Weird Taste

Ashlea
Ashlea Member Posts: 6
in Lymphoma (Hodgkin and Non-Hodgkin) #1
A couple hours after I get chemo I get a really weird taste in my mouth and it usually lasts 3 to 4 days. Making food and liquids taste horrible. Does anyone have a suggestions as to what I can do about this weird taste I get?? Help Please!

Comments

  • merrywinner
    merrywinner Member Posts: 626 Member
    #2
    Hi Ashlea
    Welcome to the site. I know the taste changes are a side effect for most of us during chemo. For me everything just did not taste right. I ate a lot of fruit because it tasted the most normal and I craved it. I also was told to use a baking soda toothpaste and rinse my mouth with warm water, with salt and baking soda in it. I think it helped protect from mouth sores and did help some with the taste thing. It does go back to normal after chemo but takes awhile. Others will most likely pop on with suggestions. Take good care. Mary
  • COBRA666
    COBRA666 Member Posts: 2,401 Member
    #3
    Taste
    Ashlea,
    First of all I would like to say welcome to this site. I know its not the place of first choice,but believe me you will get more support here than you ever thought. The people on here are great. I have been here since June of 2010. I was a complete mess. The first person to respond to me was the same one that responded to you,Merrywinner!! She was a lifesaver to me. The others quickly joined in and made things even easier. The bad taste in your mouth is so very common. I had a taste of metal and it lasted up almost to I got my next treatment. It was so bad I could not even taste mustard. A lot of stuff tasted salty. The metal taste stands out the most. I drank a lot of juice. It helped,but was not perfect.The chemo really messes with your taste buds. There are a lot of people on here that tryed various foods and it worked for them .They will be here shortly. Sometimes its a little slow on the weekends,but they will be here,I promise. Please keep us posted as to your progress and feel free to jump in anytime with what ever is on your mind. Thats what we are all about on here. We do our best to help each other. John(follicular non-hodgkins lymphoma-grade1-stage 4) Incidently the stage is no biggy. Its all treated the same way.
  • vinny59
    vinny59 Member Posts: 1,036 Member
    #4
    Hi
    Welcome to the site! That weird taste should start to go away, if not I found that Ramon noodles, believe it or not was palatable... I lived on the stuff!!!! Good luck Vinny
  • KC13167
    KC13167 Member Posts: 215
    #5
    Taste
    Ashlea,

    Welcome ! I found that drinking with a straw helped. I also used plastic utensils instead of metal ones. I found that I could tolerate "big taste" foods, like Vinney, Ramen Noodles were great, mustard, horseradish, dark chocolate drinks. Cold items tasted better than hot so I ate a ton of yogurt and made smoothies. I hope that helps you some.

    My last chemo was Oct 2010 and I still have strange taste/aversions to things. For instance, I use the every day flatware on Holidays instead of real silver-silverware; I just can't stand the taste! I used to love beer and ale from microbreweries, now I just can't even stand the thought of it.

    Good luck, Kellie
  • COBRA666
    COBRA666 Member Posts: 2,401 Member
    #6
    KC13167 said:

    Taste
    Ashlea,

    Welcome ! I found that drinking with a straw helped. I also used plastic utensils instead of metal ones. I found that I could tolerate "big taste" foods, like Vinney, Ramen Noodles were great, mustard, horseradish, dark chocolate drinks. Cold items tasted better than hot so I ate a ton of yogurt and made smoothies. I hope that helps you some.

    My last chemo was Oct 2010 and I still have strange taste/aversions to things. For instance, I use the every day flatware on Holidays instead of real silver-silverware; I just can't stand the taste! I used to love beer and ale from microbreweries, now I just can't even stand the thought of it.

    Good luck, Kellie

    Weird taste
    Kellie,
    I had my last treatment in Sept. and I too still have things that don't taste right. Crackers taste stale,spaghetti sauce is really acidy and sweets really taste sweet. Everything else is back to normal as far as taste....well almost anyway. John(FNHL-1-4A-5/10)
  • yesyes2
    yesyes2 Member Posts: 591
    #7
    KC13167 said:

    Taste
    Ashlea,

    Welcome ! I found that drinking with a straw helped. I also used plastic utensils instead of metal ones. I found that I could tolerate "big taste" foods, like Vinney, Ramen Noodles were great, mustard, horseradish, dark chocolate drinks. Cold items tasted better than hot so I ate a ton of yogurt and made smoothies. I hope that helps you some.

