Has anyone else had thier taste buds buned off from the rqadiation treatments? My tongue was as red as a cherry icy. Color has some back more to normal after a month, but I am wondering how long before the tastebuds grow back. I would esitmate 6 months. Then I would guess 4 more months before I can taste things again. Anyone else go through this?
John
We all loss some of our taste from radiation but it does come back for the most part but very very slowly. I'm still not 100% pre TX but it took me 16 months post Tx before I was finally enjoying eating again.
David it right on,
just when you think that hmmm.... so this is it??!! things improve again. Just in the last couple if weeks taste as taken a leap forward. This seems to go in parallel with better tolerance of different food, toothpaste etc.
M
John,
My tastebuds crapped out after the fourth week of radiation and now, after five weeks, nothing tastes good in my mouth at all. From what I've been reading here, the recovery of taste is wildly variable and it seems that it even changes back and forth during the recovery period. I think the best we can do is hang in there.
Your lack of taste is due to both the radiation and the chemotherapy, in all likelihood. Taste starts coming back faster than you might think, but everyone is different. I have probably 85% of taste back, though it is different than pre-treatment. Flavors are more muted, and some things, like dark chocolate, are still a little "off". Lack of saliva plays a part as well, and I do battle dry mouth daily.
As with everything else, it is simply a matter of taking care of yourself and following the doctors' instructions on a daily basis.
Yes, but did your taste buds all burn off as well? The Nurses and Nurse pract. seemed surprised. THey had not seen that before.
I can't say one way or another on that one. All I know is that everything tasted rotten or had no taste at all for quite awhile.
I lost my taste around 4 weeks into treatment. Last radiation was 19 Aug. 2008. By Thanksgiving was able to taste a little but swallowing was a battle. By Christmas taste was much better but throat was still slow often felt like I was trying to swallow gravel. Again chocolate milk came to the rescue. Tried several of the protein drinks but after a blood infection in Aug with a lot of nausea the smell of them made me want to heave. Now almost a year out eating is slow but I do enjoy a lot of different fruit. (we have a small orchard)Chocolate milk is my constant companion. Going to try a rib steak today well marbled. Beef has been dry as even dark chicken is dry. Things are getting better. There is hope!
Johnny
The one thing I learned, is just do not give up. Try something and if it doesn't work that time, wait a bit (4-6 weeks) and try again. Results for me have been surprising. I even got to eat a steak recently, good ole T-Bone
Kevin
I finished treatment on 11 Nov 07 and had no taste for Thanksgiving, by Christmas my taste started comming back slowly, now 10 months post treatment I have 100% of my taste back. I eat what I want and drink 2 glasses of water with a meal. So just hang in there and it will return but as you see it happens differently for everyone. Bob
[quote=johnny47]Yes, but did your taste buds all burn off as well? The Nurses and Nurse pract. seemed surprised. They had not seen that before.[/quote]
I'm with you on this one....everyone that has seen my tongue goes" Dang look at that..its as smooth as a (fill in the blank)"
To me in looks like a piece of liver. I'm almost 8 months post TX and yes I've gotten some taste back...but...as a guy that LOVES to cook and used to run the KCBS BBQ circut as a judge its killin' me not to be able to taste. All levity aside it is better BUT nothing with ANY spice will work..tomato sauce feels like its pure jalape�o and lord help me if I forget and put some hot sauce on something...YEOW! This all from a guy that would consume 4-6 peppers with a meal and looked at habenero's as only a little spicy....sigh. Hopefully it will come back, maybe not all of it but I keep hoping.
Johnny . . . Have yet to see the first person say on this site that they didn't have this issue. . . just a matter of degree. My mouth was messed up badly after 2 weeks of radiaton - food tasted metallic or like paper mache ( sp? ). Now 7 months out, I can taste most foods but lots of room for improvement and particulary in the swallowing department. Seems like you have to be 12 to 18 months out from treatment to figure out where the "new" you is likely to be. I am encouraged to see that 100% recovery of taste buds posted. Best of luck to all on this matter.
Johnny,
I too lost all my taste. My RO and my nutritionist recommended 150mg of zinc daily. Within 6 months all my taste was back. I also took l-Glutamine. Try it and keep up the hope of tasting "normally" again.
Rob J.
I recently read zinc is good to help your immune system against warts. Does anyone know anything about this. Or if it might help against HPV? Just wondering? Joe
There's all sorts of stuff zinc is supposed to help with but I don't know that there's good research on much of it.
My dental hygenist says my tongue is very smooth--looks kind of like scar tissue, not the nornal bumps people have on their tongue. But I think I pretty miuch have most of my sense of taste back (I am over three years out from radiation) so somehow, even if my tongue looks different, there are still working taste buds there somewhere. Go figure!
For all of you who did not take zinc to regain/protect taste read on:
here is a study (2007)
Zinc Doesn't Help Head And Neck Cancer Patients - Study Shows
Previous academic studies have suggested that the use of zinc sulfate could help patients regain their sense of taste more quickly after radiation therapy. Doctors in this phase three, multi-institutional, double-blind, placebo-controlled study found that giving patients a zinc sulfate vitamin supplement had little to no effect on the sense of taste for the patients in the study.
International Journal for Radiation Oncology*Biology*Physics, the official journal of The American Society for Therapeutic Radiology and Oncology (ASTRO).
http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/66869.phpM