post radiation salty mouth

robinleigh

My husband is 1 week post radiation and his mouth now feels like a salt lick. Does anybody have any suggestions or encouragement?

Skiffin16

Dried Leather
Hmmm, mine felt like a piece of dried out leather....

Nothing much to offer other than a lot of hydration. Rinses with Hydorgen Peroxide and Baking Soda Mixtures was my prescribed solution.

You might try soda water or ginger ale also....

Unfortunately, there's not a lot that I can think of as for a resolution other than knowing that it'll get better eventually.

Best,
John

adventurebob

L-Glutamine
It's gonna feel and taste (what taste there is) strange for awhile to come now. The L-Glutamine helped me. Sip it throughout the day. It will get better. Gonna be a couple more weeks though. Stay strong. Be patient.

Bob

robinleigh

Skiffin16 said:

Dried Leather
Hmmm, mine felt like a piece of dried out leather....

Nothing much to offer other than a lot of hydration. Rinses with Hydorgen Peroxide and Baking Soda Mixtures was my prescribed solution.

You might try soda water or ginger ale also....

Unfortunately, there's not a lot that I can think of as for a resolution other than knowing that it'll get better eventually.

Best,
John

We need the part about
We need the part about "knowing that it'll get better". Sometimes it's easy to forget. Thanks for reminding us!

robinleigh

adventurebob said:

L-Glutamine
It's gonna feel and taste (what taste there is) strange for awhile to come now. The L-Glutamine helped me. Sip it throughout the day. It will get better. Gonna be a couple more weeks though. Stay strong. Be patient.

Bob

Gonna check out L-Glutamine.
Gonna check out L-Glutamine. We have a product called Juven that has glutamine, arginine, and HMB but we're putting it through the tube. Soooo.....it's pleasant on the mouth?

Kent Cass

robinleigh said:

Gonna check out L-Glutamine.
Gonna check out L-Glutamine. We have a product called Juven that has glutamine, arginine, and HMB but we're putting it through the tube. Soooo.....it's pleasant on the mouth?

robinleigh
John and Bob have excellent suggestions. And, as far as it getting better- it definitely will. Just takes awhile. By the 4th month after my last rad I took a liking to mustard and onions and relish on brats, and that was unimaginable two months earlier when I was struggling with buttered pancakes drenched in maple syrup, to go with the Ensure. You will get there.

kcass

Hondo

Kent Cass said:

robinleigh
John and Bob have excellent suggestions. And, as far as it getting better- it definitely will. Just takes awhile. By the 4th month after my last rad I took a liking to mustard and onions and relish on brats, and that was unimaginable two months earlier when I was struggling with buttered pancakes drenched in maple syrup, to go with the Ensure. You will get there.

kcass

Dry mouth
Same here as John & Bob, it is all I knew to do. I also use at night a stuff called Stoppers 4 for dry mouth.

All the best
Hondo

Skiffin16

robinleigh said:

We need the part about
We need the part about "knowing that it'll get better". Sometimes it's easy to forget. Thanks for reminding us!

Hydrogen Peroxide and Baking Soda
I forgot to mention that was in about 1/4 glass of water..... I don't remember the exact mixtures, but in about 1/4 glass of water, I'd add a few tables spoons of hydrogen peroxide and about a tablespoon of baking soda. Swish around and spit the mixture....

JG

adventurebob

robinleigh said:

Gonna check out L-Glutamine.
Gonna check out L-Glutamine. We have a product called Juven that has glutamine, arginine, and HMB but we're putting it through the tube. Soooo.....it's pleasant on the mouth?

yes
It is pleasant on the mouth. Online is cheapest but any vitamin store would have it. Hope it helps.

Bob

sweetblood22

adventurebob said:

yes
It is pleasant on the mouth. Online is cheapest but any vitamin store would have it. Hope it helps.

Bob

Salty
My mouth was like that when I could finally start trying to eat. My sweet taste came back first. Anything that was savory tasted like pure salt and burned. I really wish I knew about and used the l-Glutamine sooner. I really believe it helps.