    My last chemo was Oct 2010 and I still have strange taste/aversions to things. For instance, I use the every day flatware on Holidays instead of real silver-silverware; I just can't stand the taste! I used to love beer and ale from microbreweries, now I just can't even stand the thought of it.

    Good luck, Kellie

    Weird Tastes
    Hi Ashlea,

    Welcome to the CSN board. Sorry that you have a reason to join us but glad you found us as everyone is so willing to help and give assistance.

    For me the first time many years ago that I had chemo I lived on cottage cheese. The creaminess and chill helped my mouth. This time around I no longer eat diary or wheat products. I like others have mentioned craved strong tasting foods, soy yogurt, Mexican food and eggs with lots of salsa on them. Eggs tasted terrible but the salsa was great.

    The good thing is that your tastebuds do come back after chemo.

    Best to you,
    Leslie
  • allmost60
    allmost60 Member Posts: 3,178 Member
    #8
    yesyes2 said:

    Weird Tastes
    Hi Ashlea,

    Welcome to the CSN board. Sorry that you have a reason to join us but glad you found us as everyone is so willing to help and give assistance.

    For me the first time many years ago that I had chemo I lived on cottage cheese. The creaminess and chill helped my mouth. This time around I no longer eat diary or wheat products. I like others have mentioned craved strong tasting foods, soy yogurt, Mexican food and eggs with lots of salsa on them. Eggs tasted terrible but the salsa was great.

    The good thing is that your tastebuds do come back after chemo.

    Best to you,
    Leslie

    Not bad for me...
    Hi Ashlea,
    I didn't have any weird tastes...just some foods didn't have the full flavor they usually had. I didn't experience the metal taste at all nor did I get any sores in my mouth. What I did experience was a slight sensitivity to cold drinks, ice cream, etc. Chocolate seemed xtra sweet, but I always managed to wolf it down, as it's something I "CAN'T" live without. Welcome to our group Ashlea...hope you will keep us posted, and we are always here to help.
    Love...Sue (FNHL-2-3A-6/10)
  • Ashlea
    Ashlea Member Posts: 6
    #9
    allmost60 said:

    Not bad for me...
    Hi Ashlea,
    I didn't have any weird tastes...just some foods didn't have the full flavor they usually had. I didn't experience the metal taste at all nor did I get any sores in my mouth. What I did experience was a slight sensitivity to cold drinks, ice cream, etc. Chocolate seemed xtra sweet, but I always managed to wolf it down, as it's something I "CAN'T" live without. Welcome to our group Ashlea...hope you will keep us posted, and we are always here to help.
    Love...Sue (FNHL-2-3A-6/10)

    Thanks everyone for the
    Thanks everyone for the great tips i will have to try a few out!!
  • truckingalong
    truckingalong Member Posts: 445 Member
    #10
    Ashlea said:

    Thanks everyone for the
    Thanks everyone for the great tips i will have to try a few out!!

    Taste
    Welcome, Ashlea,

    My tastes have changed since I had the chemo. I find that sweets become too sweet but love the homemade cooked pureed apple/pear sauce (with cinnamon and little brown sugar). I enjoy eating anything that is salty and like yogurt and smoothies. Other foods taste bland but I know that will change with time.

    Good luck,
    Liz
  • joeyh
    joeyh Member Posts: 2
    #11
    The whole time I had chemo
    The whole time I had chemo nothing tasted right. Like somebody else said, spaghetti sauce had a STRONG acidic taste and sweets were way too sweet. I really liked spicey food like mexican and pizza, but stayed away from all dairy. One thing I used to drink were those little lemonade packets you add to bottled water. Were good at the time, but with them being connected to the chemo I couldnt drink one now, YUK! Good luck, it'll get better.
  • Susy28
    Susy28 Member Posts: 18
    #12
    Hi Ashlea,
    I started off by
    Hi Ashlea,

    I started off by having really sensitive taste buds. Everything shocked my mouth, sort of similar to when you put a sour candy in your mouth but a lot worse. It lasted a few months and then the bad taste kicked in. I couldn't drink anything but water with lemon. I would wake up at 3 am to make myself water with lemon and sometimes added a little salt or sugar and lots of ice. As for the food, I tried to stay away from my favorite food because I didn't want to end up hating it. I ate whatever I craved and tried to stay away from eating food that I felt forced to eat.
    Hope this helps. Good luck!

    Susy M

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