Taste change.

I had twice daily radiation for my treatment plan and after the 8th treatment my taste began to change and by the 10th it was gone. Keep in mind that was over 4-5 days so your taste changes will likely be different (almost all are different truly). The loss of taste bothered me until the pain of swallowing food got too bad. Then I was almost thankful I had to just choke down boosts as any texture would have sent me through the roof pain wise.

When you are through treatment the taste comes back for most of us but to varying degrees. I am 14 months post treatment and I got about 75% of my taste back between 3-5 months and then I got to my new normal of about 95% taste back probably around the 9th month. I know some were much faster than me and some slower/never so keep that in mind.

I read on here that lemonade helped some spur on taste when you are done with treatment/recovery. I tried that but not sure it helped or not......... but I wanted to taste so badly that I tried and researched anything to help jumpstart my body.

Good luck. This forum helped me so much by the communication so if you feel down, remember you have friends here!

I did ice cream milk shakes to keep the weight up until dairy started to taste awful. Dairy was the worst for me.

Seems like shrimp was ok. Especially when my throat got sore. It wasn't as grainy as chicken somehow.

I do remember going out for an Italian dinner. Got lasagna. I can't describe the taste. Something like metallic fireplace ash. Such a waste.

I'm nine years out. Getting a little vague on the experience, fortunately.

As of today, 7-24-22, my last radiation treatment was 3 weeks ago. The lack of taste is a weirdly challenging side effect. I describe it as "no matter what I try to eat, it tastes like a salty, metallic paste in my mouth". And I've had zero appetite since my first chemo treatment and hardly any saliva. So at 9 weeks since my first week of radiation, I've lost about 20 pounds. I try to taste something each day but 95% of my calories come from Ensure and Boost VHC. This is the most challenging side effect I've had. Throat got mildly sore at the end was all...never had a need for a feeding tube. Swallowing never became an issue. Every time I asked about when I could expect taste bud and saliva recovery, I was always told "everyone's recovery is different",

Good Luck with your treatments and recovery...I feel your pain when it comes to eating.

Hi Mark,

My husband just completed wk 2 of radiation. He's gearing up for his 2nd chemo next week. How were you able to avoid the sore throat? Did you have a particular routine?

I wish I could offer some advice but basically I was just lucky and blessed to not have any swallowing problems and painfully sore throat. Cancer location and stage surely had an impact too.

They had me meet with a speech therapist several times and she had me do different swallowing exercises. She said this helps you from developing scar tissue on your swallowing muscles that impede your ability to swallow. I was really worried about the potential of losing my ability to swallow...almost gave me a claustrophobia type of dread....but it never turned into a problem. As for sore throat, everyone is different. They gave me some type of oral medication that had the word "magic" in the name. This did create some relief on the mouth sores and throat pain. You could actually swallow it so it coated your throat. They also gave me a medicine that you only could get at a compounding pharmacy. It had lidocaine for pain relief, a steroid and couple of other things. This, BY FAR, was the best thing for my oral and throat pain.

I just checked. The compounded medicine that worked wonders for me was call "Miles Solution".

Thank you so much! We have got to get on top of the tongue and swallowing exercises! We have stocked up on Boost HC and Ensure for when the time comes....which may be sooner rather than later with the taste issue.

Thank you so much!

Taste Change

I was told when my taste buds go to hell do not force yourself to eat your favorites because you may lose your taste for it after treatments and recovery is complete. I drank a lot of smoothies, milk toast, soft scrambled eggs and soup made in a blender that also heated while blending. Two weeks into radiation I could no longer drink coffee, I would almost get sick just smelling it brewing. I never regained my taste for coffee for about three months after I completed radiation. Basically you have to become a scientist and experiment to see what works for you but by all means keep trying. I had a feeding tube for a month or so after a full neck disection but the removed it before I started radiation. I did end up losing 92 pounds and they threatened to put another tube in if I kept losing weight but I lied and said I am fine.

Hope this helps

Jeff