After 10 sessions of radiotherapy everything has a revolting bitter taste after I swallow food. Has anyone else experienced this and how did they overcome it?
FormerMember
I can't help with medical advice but I can perhaps try to offer some 'mind tricks' to make the less tasty food' more easy to eat...
The links between what you taste and what you know to be the taste are mixed up right now due to the treatments.
Example:
Try and think about the best tasting strawberries, the ones at the right temperature, with a sprinkle of sugar and a dollop of clotted cream... now in your mind, smell them, the smell of a warm summer day, feel the sun on your skin, the table set beautifully and the strawberry on the spoon.... now as you imagine the taste of this strawberry, wait for your mouth to start to salivate... it will if you get the picture right, add smells, sounds, textures, get the setting right... it will come... then at this point you eat your strawberry... keeping the thoughts of the perfect strawberry in your mind whilst eating it... then keep thinking that there are more on the plate and each one tastes even better than the last one...
You can of course replace strawberries for anything you really like to eat, if there is a favourite holiday meal, a favourite place to eat, whatever you can recall that food tasted go perfect and that you enjoyed it more than any other time...
The principle is the same, add sound, colour, taste and texture to your thoughts whilst preparing to eat, eating and swallowing, important to keep the last thoughts through to the end of you dish and beyond...
This is a form of visualisation and it works really well by making a short moment in time actually real...
My husband suffers from taste disturbance long after the radiotherapy finished (nearly a year ago). Sometimes, it's a metalic taste, other times the food seems incredibly sweet or salty.
We just keep trying different foods and drinks, and if there's an odd taste to contend with, we remember what our oncologist said - that sometimes you have to put enjoyment on one side, and just shovel it down!
Sarsfield... thanks for the message re Matt and Dad... I did say you can swap to another food if strawberries don't do it for you!!
As a qualified therapist working in neuro linguistic programming - I do know that using this technique you can get the taste buds salivating and with some trial and error you can trick your mind into thinking it tastes like what you are thinking... we did it with lemons on the training...
worth a go as it costs nothing and might have a great response!
