Taste buds

Taste takes time to recover, as some on here have suggested he may have to challenge himself with food, try various foods to see which are suitable.

2 years + since my treatment finished and some foods are still tasteless.

Dietitian should be contacted if you are worried about your husband's weight.

Artificial saliva meds can be prescribed to help during saliva non-production.

Thank you, we will try a few different tastes and textures. 

I will ask about artificial saliva meds also 

Is there anything he can taste?  Have him keep trying everything. The taste will come back soon. Make sure he drinks a lot to stay hydrated. That will help bring taste back. My husband is 4 mins now for oropharynx (hpv) and still struggles w some taste but he’s slowly improving.  Although he cannot taste sweets too well yet.  

He has Vegemite, toast and bananas , cereal with evaporated milk and will eat cheese sandwiches. He has a large water bottle with him at all times and drinks from it regularly 

Thank you for your advice 

A little bit at a time. I constantly was telling my husband to just try everything. So many things just tasted awful but eventually he will come around.  

That's my plan, thank you 

Hi Pipalrious.

I'm not too sure if my H's taste is back or not as every time I ask, he gives me a thumbs up. ( Laryngectomee so no voice.) He's almost six weeks post RT so I'm not pushing the issue yet.

However, his appetite is nothing like it was and, although he's not lost a great deal of weight yet) I'm trying to get around 2000 kcals down him per day as I doubt he'd even bother if left to his own devices.  

Is your husband taking Fresubin or Fortisips for his calorie supplement?  I've been sneaking cappuccino Fresubin into H"s coffee and vanilla flavour into his porridge. They taste lovely and he didn't realise until I told his dietitian and CNS at clinic this morning.

His eyebrows rose but his team said it was a good idea and he tends to do as he's told by them!

Wishing you luck.

Gill xx 

Hi Gill,

Thank you, that's a great idea, I can be quite sneaky and slip some into some of the things he actually eats. 

I just hope I can encourage some sort of enthusiasm from him to try some different things. X

Hi - I’m Nige, 4 months since I finished Chemo and radiotherapy , I found eating so difficult as tastebuds had totally buggered of - I managed to find a couple of the protein drinks prescribed by the dietitians and drank 6/7 of those a day (it was a battle) and I added full fat milk to them .

it helped me on the road - in my case, over the last month, I have got a smidgeon of taste back.

I lost in the region of 3 stones but have held steady for a while now.

Have you considered a feed tube to help your partner?

best wishes 

Hi Nige, 

I'm pleased you're getting a little bit of taste back, I hope it continues to improve. 

My partner had a peg feed during his treatment and absolutely hated it 

He will drink the protein drinks, so I will encourage more of them 

Thank you