Taste Buds

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Jean T. Szabo
Jean T. Szabo Member Posts: 193
edited March 2014 in Breast Cancer #1
Can't taste food. Eating what should be "healthy" anyway but can't taste it. Doesn't make for an enjoyable meal. Is this something that anyone else has had? Sore throat at night, using chloraseptic and Halls cough drops seems to help that. Hot liquids are better than cold.

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  • TraciInLA
    TraciInLA Member Posts: 1,994 Member
    #2
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    Oh yes, remember it well
    Hi, Jean -

    After each chemo round for about 2 weeks, I cycled from not being able to taste anything to everything tasting like mud to everything tasting like metal. Good times. >:-(

    When I couldn't taste anything, I found it helpful to try spicy foods -- Mexican, Thai, Indian, etc. Oftentimes something really spicy and flavorful could cut through the "taste fog" when other foods couldn't.

    Can't hurt to try -- good luck!

    Traci
  • phoenixrising
    phoenixrising Member Posts: 1,508
    #3
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    Most food (esp healthy)
    Most food (esp healthy) didn't sit well with me during chemo. Food tasted too salty. But ice cream and Dad's cookies with tea did, LOL! And I ate lots of it. Imagine ice cream in the middle of winter in northern Canada! Haven't done it since, LOL.
    jan
  • cookie97
    cookie97 Member Posts: 200
    #4
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    I've never been a foodie
    I've never been a real foodie anyway, but good grief when my taste buds and the everything tastes like i have a penny in my mouth... I only ate because I knew I had to. I did start drinking Instant Breakfast, not too bad just to jump start the day.
  • sea60
    sea60 Member Posts: 2,613
    #5
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    cookie97 said:

    I've never been a foodie
    I've never been a real foodie anyway, but good grief when my taste buds and the everything tastes like i have a penny in my mouth... I only ate because I knew I had to. I did start drinking Instant Breakfast, not too bad just to jump start the day.

    I also gravitated to
    spicy. I just tried and tasted and stuck with whatever had the most flavor. For some reason, I gravitated to pinto beans...weird.

    All this will pass Sister once you're done.


    Hugs and blessings to you,

    Sylvia
  • Rague
    Rague Member Posts: 3,653 Member
    #6
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    As soon as I started A/C, I
    As soon as I started A/C, I lost all sense of taste and basically at the same time (I don't really remember until Hubby realized I wasn't eating) lost all appetite. Taste started back during Rads but it was quite a while after the end of rads before appetite came back. Unfortunately Hubby had learned what anorexia (not eating) was because my Mother was anorexic and he had lived through her last 4 years of life. So he called several times a day to remind me to eat and then calld to ask IF I had. You're right - when nothing tastes at all and you're not hungry - it's hard to eat anything. Thankfully, keeping hydrated was not a problem for me - habit took over - I always have iced water or iced herb tea (or hot when it's really cold) so I drank out of habit.

    For me - nothing made anything taste good but have to eat so when reminded - I ate rather i wanted to or not.

    Susan
  • mollyz
    mollyz Member Posts: 756 Member
    #7
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    Rague said:

    As soon as I started A/C, I
    As soon as I started A/C, I lost all sense of taste and basically at the same time (I don't really remember until Hubby realized I wasn't eating) lost all appetite. Taste started back during Rads but it was quite a while after the end of rads before appetite came back. Unfortunately Hubby had learned what anorexia (not eating) was because my Mother was anorexic and he had lived through her last 4 years of life. So he called several times a day to remind me to eat and then calld to ask IF I had. You're right - when nothing tastes at all and you're not hungry - it's hard to eat anything. Thankfully, keeping hydrated was not a problem for me - habit took over - I always have iced water or iced herb tea (or hot when it's really cold) so I drank out of habit.

    For me - nothing made anything taste good but have to eat so when reminded - I ate rather i wanted to or not.

    Susan

    @Jean
    I'm the same way everything i eat taste like salt even ice cream to even get a little flavor i brush my tongue good and yes the spicier the food the better the flavor,I drink nestle quick mix with milk that's a good flavor i guess like someone else said they drink carnation instant breakfast you can taste it really well.MollyZ
  • Heatherbelle
    Heatherbelle Member Posts: 1,226 Member
    #8
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    Hi Jean,
    I had the same side
    Hi Jean,
    I had the same side effect when I was on chemo. I too stuck with spicy foods. It got to the point that I said "the hell with trying to eat healthy, im going to eat what I can taste". So by the end of chemo i was surviving on buffalo wings, white cheddar cheese popcorn, diet Dr. Pepper and Vitamin water. The good thing is, my taste buds came back very quickly after I finished chemo.
    Ooh, also, with the sore throat, I got sores on my tongue & on the side of my mouth while having Taxotere. I had been using Biotene until that point but when I got the sores my Onc gave me a prescription for (i think it's called) Mary's Magic Mouthwash - had numbing stuff in it and it REALLY worked for that week or so when the sores were really bad.
    *sending big hugs*
    Heather

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