Did any of you experience loss of appetite? I know this just the beginning and I have to froce myself to eat while i can, but I do not want to eat and foods taste nasty. I have been craving fruit, but the moment I put it in my mouth it makes me sick cause it don't taste good. I have 7 days down. Whoo hooo!

Angelia, I'm 6 months out from RT and I still have no real appetite. Like you, nothing tastes particularly good or appetizing. Tough as it is, we need to force ourselves to eat. Although thank god for Ensure and its cousins!

Courage.
D2

Angelia,

I went through the same thing you are. Looks like our appetite goes with the taste buds. We just make ourselves eat.

I,m doing better then David as my taste is about 3/4 back and I,m only about 6 weeks post Rt.

I went out tonight and had a shrimp dinner. I had to push myself a bit at the end as it was not quite as good as I remember, but it was nice to go out with the family and order something normal.

Kelly

I only have 5 days radiation and one big dose of chemo down and I don't even like the thought of food. I've never been a good eater but would eat when someone put food in front of me. Now it's getting to where they're gonna have to hold a gun to me to make me eat - I just don't want to. And my throat isn't even sore yet. It's all in my stomach blah and my mind I guess.

Angelia,

Lost of taste and corresponding appetite affects just about all of us that have the radiation. That's why we tell people to eat eat eat before Tx starts to maybe put some extra cushion on before the Tx starts to affect us. That said though, you MUST and I MUST emphasize MUST, continue to force calories (and water) into your stomach so you can help your body fight the effects of the Tx and avoid some unnecessary additional side effects.

I sought the drink with the most calories in the smallest container to reduce the time it took me to achieve my daily caloric goal and that is Carnation Instant Breakfast VHC that has a whopping 560 calories in a=the small 8 oz can so instead of having to drink 6 or 7 cans of Ensure I only had to drink 4 cans of VHC. Makes a huge difference when you don't want to drink anything .

Hi All:

Help! I was wondering if any of you know of a drink supplement that doesn't contain soy. I have been going to numerous ENT and gastro doctors to find out the reason for my putrid sweet mucus bubbling up in my throat in the a.m., and all that see I had radiation/chemo 2 years ago for tonsil cancer, assume that is the reason. Recently, I did find a gastro dr. who did a HIDA test and found out my gall bladder is only functioning at 8%, instead of the 35+ norm, so tomorrow I have my gall bladder removed (wish me luck). I also had a mucus culture-like test that showed a mouth yeast infection, and a soy allergy. Guess we can have other "normal" things wrong with us besides cancer, or cancer-related effects. Anyway, I've been drinking the Carnation Instant Breakfast VHC with Boost every day at lunchtime because I still have trouble swallowing. I noticed today that both contain soy. Do any of you have any experience with such, or know of another substitute I can drink to maintain my weight. Thank you.

Julieann

Angelia

What is an "appetite", I have forgotten that term.
charm

JulieAnn

Unforunately, Jevity has "soy protein isolate", so I am at a loss on what you can do. If you can tolerate VITAMIX texture, perhaps you could make your own nutrition drink. I am planning on doing that soon myself as I am getting very tired of pushing cornmaltodextin and corn sryup solids (Jevity) down my PEG.
It cannot be healthy for me.
Charm

Julieann,

When I first started my treatments, I was making my own protein shakes using whey isolate protein powder, instead of soy protein. I bought it at Whole Foods, an unflavored variety that blended well.

Unfortunately, soy is added to all sorts of foods now so you'll have to be careful.

- Margaret

You always have a way of making me smile you old frack. I love this site. I now have sores popping up in my mouth too. YEAH!! Got to love it, wait, no I don't. I HATE IT!