! Wonderful, wonderful product!!!

Must use for chemo aalnd radiation treatments. My son has used this during his chemo treatments to ward off mouth ulcers and used during his whole abdominal radiation to help protect his digestive system. It definitely aided him during both treatment cycles. He used unflavored and mixed with Gatorade during radiation. He didn't have any of the potential intestinal complications that he could have had. Definitely worth using from a prevention standpoint.

I started using Healios about 1 week before I started radiation for HPV+ SCC. I used it twice daily as prescribed. While I can’t say it reduced mouth sores during treatment or it made the sores less painful, what I can say is I saw my doctor last week and he thought I was about a month ahead of the typical healing process. I continued to use Healios for ~6 weeks after I finished radiation. It’s a shame it’s so expensive as I purchased 5 jars of it and I know there are some reading this who may not be able to afford it. That said, I do think it may have helped me. I started with orange flavor and then switched to grape. I probably should have used grape all along. When I was in the 4th week of radiation, Healios stung a bit while drinking it. I’m not sure if it was a typical reaction or if the citric acid from the orange flavor was the culprit. I started using grape flavor the second week after I finished treatment. The sores were still pretty raw at that point and no pain. Could be a coincidence. I had radiation only so I cannot speak to how it works for patients who have chemo radiation for treatment.