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!

Sorry Charm,

I forget that I am at the "baby" level of Tx side effects and you, Christine, Jim and sooooo many others are in that "you gotta be kidding me" level. If Purple Hearts were given out for OC then your level would be a given to get them.

Julieann,

Sorry to hear about the soy allergy. It's amazing this stuff it's in (even most canned tuna). I have no soy issues, but know someone who does.

I've been using egg white protein powder lately. I know you can also get 100% whey (don't know if that counts as mucus-producing dairy or not) grocery, GNC and health food stores. Our local health food store also carries rice protein powders. The egg white tastes the best (to me), but seems to be the priciest. I just got some whey and rice sample packs ($1 to $2 each at the health food store, don't know about GNC-types) to try. If you don't have access to a nutritionist, I know some people would advise asking a local "health food store expert" about nutrition supplements, but some would advise against, not knowing what kind of background they'd have.

Good luck - I know how hard it is to avoid soy.
- Pam

DavidCPA

No apology necessary my brother. I did have a great run the first 11 months after the first TX, even eating a traditional Turkey feast back in 2008. While I am honored to be put in the same category as Christine and EZJim, they both have had it much much harder than myself in terms of surgery & complications.
True they can both eat some foods, while I can not (yet)but I am working with a therapist to see if I can manage a small cup of soup for Christmas dinner. I finally was able to quit silent aspiration when sipping a half teaspoon of barium at this month's MBS, so it may be possible.
Charm

Charm, I will give a toast to you on Christmas with having some pumpkin pie with lots of whipped cream

Ive had it rough, but Im still here to tell about it. Just remember, what doesnt kill us makes us stronger!!!

You mean to tell me this throat pain is going to make me stronger? OMG, I was not ready for it this morning. When I woke up it was there and with a vengeance.

Angelia

Now Throat pain, that's something I remember very well. And YES, according to Friedrich Nietzsche, that is exactly what it's going to do for you. Although for a counterbalancing view, get a copy of a book I have touted here before:
Cancer Made Me a Shallower Person - a really funny "comic - cartoon" collection by Miriam Engleberg. You can ask for it on your Santa List or treat yourself by ordering it off of Amazon (of course using the OCF link to Amazon so it is a stealth donation not costing you anything)
It is a very funny book by a breast cancer patient but with insights that apply to us oral cancer patients.
Charm

Christine

I am delighted to be the subject of a Christmas toast and even more delighted that you are out of the hospital and back at OCF to enjoy the holiday. Whoa, with you getting on the Nietzsche bandwagon with EricS, I am going to have to scour his quotes for a new one to put up on the coping/anger fear forum.
Charm

Thanks to you guys who replied. Pam: The saliva test also showed an allergy to eggs, but not as high as the soy products. My saliva test was done by by a Compound Pharmacy pharmacist who sent the samples of saliva (4 viles) to some lab for evaluation. I asked my regular doctor to get me an appointment with an allergist to confirm the allergies. My husband found some Whey Cool dietary supplement to mix with coconut oil and chocolate syrup that I'm trying. All together, the total caleries is about 1,000, so that is good. However, after drinking the drink, I began belching (yuk) a lot?? Not sure why. I'll check out GNC as you suggestd. Yes, soy is in almost EVERYTHING. I couldn't believe it was even in Campbell's Chicken Noodle Soup
My gall bladder surgery went fine yesterday, but today I still have that sweet yuk in my mouth, so guess that wasn't my problem, or it may be to soon to tell. Thanks again to all who replied.
julieann

As far as appetite goes - I am almost 7 months out of treatment and I still have no appetite. I can taste alot of things so that isn't the problem. But I make sure I eat twice a day. Take a lunch break and eat. Set down with the family at night and eat. I have found when I am out of that routine, that the entire day can go by and I have not thought to eat. I just don't have the hungry sensation. So my advice is to schedule eating, just like you schedule other things. One more daily thing to check of the list.

CORRECTION, CORRECTION. In my message I mentioned "viles" of saliva being checked at a lab, blah, blah, blah. Well, I meant, VIALS, duh. When I read back what I had submitted, I freaked because having 35 years experience as a tech writer, I knew better. Wonder if any of you guys noticed it, huh? Hey, having a spelling bee can take our minds off our cancer or ex-cancer, so that's good

julieann

Just assumed the vials were vile.

You got that right, Pam. - yuck, yuck, yuck.