Hi i am going on my third week and a half of recovery after 33 treatments of radiation and chemo with cysplatin. Everything tastes like metal including sweets. i was wondering how long it was going to last. Also how long does it take for the throat to heal? i know that i am asking for too much too quick but i am desperate. I want to recover from this and it does not seem to be happening. I also need to gain weight and i unable to accomplish that. Today i am very frustrated and angry. thanks for everyones help.

Hi Coquito. I'm 2 weeks post. I have always been told that physically I start to heal at 2-4 weeks. It has been made clear after all the posts I have read say I'll start to have some normal taste at 3-4 months with slow progression after that. I to wish I could eat and it taste good. My throat has actually been getting worse but drinking my meals is still bearable. I drink 1 ensure+ (350 cal) and a Carnation Instant Breakfast Lactose Free VHC (560 cal) 3x a day. That totals 2790 cals and I'm maintaing my weight. I don't have a feeding tube and Had to take fluids on and off to help me get through the last week of tx and then I took fluids the first week post tx and haven't had to since I have been able to take in the 2730 cals. Good luck and hang in there. Lee

You've earned the right to be frustrated and angry. I'm 9 weeks out. I used to drink tea with 3 heaping spoonfuls of sugar. Can't do that just yet (not that my dentist wants me too ;-) as I can't taste the sugar. Had Mickey D's pancakes - couldn't taste the syrup. Some foods taste like they've been peppered. Guess what I'm trying to say that everyone is different and it varies when we get our taste back. Try to stay patient for just a little longer. Hang in there. Sue

Hi Coquito,

I lived on a simple, mostly Boost Plus and egg-beater omelets, diet for several weeks after treatment ended, and things did not taste very good for a while (I ate everything using plastic utensils due to the awful metallic taste when I used metal utensils). I had no appetite for 3 months or so and only ate because I knew I had to. My appetite is much better now at 5 months and my cuisine has expanded to just about where it was pre-treatment. And I only recently started getting enough real food to stop drinking a Boost or two a day. Initially, sweets like chocolate and candy bars were totally repulsive to me - they are not so bad now although I still don't care for them. However I do like cake, yogurt, and fruit - a little sweet but not too sweet.

I am only now starting to gain some real weight. I'd say I've put on several pounds recently (although I didn't lose that much during treatment).

I can only recommend patience - three weeks is way to early to see much progress. The important thing is that you are eating, and you need to make sure you find foods that you can tolerate ("tolerate" being the operative word for a while) AND that have a lot of calories.

Best wishes,

Chris

I'm 14 months post-nuke and my taste is still not back to any large degree.

At first, everything was too salty or it was metallic; both of those have gone away, but I still don't really taste sweets (a neighbor gave me a splendid piece of super-fancy bakery cake with sweets, some kind of fruit syrup, nuts, etc., and I could hardly taste any of it except the fruit!) although I can taste chocolate (but the darn stuf is too dry).

When I do taste something, the taste will only last a few bites and then I seem to tune it out.

Looking on the positive side, not having much taste means I don't have much appettite, so it's pretty easy to maintain my weight!

I guess my summary is that one should expect the recovery to be different in each individual's case with the common thread that it will be most likely a very slow process; getting frustrated with the lack of progress is kind of pointless...