Taste

Hi. It’s very very rare for taste not to return. I was the opposite I had ultra taste buds which are just as bad as everything was exaggerated . I had to take the attitude  food is fuel and eat to live. Everything’s balanced out now ii can’t do spicy snd only an odd sip of alcohol but I rarely driunk before. Just take everythjng one day at a time it will suprise you out mouths take a huge battering and it takes time. I’m al most 5  years and Tony improvements are still happening. 
fruit took forever fir me but now I’m ok apart  from citric lemons and oranges. We are all different but get there in the end. 
hazel 

Hi Alan

Congratulations on finishing treatment but you have to give it time for things to start working again as your body had quite a bashing with radio and chemo.

I only had radio and my taste was slow to return although it did gradually. It was probably 2 years before it was back to its best. I did find that my taste changed and was never quite the same but I found other foods that I previously was not that keen on  replaced the ones that were not quite right. Everyone is different and some get a complete return and some partial so it is hard to say how things will progress.

You will be surprised in a few months how things change. Every time I went for my checkup with my radio doctor I would ask about when my taste would come back and he was always reassuring and told me to be patient.

Just keep trying different food and one day something will register.

Best wishes

Lyn

Alanl said:

Does taste always return even if it’s a year or have some people found taste never returns .

Hi Alan. You're in a hurry which is understandable but try not to be. Taste return is a  gradual process. For me there was a time when I could tell you what I was eating but that was not to say the taste was fully there...that took ages.

When you eat try blowing from your mouth back ups through your nose. That increases the aroma of the food and gives you a better experience.

Don't rely on what little saliva you have to chew with your food. Take the tiniest sip of warm water or tea to act as a proxy saliva and chew well. Then chase it down with a little water if you need to. If you have little discomfort in your throat now is the time to get eating. The more you eat the quicker your saliva will improve.

It's early days,  still. As Hazel say...food is fuel. Ignore the taste and get it down

As for Alcohol it was 8 months before I could enjoy a pint of decent  ale and even then most tasted the same. It was a good two years before I could drink red wine but I largely leave that alone these days. Spirits? Not for me.....I don't want to risk the cancer popping up again

Thanks Lyn I don’t mind the waiting as long as taste returns . 2 years for you but I will keep fingers crossed for shorter period 

Hi,I finished my treatment in August last year.I am now managing to eat most things,surpsingly,I find crisp things have more taste ,but taste is still very variable.Wine stings my mouth and I can't even attempt any other alcohol.As it says in the literature I find sometimes can taste first mouthfuls,then back to chewing cardboard. Just keep trying different things.I can't say I really enjoy anything but with water with everything,I'm managing a relatively normal diet.I now have some natural saliva during the day which helps.It does get better as the others said.

Hi Alan, taste does and will come back, although there's no real time scale. I seem to remember the first thing I tasted was a poached egg, that was about 3 months after my treatment had finished, before that everything was like cardboard. It then gradually got better as time went on. Even now after 51/2 years later, my taste buds can still play around with tastes. Hang in there, it will happen.   

Regards Ray.

1954 said:

I now have some natural saliva during the day which helps.It does get better as the others said.

Hi. Do you chew sugar free gum? That helps. 
Auricular acupuncture is worth trying. 

yes,especially when I'm out.I find my mouth soon gets dry when walking and breathing with my mouth open.I still have the horrible mucus first thing in a morning.I found your blog useful for more longer term things.Like Alan,I wanted to be better quickly and have to realise it doesn't work like that.

Oh just hang on in there. It’s such a slow recovery but it’s worth it. Glad some of the blog is useful. Take care xx

Hi everyone.  My taste is ok.  Not perfect at all but some things are very good and some things taste rubbish.  I can eat and swallow fairly easily unless I try and talk as well, then I can cough, choke etc.  I can drink alcohol but chocolate is very mixed. I need a hot drink with it to get it down.  But my new favourite is M snd S chocolate eclairs!!!!!   I can recommend those.  Just have a question for Dani- why are spirits bad for the cancer returning??? I don’t really drink them but my consultant at The Marsden said alcohol has nothing to do with HOV cancer. So I am interested to research if that is the case as I have always enjoyed a drink.best wishes to all  Lizzie