Started chemo on Wednesday and everything I’ve eaten or drunk tastes and feels oily, is this normal?? I’m trying to drink plenty to stay hydrated but even water is tasting vile
Hi, yes I'm afraid that is one of the side effects of chemo. I had this with FEC-T chemo. Taste buds totally changed to the point where everything tasted weird, sore mouth and ulcers. I think it's trying to find things that are palatable to eat. Try adding juice to water, I found blackcurrant worked for me. Hope rest of your treatment goes ok. The taste does come back eventually when treatment finishes. Best of luck and a virtual hug. X
Hi Jo, Satire was right. Everything tasted disgusting with first three chemos and I could only taste really strong flavours like peppermint, marmite and lemon. With the last three everything tasted like cardboard! My partner suggested he eat the pizza that I bought in M & S and I eat the packaging!!! Humour is so important. But I got through lots of lemon sherbet sweets and humbugs. Your taste should come back pretty soon once the chemo is finished. I send you very best of wishes
I found tap water was not drinkable. I had to try out brands of bottle water until I could find one I liked. I also found a twist of citrus really made things more palatable. I also had to spice food more intensely to taste it - so curry for example was preferable to roast dinner. In fact, I had an aversion to roast dinner as I found it bland and found homemade sauces too oily. It was like being pregnant again and having particular food dislikes. I also had some soups made by friends that are more tasty for the chemo palate - I think they must have googled recipes. Things did taste wierd, but some things were ok to eat and some not. Butter chicken became a particular favourite!
