What tastes good? Bad?

danc1962
danc1962 Member Posts: 11
in Head and Neck Cancer #1

Hello fellow warriors! I completed the normal 35 rads and 6 cisplatin chemo rounds. Treatments complete on November 16, 2016. The recovery is going well. I thought I would share a few foods that tasted good sooner and some that didn't. Some of the foods that don't taste good used to. So good: KFC original recipe dark meat, sausage, New England clam chowder, green tea, coffee, black cherry kool ade, green pepper soup, spaghetti.  The bad: regular tea, chocolate of any kind, tuna, tacos, (that's a shame,too because up until two weeks into radiation I was loving tacos), doughnuts, mashed potatoes. Some foods are kind of in between like eggs, peanut butter. I just thought it would be interesting to hear from you all. Maybe it will strike up some new things to try as well. Thank you and God Bless!  Dan

Comments

  • phrannie51
    phrannie51 Member Posts: 4,716
    edited January 2017 #2
    We are all so different!! :)

    For several weeks after treatment, I ate soup....The clam chowder on your list was part of my diet, my favorite tho was homemade veggie soup....and sliced French bread, thoroughly buttered soaked in said soup.  I loved cauliflower and cheese soup, too....anything that had veggies in it, really.  I couldn't really taste any of it, but I remember being SO hungry, that the minute the mouth sores cleared up, I tucked my tube for good till they finally consented to taking it out.

    To this day, I can't eat spaghetti sauce....it burns, but I can down taco's with no problem....any Mexican food is great. 

    My taste buds sailed at half mast for 3 years....then almost like over night they kicked in (actually over the course of a couple weeks)....I was stunned, and SO HAPPY!!! 

    p

  • danc1962
    danc1962 Member Posts: 11
    #3
    phrannie51 said:

    We are all so different!! :)

    For several weeks after treatment, I ate soup....The clam chowder on your list was part of my diet, my favorite tho was homemade veggie soup....and sliced French bread, thoroughly buttered soaked in said soup.  I loved cauliflower and cheese soup, too....anything that had veggies in it, really.  I couldn't really taste any of it, but I remember being SO hungry, that the minute the mouth sores cleared up, I tucked my tube for good till they finally consented to taking it out.

    To this day, I can't eat spaghetti sauce....it burns, but I can down taco's with no problem....any Mexican food is great. 

    My taste buds sailed at half mast for 3 years....then almost like over night they kicked in (actually over the course of a couple weeks)....I was stunned, and SO HAPPY!!! 

    p

    Thank you for your input!

    Thank you for your input! That is very interesting that your taste buds took that long but did kick in. Thank God they finally did! Oh, I have been eating shrimp lately too. God bless you. Dan

     

  • tommyodavey
    tommyodavey Member Posts: 728 Member
    #4
    They're New

    When you get radiation I think it kills off all your taste buds.  It took me some time to get some taste back aside from everything tasting like cardboard.  Then they went over the top.  No longer can I tolerate my beloved spicy mexican foods.  I can still eat it but just not the really hot spicy stuff like some salsa's.  Can't even handle mint toothpaste as that burns too. Fruity flavors only. No complaints though, my taste buds work quite well and food tastes good.  I thought after 5 years they would calm down but they haven't.  Still, no big deal.  Just be patient and they should come back to normal, or close to it.

     

     

  • donfoo
    donfoo Member Posts: 1,773 Member
    edited January 2017 #5
    doing great

    Wow! You sure are recovring well and eating quite well. Everyone is different as to what tastes return, what tastes different, what is spicy or not. It is early days for you so time will deliver improved palette for the coming year and beyond.

  • mrspaul
    mrspaul Member Posts: 24
    #6
    One of the first things that

    One of the first things that started tasting horrible to my husband was chocolate and coffee.  He is in week five of eight week radiation.  He is so hoping coffee will taste good once again when this is over.  For now he can only eat soup or some mashed foods that are just warm.  he said the first thing he is eating when this is over and his taste comes back is a big loaded pizza!  we shall see ! ...

  • wild willy
    wild willy Member Posts: 63 Member
    #7
    taste

    all this sounds good to me. i just passed 6 years and still cant taste, except for jelly beans. odd isn't it. looks like if you could taste one thing you could taste others

  • CherieLW
    CherieLW Member Posts: 472
    #8
    Speaking for my dad...

    Speaking for my dad...

    He can't eat hamburger anymore, struggles with a lot of foods but I notice foods he says are tolerable although he can't taste well: milkshakes, sweets esp apple pie, shrimp, cucumber, rare steak, eggs, sweet onion pasta that I make, shrimp lo mein.  He eats a lot of sour cream with things to help get it down.  I pray every day that his taste comes back so he can enjoy good once again. 

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