THe seltzer water helped my son a lot when he was in Rad Tx and the salty taste bothered him, too. I was always intrigued by how his taste buds reacted as some once familiar tastes for some things changed so drastically. He said coffee tasted like spaghetti sauce, honey tasted like dirt, chai tea tasted like black pepper. Some "super taster" people have taste buds that react very keenly to foods. I don't know if stress has anything to do with this, but while my son was in surgery, the turkey sandwich I tried to eat for lunch tasted like cardboard to me. I could not taste the turkey at all! When the taste buds started coming back again, it was a very pleasing and surprising for us. One day when Paul had not been able to taste anything sweet, he put one of those gourmet jelly beans in his mouth and excitedly told his daughter (5 year old at the time): "I can taste it!!! we all did a happy dance around the kitchen that day! It's amazing how the simplest things can bring such pleasure and good memories. So, hang in there, the taste buds will get better!

Thanks again everyone

In case it interests anyone, here's an intriguing article from Wikipedia all about taste buds and "super tasters":
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Supertaster

Must be me LOL

My husband lost the taste of salt completely for a while, but bitter held it's own through out therapy. Oddly, fruit (sour and sugar) was one of one of the first things that 'tasted right' when he was recovering. Chocolate is just now tasting good. Everyone is different!

I went through a phase during treatment where everything tasted like pure salt, too. After awhile, I lost taste completely and it went away. After treatment, salt was the first taste to come back. So, once again, everything tasted super salty for awhile. It will pass. Hang in there!

I can remember everything tasting like metal for awhile after radiation. That too passed. What I found interesting was that after my first set of radiation treatments I could not STAND tomato soup which I had previously loved. After my second set of radiation treatments, I again loved tomato soup. Go figure.

Donna

Kevin kept the bitter taste. Everything else was gone except that. He is now back to tasting everything, but every taste is very strong. Sweet things are almost too sweet. All the joys!! Blessings on the rest of your journey. You're not alone!!

Thanks to everyone for sharing their story. Today is the last day of week 4... three to go. I found that using ginger ale and sugarless, flavored soda water has helped a bunch with cutting the salty taste as well as clearing the thick secretions in the mouth and back of the throat. It sort of foams the junk away from the mouth and allows it to be spit out. I do that several times a day and once in the middle of the night and it has helped greatly.
Another tip for anyone interested is that Ibuprofen taken three at a time up to 3 X a day helps a lot with inflammation associated with the burning from the Rads to the throat allowing me to swallow more easily. It works well in combination with the 50 mg fentanyl patch I wear. The dose was approved by my Dr. at Duke.

Jack - It's good you found something that helps with cutting the salty taste and the mouth secretions. About the Ibuprofen, I was glad to hear that your Doctor approved the dosage. During his Tx, my son was taking way too much of the Ibuprofen while he was on other pain meds and even argued with me about what he could take. I became concerned and when I checked with the doctor's office, they told me he had been taking way too much Ibuprofen and that it could damage the liver. After that, I had to keep the Ibuprofen in my car and just leave a small daily amount with him when I was not there. So be really careful. Keep up the good progress and thanks for the update!