Ron49

We just purchased the l
We just purchased the l glutamine today for Ron he is 3 weeks out of treatment I will let u know how it goes. Many here have recommended it and I trust them immensely wishing the very best

robinleigh

Ron49 said:

We just purchased the l
We just purchased the l glutamine today for Ron he is 3 weeks out of treatment I will let u know how it goes. Many here have recommended it and I trust them immensely wishing the very best

It's gotta get better. Went
It's gotta get better. Went to see the nurse about this salty taste deal and she said "most people complain of a metallic taste from cisplatin". Well, hubby has absolutely identified his taste as SALTY. So salty that it just gags him and makes it hard to keep things down. UGH!!! So far, plain water seems to work the best but I may be presenting too many choices. It's hard for the caregiver because we want to fix the problem. I have more varieties of drinks on the frig shelf...enought to make anyone gag...haha. We'll just keep trying and I'll report any successes. Meanwhile, this too shall pass. Thanks for the suggestions everyone!

sweetblood22

robinleigh said:

It's gotta get better. Went
It's gotta get better. Went to see the nurse about this salty taste deal and she said "most people complain of a metallic taste from cisplatin". Well, hubby has absolutely identified his taste as SALTY. So salty that it just gags him and makes it hard to keep things down. UGH!!! So far, plain water seems to work the best but I may be presenting too many choices. It's hard for the caregiver because we want to fix the problem. I have more varieties of drinks on the frig shelf...enought to make anyone gag...haha. We'll just keep trying and I'll report any successes. Meanwhile, this too shall pass. Thanks for the suggestions everyone!

And again, I have to say
And again, I have to say that I didn't have chemo, but I had severe saltiness and still do have issues with savory stuff tasting salty. Hate it!

robinleigh

sweetblood22 said:

And again, I have to say
And again, I have to say that I didn't have chemo, but I had severe saltiness and still do have issues with savory stuff tasting salty. Hate it!

Robyn - We're at about the
Robyn - We're at about the same stage so I always look for your posts. I hope that Ron going back to work will be as easy a transition as possible. Andy can't be far from a water bottle, spitoon bucket, or box of kleenex. Other than that, his lunch box won't be hard to pack! Best wishes!

Sweetblood - Your thread has been a complete G-dsend! I just about refer to it daily! Thank you for creating it!!! My best to you and your continued health!

Skiffin16

robinleigh said:

Robyn - We're at about the
Robyn - We're at about the same stage so I always look for your posts. I hope that Ron going back to work will be as easy a transition as possible. Andy can't be far from a water bottle, spitoon bucket, or box of kleenex. Other than that, his lunch box won't be hard to pack! Best wishes!

Sweetblood - Your thread has been a complete G-dsend! I just about refer to it daily! Thank you for creating it!!! My best to you and your continued health!

Peaches
One thing that seemed to remain a constant with me was the DelMonte Light Syrup Sweetend SLiced Peaches.

I would always eat a few of these even during my roughest times with pain. I didn't have the PEG and wanted to make sure I get the muscles and reflexes working for swallowing. The peaches did provide just a hint od taste and flavor (better than the unsweetened which I could taste the difference).

They slid down fairly unassisted and didn't cause much pain with my technique of layed out magic solution, water,Ensure Plus and ground percocet in a little wate as a chaser after the few peach slices.

Also as for the mettalic taste,( I know you said you didn't have that), but some people find relief by usinf plastic utensils.

It will all work out eventually....

Just remember as a caregiver, patient or MD...you can't fix everything, somethings just take time....but the trying process is always a good thing and just everyonce in awhile, you'll notice some improvement.

Best,
John

sweetblood22

robinleigh said:

Robyn - We're at about the
Robyn - We're at about the same stage so I always look for your posts. I hope that Ron going back to work will be as easy a transition as possible. Andy can't be far from a water bottle, spitoon bucket, or box of kleenex. Other than that, his lunch box won't be hard to pack! Best wishes!

Sweetblood - Your thread has been a complete G-dsend! I just about refer to it daily! Thank you for creating it!!! My best to you and your continued health!

Robinleigh
Thank you very much. I am very glad to hear that it has been of help to you.


I still use plastic utensils. All I taste is metal when I eat with silverware.

robinleigh

Skiffin16 said:

Peaches
One thing that seemed to remain a constant with me was the DelMonte Light Syrup Sweetend SLiced Peaches.

