foods that help get your taste buds back after radiation pill

I too still have times when the first couple of bites taste good and then not so much after that. I've never been a fan of spicy foods and now I really can't tolerate the heat. I can taste savory, salty and sour items, but still have some issues tasting sweet foods. Some foods taste exactly the same, while others don't. For me it was a slow and gradual process, but today three years later I would say my taste is about 85% of what it was. I think it was close to 9 or 10 months before I could really begin to taste. I was initially told my taste would return in 4-6 months, but it took much longer than that. I finished my treatment, radiation and surgery, for SCC on the base of my tongue in the spring of 2016. It's all easily manageable, though, so don't worry about it. The biggest problem for me with regards to eating is still lack of saliva, which makes chewing and swallowing dry foods difficult. Sweets are the worst, but I'm happy for the existence of York Peppermint Patties - the one candy I've found that still tastes like it used to. Where I am today, after 21 months: I would say that my taste is back 60% or so, but it varies wildly. It's weird, but you can learn to live with it. You may find that something that was okay yesterday is gross today. You may find that the first couple of bites of something taste really good, then you can't taste it anymore. The other thing you need to get used to is the inconsistency. The first time I had a sip of seltzer post-treatment, I thought something had exploded in my mouth, the carbonation was so intense. In other words, I had to learn again to experience the flavors of all of these different things. One thing that someone said to me in those days that I found helpful was that I had 'baby mouth'. I still can't tolerate spiciness very well. Sweet came back slowly (and I still don't taste sweet things very well) so things that have a mixture of flavors get overpowered by any sour or bitter elements. Sour and bitter came back pretty quickly, too, but that made things extra weird. The first thing that really came back was salt. I could always taste chocolate a little, but I couldn't taste the sweetness, which is/was a little weird. I couldn't really taste the smoothies, but I could tolerate them. When I was at my low point, I was subsisting on cherry smoothies and chocolate milk shakes for the most part. It was a couple of months post treatment before I started seeing any improvement in taste. At the point where you are, I was at my absolute low point for the whole thing, so hopefully you're going to start feeling better soon.

I'm about 21 months post-treatment (stage 3 left tonsil, radiation and chemo). If your experience is anything like mine, it will take a while and different flavors will come and go and it will be inconsistent and weird.

Foods that help get your taste buds back after radiation pill