How long until taste returned?

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TheDane
TheDane Member Posts: 27
edited March 2014 in Head and Neck Cancer #1
Hi all,

There is lots of info here about people's experiences with salivary function, but I am really curious to know how long it was for you after treatment ended before your sense of taste returned to normal? Or if it ever did?

Thanks!

~Dane

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  • mixleader
    mixleader Member Posts: 267 Member
    #2
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    Taste
    Hi, Dane. I lost almost all of my taste about halfway through the 30 treatments. Happily, I got most of it back within about 5 or 6 weeks after treatments ended. It's not back fully yet, but it's close enough. My tongue is still sensitive to spicy foods and some toothpastes, but it is truly good to taste again, even if it is not 100 percent.
  • fsdman
    fsdman Member Posts: 51
    #3
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    I am 18 mos out and still
    I am 18 mos out and still getting better. Only the past month could I tolerate tomato sauce-a crime as I am Sicilian. Just got to enjoy sugar in the past few weeks. Taste is almost as I remember.Only ice cream and alcoholic drinks are still big no-nos.It keeps getting better. I had 35 rads and 6 cisplatin .Good luck and I found it best not to push the taste issue -let it evolve as it wants.
  • D Lewis
    D Lewis Member Posts: 1,581 Member
    #4
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    5 1/2 Months out
    38 rads and three rounds of Cisplatin; taste is returning, but holding at about 75%. Beer tastes right, wines taste like vinegar, and hard alcohol seriously burns my mouth. Pepper burns, but some hot sauces don't. Sugars don't taste right, so desserts are not at all appealing. Pumpkin pie has no flavor. Tested out turkey and dressing, and it was pretty good. All vegetables are excellent, especially with olive oil and butter. Salads are excellent. Most meats are too dry to swallow, although they seem to taste okay. Milk, cheese, yougurt, and eggs are good. Love the taste of sourdough bread, but it's very hard to get down.

    My taste seems to be pretty closely tied to the saliva issue. If the food in my mouth is wet, it tastes better. Something that I am chewing, that seems to have very little flavor, actually improves if I take a sip of water. Take it a day at a time.

    Deb
  • pascotty
    pascotty Member Posts: 174 Member
    #5
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    D Lewis said:

    5 1/2 Months out
    38 rads and three rounds of Cisplatin; taste is returning, but holding at about 75%. Beer tastes right, wines taste like vinegar, and hard alcohol seriously burns my mouth. Pepper burns, but some hot sauces don't. Sugars don't taste right, so desserts are not at all appealing. Pumpkin pie has no flavor. Tested out turkey and dressing, and it was pretty good. All vegetables are excellent, especially with olive oil and butter. Salads are excellent. Most meats are too dry to swallow, although they seem to taste okay. Milk, cheese, yougurt, and eggs are good. Love the taste of sourdough bread, but it's very hard to get down.

    My taste seems to be pretty closely tied to the saliva issue. If the food in my mouth is wet, it tastes better. Something that I am chewing, that seems to have very little flavor, actually improves if I take a sip of water. Take it a day at a time.

    Deb

    Same Same
    I am exactly the same as Deb, and also 5 and half months post treatment. The only thing I can't really enjoy is chocolate and after two mouthful anything sugary loses its taste. I have been to three functions (wedding and footy windup) and had a few drinks, I find in the morning my neck swells up a bit (kind of scary) but goes down during the day.

    Jen xxxxxx
  • Army_Guy
    Army_Guy Member Posts: 53
    #6
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    TASTE...
    Hi Dane,

    I'm 10 weeks out of treatment and lost my taste buds about 3 weeks in (had 56 rads and 6 Cisplatin). My taste seems to be gradually returning; I can taste meats (have eaten steak 3 times this month), veggies, salad with some dressings (Ranch and Blue Cheese), and most other things. Still can't fully taste sweets; the sweet taste goes away after initial taste. I use more salt than I used to but it seems to bring out taste. Chocolate is getting better but not quite there yet. I haven't ventured into alcohol yet because I'm saving that until after my first post-treatment PET scan (tomorrow). Once the results are in I'll have an excuse to have a drink one way or the other. The key I believe is have patience and keep trying different things.

    Good luck and stay strong!

