I am wondering if the taste buds ever return to normal? I cannot swallow and have a peg tube but I am going to go to a speech therapist about swallowing excerises. I have recently tried tasting normal foods and they taste so bad I wouldn't be able to eat them anyway. I feel if food isn't going to taste better it seem futile to learn to swallow again. Any thoughts on this would be appreciated.

Sandis,

Don't know anything about your treatment from this post but in my case my taste and saliva have almost returned to pre Tx normal. The recovery is very very slow and took all of 15 months for me to be happy with my taste and I even think I saw some improvement at my 24th month mark. To me the saliva and taste go hand n hand so as my saliva improved, so did my taste.

The other taste problem that arises is that something will taste good the first bite or two, but quickly fades to bland.

Thanks for the responses, I had no idea if it would return or approximately how long it would take. I never dreamt it would take 15-24 months.

Everybody can be different but the majority of us took a long time. Heck it was month 4 post Tx before I posted that I had an improvement in both my saliva and corresponding taste. The first improvement I noticed in taste was that I could taste the first bite almost perfectly. WOW was my feeling but unfortunately the taste only lasted for that first bite!! After that my taste buds seemed to be over whelmed and while it didn't taste bad, nothing seemed to have much of a flavor except some sweets which I never totally lost. Some foods took a lot longer to taste normal, like oranges, and some drinks, like carbonated ones, were unpleasant to put in my mouth.

As I said by my 24 month post Tx I was over healing and my taste and saliva, while not like they were pre Tx, are definitely livable.

What did bother me until I found this site POST Tx were my doctors and nurses telling me that my taste and saliva WOULD be OK within WEEKS after Tx. Heck I was barely alive weeks post Tx. I kept thinking to myself that there was something wrong with me since I was having such an unusual time recovering. Then I found this site and found out not only was I not unusual but I was NORMAL. Knowing that you are normal means a lot when this cancer takes so much of our normal life away from us and you fear it may have taken more than your doctor's planned. That is just one great benefit of this site because we can give new people real expectations and realistic goals.

Sandis, I agree with Pete, My 1st taste is great, forget the rest of them. The food is terrible to taste, but you have to do it. I am almost 2 yrs past surgery but just 1 1/2 past implants and teeth removal along with rads and chemo. Hey , but you know what... we are alive or we wouldn't be posting here......

Learn how to swallow as soon as you can. The taste will resolve itself, but trust me: not being able to swallow is something you need to fix asap. I swallowed all through my first year of rad and Tx and it was not until this year's surgery that I lost that ability. they tell me that maybe by Christmas I can swallow if the next round of therapy is successful. Even if taste does not come back, the smell of foods can compensate a lot. And as David notes, taste recovery is a journey with some detours. So hang in there, it will get better. Even I could finally taste garlic and olives after almost a year of zero and I mean zero taste. then it all came cascading back until the recurrence. SWALLOWing is much more important than taste in the scheme of recovery.

If "normal" taste is a 10, I would say after 17 months my taste is around a 7 or so. Pretty good and I continue to hope for a bit more improvement . . . maybe down the road like David. Darn right - keep working on your throat and swallowing. Best to you.

Maybe I wasn't clear enough, I cannot swallow but I can smell and taste, but things I liked before taste awful. The smell of beef boullion let alone taste is unbearable. I will go through with the swallow therapy but when things taste so bad I don't know what I'll swallow. It isn't that I can't taste it just doesn't taste good. Thanks for listening.

Keep working on the swallowing - it is an important skill and one you don't want to lose.

My taste came back - eventually - but like so many things they seem to last FOREVER at the time yet looking back I can't tell you how long everything 1) Tasted horrid then 2) Tasted Metal and the last stage was 3) Tasted INCREDIBLY salty - even water tasted like someone had dropped a salt shaker in it! Slowly it returned to "normal" but I can't tell you how long it took. I have about 1/8 of my tongue left after the two surgeries and I have a prosthesis attached to my denture to help me speak, but I cannot wear my upper denture for eating. Turns out that is a good thing as we have taste buds in our palate. Who knew? I'm getting along okay even with my limitations.

That has all passed now and I eat more quickly than I used to, but it still takes me forever to eat. I have never finished a meal in a restauraunt - I am the queen of "to go" boxes, but I have learned that this is the way it will be from now on.

You will have to find patience and persistence you never knew you had to relearn to eat. Frustrating but you can and will do it!

Donna