Hi All,

I haven't posted here in a long time. My husband is now 3-1/2 years out from diagnosis, long past treatment, and is doing well. I was diagnosed with Stage III breast cancer 5 months after his treatment ended, and I'm also cancer-free and doing well.

I was looking around to see if others had posted about long-term appetite problems but didn't run across this particular concern. My husband seems to lose his appetite fairly quickly and this has been going on since post-treatment. He will eat, maybe 300 calories or so, and then feel quite full. In a few hours, he'll be hungry again. He seems to attribute this more to appetite rather than ability to eat. He can eat pretty much everything but does have the chronic dry mouth problem.

Do others experience this as well? Does the lack of saliva affect the digestion in a way that causes a more rapid feeling of fullness? I'm sure the slower eating speed might also contribute.

Thanks much,

Connie

Hi Connie,

I am about 1-1/2 years post treatment, and in my case eating just doesn't hold the interest it used to. I'm not really sure why.

Like your husband, I like all the same stuff I used to eat, but have no great interest in huge helpings or in snacking (outside of my nightly ice cream ritual).

I think part of it is my teeth. I always (or almost always) brush after eating, which is kind of a pain. Also, I need to have water handy or I'm likely to gag (exascerbated by eating bites that are too big - old habits die hard), so avoid eating at all in some situations.

So, he's not alone.

Best wishes,

Chris

I have much the same thing -- while my taste buds have recovered pretty nicely (chocolate still tastes a little "off", and things have an overall more muted flavor), the dry mouth and such will sometimes just get me in a mode where eating much just seems like too much hassle. I can also eat virtually anything I choose, but dry breads and such require some water. Not sure why, but it is true. I will bounce back and forth between eating normally and just not eating much at all. Go figure . . .

Agreed to all. I am about a year and a half post treatment and still struggle to swallow, especially with meats and most breads. Some of it's self inflicted to Chris's point with too big of bites but much of it is probably mental ("Oh, great I'm hungry, here we go again"), coupled with loss of flavor, lots of water and the big thing I've noticed is when I get into a meal after several bites my saliva production dissipates and I'm struggling to swallow/using a lot of water. I'm truly thankful I can eat though and take it all at face value. I also noticed I have now trended to things with gravy, sauce and softer items. My doctors continue to warn me that my "triggers" on fullness and eating are also out of whack, coupled with eating these type of foods which are usually packed with calories needs to be monitored closely. Bottom line, they all suggest measuring intake and continue to build on my exercise. At this point though I'm still not eating enough to make that huge of a difference. The ice cream ritual sounds great but I have yet to be able to return to cold or frozen items. Anyone else had that issue?
Just my thoughts on some of the challenges I feel.
Regards,
Steve

Hi Connie! It's great to see you here and learn everyhting is going well after your BC treatment. My appetite is certainly not what it was but I have to really struggle to swallow too. If I have a big bowl of creamy soup with protein poweer or whatever--soemthing that's maybe around 450 calories, I feel stuffed and have a hard time wanting to take the effort to eat the other 200 calories that should be a part of each meal (if I eat 3 meals a day). I also have a chronically inflamed and sensitive tongue, though, and so I have always thought that that that was as much of the issue as appetite is. My tongie is always little more sore than normal after eating.

Still, even if I could eat normally and didn't have the mouth pain I suspect I would get to feeling full very quickly compared to the old me.

Nelie

Thanks for the responses everyone. I can see that what he is experiencing seems fairly typical.

Hi Nelie - glad to see you're still posting here. I walked the Susan G. Koman Breast Cancer 3-Day 60 Mile Walk last year and will again this year. What an incredible fundraiser! There should be something like that for oral cancer, too.

Connie