    Dave
  • Hondo
    Hondo Member Posts: 6,636 Member
    #7
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    Taste
    It took right at 2 1/2 months my frist time, but I know of others who 6 to 8 months
  • Kent Cass
    Kent Cass Member Posts: 1,898 Member
    #8
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    Hondo said:

    Taste
    It took right at 2 1/2 months my frist time, but I know of others who 6 to 8 months

    Salad freak
    That I am. For me, around 4-months post-treatment I discovered that mustard and relish on a hot dog actually tasted pretty good. Eaten slowly, some of us find the "hotter" foods are the ones most enjoyable. Taste buds have taken a hit, and onions, barbeque, etc., with chili are tolerable, and register with the deadened taste buds as okay. Agree with others about sugar- takes longer for that. I'm 1 1/2-years out, and sugary foods still don't taste like they used-to.

    kcass
  • Pam M
    Pam M Member Posts: 2,196
    #9
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    Quickly For Me
    Dane,

    I could taste when I could eat (about a month out). Not everything, but lots of things, and I made progress. Unlike most, I could eat chocolate at that time, but in small amounts only (taste of chocolate was intense). Now I'm seven and a half months out. I can taste almost everything (chocolate ice cream eludes me); some tastes still fade quickly (sweets). For me, it's texture or level of spice that limits me, not taste. I couldn't even eat catsup for a while, now I can eat mild salsa. Still have issues with things like cookies, breads, cakes, meat that's not dripping with foobricants (thanks, Stacey - foobricants is food that acts like a lubricant). Can do a tiny bit of horseradish, but it hurts. Hope your recovery's at least as speedy as mine was.
  • Skiffin16
    Skiffin16 Member Posts: 8,305 Member
    #10
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    Dynamic
    It's still a work in progress for me. I'm 16 months out and even though I have regained nearly 90+% of both my taste and salivary funtion, the taste keeps improving.

    Salivary function is all but normal other than drier at night than previously.

    Ice Cream is about the only thing that hasn't really returned to normal. Everything else pretty much has, just maybe not as intense with the taste or flavor. But I can taste nearly everything same as before.

    Best,
    John
  • Dan Garrett
    Dan Garrett Member Posts: 14
    #11
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    Skiffin16 said:

    Dynamic
    It's still a work in progress for me. I'm 16 months out and even though I have regained nearly 90+% of both my taste and salivary funtion, the taste keeps improving.

    Salivary function is all but normal other than drier at night than previously.

    Ice Cream is about the only thing that hasn't really returned to normal. Everything else pretty much has, just maybe not as intense with the taste or flavor. But I can taste nearly everything same as before.

    Best,
    John

    taste buds
    It is good to hear others have the same type of progress. 35 rads 5 cisplatin treatments
    6 months ago. Tired of being disappointed with certain foods but improving everyday. Had my first cup of coffee 2 days ago and wasn't as bad as it has been. Everybody is diferent and I always remember when I get discouraged that to look over my shoulder and see where I was a week ago in the healing process. As they say Time takes Time.
  • sweetblood22
    sweetblood22 Member Posts: 3,228
    #12
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    Dan Garrett said:

    taste buds
    It is good to hear others have the same type of progress. 35 rads 5 cisplatin treatments
    6 months ago. Tired of being disappointed with certain foods but improving everyday. Had my first cup of coffee 2 days ago and wasn't as bad as it has been. Everybody is diferent and I always remember when I get discouraged that to look over my shoulder and see where I was a week ago in the healing process. As they say Time takes Time.

    I'm 18 months out and my
    I'm 18 months out and my taste still isn't normal. Believe it or not, I could taste sweets and they were more tolerable in the beginning for me. Most savory items were like salty paste to me. It's coming back a little. If I look at stuff I can sometimes identfy it. If I was blindfolded I don't think I would be able to identify what I was eating. I can taste ice cream. Funny, I don't care for sweets, and that's what I can taste best.
  • JUDYV5
    JUDYV5 Member Posts: 392
    #13
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    In my case
    the taste did return, but it is a bit different. I am almost 5 months out. I can taste things, yet nothing is truly as good as I remembered. Hopefully, it will improve over time.
  • rmdgy
    rmdgy Member Posts: 22
    #14
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    Taste
    It was a few months before the sense of taste began to return for me. As many others have mentioned, my perception of taste was altered from how I remembered certain foods. For example: I did not like the taste of anything sweet for several months after my sense of taste began to return. It has now been 1 year and 4 months since treatments concluded. My sense of taste is almost back to "normal". I can now pretty much eat or drink anything that I did prior to treatments for SCC (right tonsil - 33 rads and Cisplatin). Good luck. It should gradually get better over the next 6 - 12 months.

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