One of my favorite passtimes has always been eating and enjoying the taste of things. My radiation oncologist warned me that a few treatments into therapy I would lose my ability to taste. Today after only three treatments under my belt, I had some carboard pie. Coconut cream pie has always been my all time favorite. My youngest daugther is especially adept at making these delicious delights, a southern heritage thing. Last night she baked me a doosey, placed it lovingly in the fridge and informed me, this is yours and yours alone to go with your afternoon coffee.
Alas,,,Cardboard, carboard, cardboard. So Sad....
Darrell

The good news is that taste for the most part is one thing that does come back after treatment, though I find mine slightly different than I remember things. But the cardboard period is a drag no matter how you slice it. The trick is that in spite of the lack of taste, and for most people at this stage the lack of desire to eat, that patients keep up their nutrition and weight until they get through this.

A couple of months after treatment, a good friend made a sweet potato pie for me. all from scratch. that lady (a senior citizen) really knows how to cook.

i watched as others ate it. my throat just didn't work. with time, i now eat just about everything and it tastes great.

keep your chin up and be happy that your fine cook is young!!

cu,
larryb

Darrell, for me, sweet was the first taste to go and the last to return. I could taste and eat salty things well into the rad, and that was the first taste to return. And just FYI, it comes back gradually. You will taste one bite of something and start to celebrate, then take another bite and taste... cardboard. Just one more small price to pay for being able to complain (grin).

I have not tasted anything like cardboard or metal but like Joanna, sweet was the first taste to go and until now, it has not yet returned. Food like dessert, chocolate don't taste as I remember but not unpleasant, either. It is just that when people say it is very sweet, I can just imagine the taste.Other taste buds have mostly returned and I still enjoy eating food unless it is too dry or hard for me.

Karen stage 4 tonsil cancer diagnosed in 9/01.

I have really been relying on my sense of smell to compensate for taste. I use my memory and sort of fake myself out when I eat now. Coffee which I used to love now taste so bitter I can hardly stand it. I can't drink it hot now anyway. Can anyone drink sodas? They burn my throat so badly, but I do get tired of water. Any suggestions on something else to try. Sweet is just now coming back. I have much fewer taste buds to work with now too.

Lynn

Lynn, it was at least a year following the end of chemo/rad when I could drink anything carbonated. Just put that and anyting with vinegar, e.g.salad dressings, on the back burner for now. My taste returned just as it was before and I still cannot handle hot and spicy, but I was always that way so cannot blame the treatments. As nearly as I can recall, it was a good three or four months post treatment before taste began to return for more than one or two bites. And only recently, 18 months out, can I drink hot coffee and eat hot soup. Little improvements keep appearing, even now. So you have much to look forward to.

Hi...

My taste buds came back almost the same. I do miss peanut butter. It just doesn't taste right. I also bought one of my favorite girl scount cookies....thin mints. They were disappointing also. I can now drink orange juice which was awfully hard on my throat.

Khaja

Lynn,

It is good to hear that you still taste. My mom had 75 % of her tongue removed, rad is soon to follow. Her doctor told her she will not taste anything after rad treatments. The tone he used was so final and crushing to her. She knows it won't be the same, but knowing that only if one taste bud survives its somthing to hold on to. How long was it when you noticed your firtst taste?
Annabel

I remember eating chocolate during treatment and it tasted like pure salt. I eat it some now but it just isn't the same as I used to love it. Six months after treatment, there are days things have a strange taste and sour cream, some salad dressings or yogurt still burns the inside of my mouth. I ate jalapeno peppers last week for the first time and if I cut them into little pieces, they were very, very good again!

Ed