Chemo Mouth?

mamou · February 2003

I've had 2 rounds of chemo (ellence,5fu and cytoxin) and haven't found anything to get rid of the nasty taste and severe dryness in my mouth. I drink probably 1 1/2gals. fo water a day trying to wash it away, but to no avail. Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Julie

mjtarantino · February 2003

Hi -
I got the same thing. I drank lots of water and sucked on hard candy or chewed gum. It will wear off.

banker · February 2003

Hi I had the same problem, had a metal , chemical taste in my mouth, sometimes worse then other times. Tastebuds dissapeared too, Hard candy worked sometime or salty things, had gravings for olives and mashed potatoes, weird huh? It'll get better eventually. Hope this helps.
Emmi

marytres · February 2003

Hi, dryness in the mouth is commom as well, as the dryness in the nose and eyes. Terrible feeling but it will get better. Hugs

nancys · February 2003

Hi Julie, It is a chemical taste and dryness and it will go away, but I know how uncomfortable it is. It was suggested to me to suck on hard candy lemon drops but I don't think they helped a lot and hard candy seemed to make the roof of my mouth sore. I drank diet dr. pepper and it is still the only soda that has a good taste to me. I'm starting my 3rd year past treatment. I had a difficult time with the A/C and never did eat much but found that Taco Bell's bean burrito tasted good followed by the Diet Dr. I lost about 30 pounds during the A/C phase, so you know there were not many foods that looked good or tasted good. It's very odd that food tastes change with the chemo. Now, almost 2&1/2 years later, I am just beginning to enjoy the taste of chocolate again.. (here come those 30 pounds back, whoosh...) It will get better and soon you will look back at these months and think, "it was not all that bad." Hugs, Nancy

sevey · February 2003

Another thing that worked for me besides the water was icecream pops. They were cold, but made with water and it just worked so much better then just hard candy..... Hope it goes away soon for you....................Gods Peace & Grace
Cathy
P.S. Just keep doing the water too... As stated on the other responses, this too shall pass.

rizzo15 · February 2003

I don't know if this will work for you. But when I have that very bad taste in my mouth during the first 7-10 days after chemo, sometimes it helps to suck on a Tums tablet and the bad taste would go away for a couple hours. I think the instuctions say that Tums are for acid stomach and you are supposed to chew them up. But, I just sucked on them like hard candy and it neutralized the bad taste. The good thing about these is that unlike hard candy, they don't scratch the roof of your mouth if you suck too hard. Also, since Tums are basically chaulk, you could eat a lot of these and not overdose or be eating a lot of empty calories. The come in all kinds of fruit flavors--10 calories each.

gwinn · February 2003

Great ideas--just be cautious--am a Dental Hygienist and have seen many patients go through chemo and try these things (like antacids, candies, gum etc) which help with the taste and/or dryness temporarily, only to end up with MAJOR dental problems--like rampant tooth decay, expensive restoration, and even dentures. Try some of the following:
1)Biotene brand products-avail @ Wal-mart, walgreen and most drug stores--these are antibacterial and are specifically for dry mouth--sugar-free gum, alcohol free rinse, and oral-balance gel to coat mouth--these increase salivary flow resolving dryness and reducing bad tastes
2)mints and gum sweetened with xylitol--"CAREFREE Koolers" gum, SMINTS brand mints, or others--xylitol is actually good for your teeth, it has re-mineralization properties (similar to the benefits of Fluoride)
3)or any sugar free candy or gum
Lemon flavored candy/gum helps to stimulate salivary flow and covers tastes well.
Even vit-C lozenges and antacids can be quite detremental to teeth--who wants to deal with dental problems and expense after dealing with what we have already endured?!
hope this helps!

momof4 · April 2003

mamou i am having the same chemo as you 6 rounds of them 2 so far than followed by 4 rounds of taxol i have the chemical taste in my mouth for a longer period the second time and also the chills at night one more thing i have noticed ti darkening around my nuckels in my hands the skin is getting dark i wonder how many more changes my body will have while i'm trying to keep up my positive attitude since i want to be the one to grow my 4 girls up

Chemo Mouth?

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