Loss of taste

vampeyes

Hello all,

I have a friend going through chemo and it seems that food tastes bad or there is a loss of taste. I am wondering what kinds of meals helped you through this treatment. Thanks in advance for any tips.

xxx

2019whatayear

for me tomatoes taste good. So I really like any form of spaghetti or esp. a nice cheese ravioli . I think everyone is different tho so I can't say for sure , somedays I can taste and some days not so much so I try to be guided by what I can taste and what is nutritious. Like salads taste good to me too. Eggs, perogies, apples, tomato soup, fresh veggies and hummus. Hth!

Spookiesmom

Whatever friend can tolerate. NOTHING tasted good to me, unless I put extra salt on it. Even water tasted like dirt.

Suggest holding nose and eat whatever, but not all time favorites because that will be yucky long after chemo is done.

WC3

The food tastes bad AND there is a loss of taste. What I liked depended on where in my chemo cycle I was. In the days immediately following my infusion, I had taste changes from the anti nausea meds, as in the bad aspects of food were amplified, my throat would be tender from dexamethasone withdrawal, and everything would feel very rough. Mashed potatoes and rice both felt like they were mixed with sand. During that time, I also had bad acid reflux. I ate mostly canned black olives and chicken noodle soup from the market soup bar. I also had a lot of acid reflux during this time.

My tongue would inevitable get inflammed taste buds and I would throw banana flavored popsicles in to the mix. By day 10, I could eat salads and more breaded items like waffles and bagels in small quantity. Sometime in the middle of my cycle things I would lose most of my sense of taste, but not the bad tastes of course. Those were amplified. During this time I liked marinated things like pasta salad, and also lemon flavored things. Some things I could eat bland, like burritos, provided I knew that they, in fact, tasted good, and the problem was with me.

Towards the end of my cycle, a few days before my next infusion, I could eat most things, except for burgers, and I still could not tolarate uncarbonated water.

WC3

Spookiesmom:

Water was the worst! Dirt is an understatement. More like dirt mixed with dirty dish water. I was getting hints of it months PFC.

Spookiesmom

In my normal life, I always have a thermal glass of ice water close. NOT THEN. I’m not big on soda or tea either. It was hard.

Good description!!!!