How to work through the pain/discomfort/mental block of eating/drinking again?

Hi. Six weeks is very early in your recovery. I was still on morphine at six weeks but by twelve I was making much better inroads into eating. 
It’s a marathon not a sprint and we all move at our own pace. 
I was given swallowing and trismus exercises which I did every day and still do. 
It’s easy to beat yourself up over lack of progress but you can’t hurry these things. My oncologist told me the cancer would take a year out of my life and he was right. 
I wasn’t comfortable eating till well past six months and even then there were plenty of foods off the menu. 
Slowly slowly and the weeks turn into months and you’ll get there. 

Good evening Hallaig, I agree with Dani that you are still in the early stages of recovery, I always say that 3 months is a good indicator of how the recovery is going, just take your time and it will all come together, Swallowing took me a bit longer but I did it slowly having pureed and softer food and slowly building up. Having treatment is a very emotional and challenging time and we all recover at different rates, by Christmas, you should be well on the way so something to aim for, you will get there, all the best, take care.

                                                                                                          Chris x

 Hello Hallaig, well done for getting to this stage. I think we all believe once treatment stops our recover starts. It doesn’t, the process of recovery is at a very early stage at 6 weeks. I finished my treatment on the 26th August last year. My goal was to eat a Christmas dinner. It wasn’t to be and I remember crying on Christmas Day as I couldn’t taste anything, swallow and I felt dreadful. Roll on a year. A year is nothing with our cancer. I got my taste back in May 8 months after treatment . I went to Vienna and ate and drank everything. It really does get better. Just take it slowly, I’m just packing to go to Tuscany. I’m eating and drinking almost everything I want. I still have the odd swallowing issue but hey ho after what we’ve been through it’s actually more enjoyable . Take heart from those of us that understand the trauma and look forward to a good life after it all. You will get better and enjoy food again. Big hugs. Debbie x

Hi…

I finished radiotherapy in may, I also had lots of pain but now it’s more a discomfort, and stiff neck in mornings, I still brush teeth with a baby’s toothbrush.

I had morphine patches and liquid morphine, paracetamol, soluble aspirin to gargle lots of antisickness, ask if you need more pain relief you don’t have to suffer, but it will slowly start to get better, just hang in it’s early days I’m told xx

Him6 weeks is still early stages of recover yiu May not think so but it is take a read of these article amd make sure you are well  hydrated and earring enough as hard as it is to do both I developed the attitude food is fuel. 

https://www.workingwithcancer.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2013/03/After-the-treatment-finishes-then-what.pdf

https://www.yumpu.com/en/document/view/66263025/cookbook-by-andrew-gaylor-head-and-neck-cancer-survivor-2022

Around the 12 week stage improvements can become   noticeable, but we are all different my blog below might help with my timeline. 
Remember it’s a marathon not a sprint yiu can’t rush this next stage. 
Hazel x

Hello. You are still very early in your recovery. Do you have a PEG? I used mine from week 4 of treatment. I continued to drink water & try teaspoons of soft foods to keep my swallowing going. I contacted Macmillan at about your stage & had 6 free counselling sessions. They were very helpful. I desperately wanted my PEG removed so made myself eat - soggy Weetabix, creme caramel, mousse type desserts, tinned peach sluces, custard & cream,,, only tiny amounts at first, then very gradually increased the amounts. I supplemented with Scandishakes as I reduced my dependence on my PEG. It takes determination, stubbornness & many tears to push yourself forward, but it is so worth it.