Welcome to OCF! Its always great having OC survivors join our ranks

As far as weight gain goes, just remember everybodys different. You will see this over and over as it really does pertain to so many things with oral cancer (OC), recovery, etc. At 10 months post rads, you are still in the recovery phase. It takes OC patients/survivors an entire 2 years post rads for a complete recovery. Your body is still burning up calories at an incredibly increased rate trying to heal itself from your treatments. That means you are probably like most of us and struggle to take in enough every day. Losing weight on a long term basis for some is very dangerous! They arent just losing body fat and water, they're losing energy and muscle too which can be next to impossible to build back up. Muscle wasting from cancer/malnutrition is a serious condition called chaxia. OC patients normally should be taking in at least 2500 calories and 48-64 oz of water every single day until at least they hit their 1 year post rads mark. Even better is if they continue taking in 2500 calories and 48-64 oz of water daily right thru until you hit your 2 year anniversary of completing rads. Your sense of taste and for most patients having a dry mouth are the final things that bother most OC patients. You should notice small improvements up until the 2 year post rads mark, some patients will have this happen even 28 months post rads. After what our bodies go thru fighting the cancer, the barbaric treatments, significant weight loss (major sign of patient being malnourished), etc it takes a LONG time to bounce back. Not a single OC patient can get well and back to their normal life as quickly as they think they should. Dont be surprised if you hit a few roadblocks and some setbacks during recovery. Unfortunately thats just all part of the very long process of eliminating the cancer and rebuilding your body.

Back when I went thru rads, many days I took in 7000 (some days higher) calories by drinking giant chocolate peanut butter shakes that packed at least 1500 calories in each one depending on how I made them. I had been concerned I wasnt gaining any weight even with taking in so much. One day after I counted up the calories in the shake and was shocked to learn just how many were in there, I did a little test. For a week I took in at least 7000 calories each day. My extra high calorie dairy laden diet sure surprised me when I didnt gain an ounce. I was about 8 months post rads and just like all patients, I thought I should be 100% better..... NOPE!!! After losing so much during rads by being malnourished and dehydrated a few times, I struggled to maintain my weight. It took me 10 years before I was able to gain anything and then it was only about 20 pounds so I didnt look so anorexic. I should add, I also have all kinds of stomach issues (with severe nausea/stomach aches/constipation/diarrhea to name a few of the problems) making me very ill where taking anything in and keeping it in is a major challenge. Currently Im struggling to maintain my weight again after my stomach issues that bothered me for 4 or 5 months causing me to lose 20-30 pounds within a couple weeks the end of last year. Thats not something every OC patient/survivor runs into, its just me and my rotten luck. Ive known many OC survivors who a year and half to 2 years post rads they began to ease up on their daily minimum intake of 2500 calories due to seeing slight weight gains. Ive only met 2 OC patients/survivors who gained a couple pounds when going thru rads. I dont know how they did it cuz a couple times during my rads and recovery I was sicker than a dog and not able to keep anything down, sometimes for days.

I suggest doing a test like I did. If you are holding your weight steady and not having any major health issues at 10 months post rads, try increasing your daily intake to 2500 calories every day for a week. Check your weight and see if you gain anything. If you gain weight then you know you're doing a great job with your recovery and you can try focusing on eating a healthy, well-balanced diet. If you dont gain anything then be patient, you arent even to the half way point of your recovery so it might take a little while longer.

Many OC patients also have long-term issues with their bloodwork numbers being way off for a long time after finishing treatments. This is especially true for the patients who had chemo along with their rads. That takes many months possibly years to come back to being close to what the numbers were before cancer and treatments. Rads can affect the thyroid too where most OC survivors end up taking meds to stabilize it. The wacky thyroid numbers hit me a few years after rads. Thats actually one of the easiest things to fix and control. To me, its no big deal taking a tiny pill every morning.

Heres a link to Livestrong article about cancer patients and weight. They have several others Ive read which were informative and helped me to better understand my weight loss and why I wasnt gaining anything back. Best wishes with your continued recovery!!!

Livestrong, Cancer Patients Weight Gain