Tongue feels like it’s been burnt

Hi ESR.. I had same Paclitaxel and 3 weekly herceptin, my tongue is red and soft and taste has slight changed too. But no burning feelings. It is getting better every day, so don’t worry once you stopped your treatment it will slowly settle down better..

Thanks Oleen for your reply. My taste has also changed slightly. May I ask how far on you are in your treatment, if you had any other side effects and whether your hair thinned or if you lost it? Sorry for all the questions. Eleanor

Hi

Try drinking pineapple juice or eating pineapple there is a certain enzyme that helps. Dry mouth pastilles which really helped to clear my horrible tongue and inflamed mouth eg Salivix Plus and also a toothpaste called Biotene. Available on Amazon. Wish I had found these pastilles sooner as they really did help me but I was due my last cycle of docetaxal when I heard about them. Used them day and night when my tongue was really yucky. My oncologist kept recommending manuka honey but I don’t like honey so didn’t try it.  He said to coat your tongue and mouth with it or suck on a spoon of it. Good luck!

Hi ESR.. My chemo treatments has finished last week, now due for surgery on 2nd of March. Honestly didn’t had any major side effects. My nails has turned black, but slowly changing back to normal, still not as pink though. And I had rashes on my hands, which I managed with aveeno cream. I had two cool caps which didn’t work at all and my hairs started falling so I stopped the cool cap, and now bald head with no hair.. but since last week I can see few hairs has started to grow, but very light here and there as it has been only one week off my chemo..apart from these I don’t think I had any side effects. Oh yes, I had bleeding in my nose few times, only when I blow nose I could see a drop of blood in it..slowly slowly remembering everything..I had redness on my face first two days of paclitaxel.. drink lots of water that helps to settle the redness. At the beginning when I started chemo, I used to go walk and was very active but towards the end walks were only twice or once in a week as I felt lazy and loved sitting in my cozy electric blanket and watch tv or reading books. And always excuse to hubby,it is cold and windy outside..but now a week off from chemo and energy is coming back and feeling like doing work, out of the blanket and go for walk.. Don’t worry dear, chemo is not as hard ,I am more worried for surgery specially with my axillary nodes clearance.. lovely to chat with you. Please ask anything I would love to advice whatever I could..take care..don’t worry about the taste, it will be normal as soon you off chemo Xx 

Thanks BaileyLady, I have to say I do like pineapple so will give that a go. Will also get onto Amazon for both pastilles and toothpaste. Might even give the honey a go as well. I’ve got a face to face appointment with my oncologist to see how I’m doing as this is my first treatment so I’ll mention it to him as well. Feel a bit of a fraud moaning about a sore tongue as I had a lumpectomy and subareolar clearance and subsequent mastectomy and didn’t really have anything to moan about then due to my fantastic surgeon. Eleanor.

You are not moaning!  Some of the side effects really are awful!  I found every cycle I had different side effects but also some that were the same.

I never liked pineapple juice before but I tried it and it did make a big difference.  I bought a lot of cartons during chemo.  Funny I haven’t bought it since

You will get through it all and will soon forget the worst of it.  X

Thanks oleen for all the info. I had my treatment on Friday and had a couple of days with very red face which seems to be settling now. Apart from my tongue and feeling slightly lightheaded and just a wee bit out of sorts I’ve seem to be ok. Have said to my husband I feel I’ve been quite lucky and he says remember this is your first treatment. Fingers crossed it remains like this. 
Can I ask what surgery you’re having? I had surgery first then treatment. 
Eleanor.

Thanks for your kind words. I did put on a couple of posts at the start of my journey back in August but to be honest i didn’t post anything else until now as I did feel like a fraud. Having read what others go through it didn’t seems right to post how well I felt after both my surgeries both mentally and physically when others were going through some really tough times. 
it sounds as though you are coming/have come through it hopefully without too many nasty effects. Eleanor.

Good advice by BaileyLady ..I am having lumpectomy and axillary nodes clearance on 2nd of March.. towards the end of my chemo I had CT scan and MRI, which shows the tumour has shrank a lot. How did you find your surgery and how long you recovered from surgery..which surgery did you had Hun..

Hi oleen, so sorry it has taken so long to reply. Having lots of problems with Virgin Media internet just now. 
Wee bit of background. I had a nipple discharge in August 2021. Attended GP. Was sent to breast clinic. Saw Nurse Practitioner who took a sample of discharge and sent me for a mammogram then an ultrasound. Nothing seen on mammogram but something suspicious on ultrasound. Three biopsies taken. Back to nurse who stated when radiographer mentions suspicious it is likely to be cancer but needs to be confirm. Had appointment with consultant. Confirmed cancer. Nipple discharge had cancer cells and also very small tumour (5mm). HER2 positive. Advised stage 2.Treatment chemo, Herceptin then mastectomy. Sent for MRI. Nothing showed up on MRI and MDT downgraded to stage 1 and instead of initial treatment plan decided on a lumpectomy, subareola clearance (65mm in total) and had three sentinel lymph nodes removed. Had that on 12/11/2021. Pathology from that showed 7mm tumour and extensive DCIS but all lymph nodes clear.  As nothing showing up on either mammogram or MRI next stage was a mastectomy after all. This was done on 17/12/21. Pathology from this showed a further tiny 3mm tumour and further extensive DCIS. 
Now to your question oleen. I was very lucky as my surgeon was brilliant and I trusted her completely. Whatever she advised I went with. I personally sailed through everything from first GP appointment to both surgeries. I didn’t need any painkillers for 1st op although I did take two co-codamol which had been given to me by the hospital when going to bed for the first two nights. The same for the mastectomy although I did develop a seroma which was a bit unpleasant when turning in bed as it’s a bit like when you press a hot water bottle, it sorts of sloshes around. Apart from that I have had no problems at all and my body absorbed the seroma  within about two weeks. I do have to say not having very big boobs may have helped. Well boob now lol. 
I sincerely hope that your surgery goes as well as mine did and that your lumpectomy will be enough. 
I know at the start I said a wee bit of background but I’ve given you the whole history. if you’ve got this far then well done oleen. You’re probably wishing the internet hadn’t come back on. 
Please let me know how you get on. Eleanor