I would always eat a few of these even during my roughest times with pain. I didn't have the PEG and wanted to make sure I get the muscles and reflexes working for swallowing. The peaches did provide just a hint od taste and flavor (better than the unsweetened which I could taste the difference).

They slid down fairly unassisted and didn't cause much pain with my technique of layed out magic solution, water,Ensure Plus and ground percocet in a little wate as a chaser after the few peach slices.

Also as for the mettalic taste,( I know you said you didn't have that), but some people find relief by usinf plastic utensils.

It will all work out eventually....

Just remember as a caregiver, patient or MD...you can't fix everything, somethings just take time....but the trying process is always a good thing and just everyonce in awhile, you'll notice some improvement.

Best,
John

John,
Yes, the caregiver is
John,

Yes, the caregiver is out of ideas. At this point my hubby is gagging on this salty tasting "build up" in his throat about every 3 hours. In between that, he's fairly settled but still suffering with just the salty taste. I'm wondering if it's the cisplatin which he had last Monday. The nurses tell me that most experience a metallic taste but Andy's describing it as salty...

Thanks for the encouragement. I know it will get better. There have been so many different stages that have passed so I know this one will also!! Patience and hope (I'm reminding myself!)

LeftyS7

robinleigh said:

John,
Yes, the caregiver is
John,

Yes, the caregiver is out of ideas. At this point my hubby is gagging on this salty tasting "build up" in his throat about every 3 hours. In between that, he's fairly settled but still suffering with just the salty taste. I'm wondering if it's the cisplatin which he had last Monday. The nurses tell me that most experience a metallic taste but Andy's describing it as salty...

Thanks for the encouragement. I know it will get better. There have been so many different stages that have passed so I know this one will also!! Patience and hope (I'm reminding myself!)

Salt taste

I am one year out of chemo and radiation treatment for base of the tongue cancer. I still have an awful taste of salt in my mouth at all times. It's like my rear molars are salt blocks that are constantly dissolving. If anything it has gotten worse. It makes almost everything taste terrible. Together with dry mouth, saliva has also not come back to any significant extent, it makes eating solid foods almost impossible. I'm living on daily shakes made of Boost VHC and Scandishake which give me over one thousand calories per meal. My radiation Doc told me that everyone is different as far as recovering taste and saliva and my ENT has told me that there is nothing I can do to improve either other than the pilocarpine that I take which has given me enough saliva to, occasionally, lick my lips and lick an envelope. I'm the kind of person who likes to be told the worst case scenario so that I don't get my hopes up but my understanding is that the Docs don't like to give that as they think that if people are hopeful then they are more likely to improve. For me, it has just made me depressed at the prospect of these two things never improving. The good news is that I have no appetite so I don't really miss food.

KTeacher

LeftyS7 said:

Salt taste

I am one year out of chemo and radiation treatment for base of the tongue cancer. I still have an awful taste of salt in my mouth at all times. It's like my rear molars are salt blocks that are constantly dissolving. If anything it has gotten worse. It makes almost everything taste terrible. Together with dry mouth, saliva has also not come back to any significant extent, it makes eating solid foods almost impossible. I'm living on daily shakes made of Boost VHC and Scandishake which give me over one thousand calories per meal. My radiation Doc told me that everyone is different as far as recovering taste and saliva and my ENT has told me that there is nothing I can do to improve either other than the pilocarpine that I take which has given me enough saliva to, occasionally, lick my lips and lick an envelope. I'm the kind of person who likes to be told the worst case scenario so that I don't get my hopes up but my understanding is that the Docs don't like to give that as they think that if people are hopeful then they are more likely to improve. For me, it has just made me depressed at the prospect of these two things never improving. The good news is that I have no appetite so I don't really miss food.

Welcome Lefty

This is an older post.  You might want to start a new discussion.  Welcome to our little corner of cyberland.  We are a great group of people that you can talk to about anything.  My drymouth didn't last as long as yours.  I still need liquid to get my food down.

debbiejeanne

sweetblood22 said:

Robinleigh
Thank you very much. I am very glad to hear that it has been of help to you.


I still use plastic utensils. All I taste is metal when I eat with silverware.

welcome back,

welcome back, sweetblood22!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!  i hope u r feeling well.  great to c u.  take care.

dj