Does anyone have any tips to help with the awful taste in my mouth and the taste buds being all over the place? I’ve just had my 3rd (and last - thank goodness) Taxotere with Herceptin (had 3 FEC before that). That’s the end of my chemo but I have a year of Herceptin to come still. Does anyone know of anything which helps the taste buds as eating is now a real ordeal? Even a cup of tea has no enjoyment. Is it just a case of waiting until it passes?
Hi Moofay,
I’ve been trying to find help with this too but to no avail, I’m 1 week after 2nd Tax and Herceptin, my poor mouth is like the sole of a boot!! last time I took 8 mouth ulcers, I heard sucking ice chips during infusion is supposed to help, so I’ll be taking some next time. The doc gave me Nystan, corsodly and advised salt water gargles, which I have been doing. The taste is awful (bitter,sour!!) Yuk!! Please let me know if you find anything.
Regards
Fiona x
I do sympathise with the pair of you. The Sludge Gob effect of Tax was the worst SE of the whole lot for me. (I finished at the end of January, but the memory of the awful taste in my mouth will take a long time to fade.) Cups of tea, as you say, were disgusting, and water tasted like it had come from a drain. I found lime cordial made water more palatable. I also found liquidised home-made soup quite useful, basically because I could just chuck it down my throat and not have it in my foul mouth for very long at all, but still get something nutritious inside me.
BUT, the thing that helped most was dried chrysanthemum tea, from a Chinese herbalist. It doesn’t taste great - I added honey - but I used it for my second and third Tax, and the mouth was not nearly so bad. Difflam mouth wash - expensive and you have to get it from a chemist - was also a help.
Hope you both feel better soom
Liz xx
Its the taxotere that does it so it should go soon.I agree about the lime cordial also fresh pineapple,well chilled sparkling water and fruit icelollies all helped me a bit.I could also manage Bovril as a drink.Tea was disgusting with milk but ok without.Lemon and ginger tea was also good.
Afternoon - I am on TAC and so far the tongue/tastebuds have not been too bad. Some days I feel like I have cling film around my tongue, others normal.
I add Evaporated milk to my tea, which makes it delicious. Also add it to frothy coffee. A big thumbs up on the lime cordial and ice lollies too. Bitter lemon is also quite refreshing.
I have Difflam mouthwash, and it is good. After every chemo I have smothered my mouth with Bonjela, and so far, I have only had a few pin prick blisters.
Food wise, sandwiches are too plain, so I have crumpets for lunch
or fish finger sandwiches with lashings of vinegar. Oh yeah, tiger bread with lots of golden syrup…I am now drooling!
Hope the tastebuds soon return from being AWOL…
Daisy xxx
Hi guys
What helped a little for me on Tax was using fresh pineapple juice as a mouthwash. I used it after each meal that I forced myself to eat. It wasn’t 100% brilliant but did help a little. Can’t stomach even the smell of pineapple now, though.
The other thing that helped me was eating food that appealed by colour. If my mind was crying out for green food, I’d eat green stuff like spinach, sprouts, cabbage, and so on. Other times, it was always white foods. This isn’t as mental as it sounds. It’s well known in Chinese medicine and is called Food Energetics. You can Google it and find info or there’s a good easy-to-use book called “Helping Ourselves: Guide to Traditional Chinese Food Energetics” by Daverick Leggett and Katherine Trenshaw which is available on Amazon.
The more normal taste does come back after about four or 5 weeks after the final Tax cycle, so Sludge Gob will be a thing of the past very quickly, hopefully, for everyone.
Hello Girls,
Just to add a comment. I find that the only cold drink I can tolerate when my taste buds are barking is Peach flavour fruit and barley. Everything else tastes disgusting. With hot drinks I find herbal/fruit teas sweetened with honey are ok, particularly chamomile.
One week of tasting food before next taxotere. Two weeks without this time 
Snoogle x
My taste buds were terrible one week after taxotere. That was six months ago. The good news is they very quickly recover and I also managed to lose half a stone which I have never put back on. This was because everything tasted awful and I got so I felt there was no point in making an effort to really cook anything if I couldnt taste it. so I lived on soup and easily swallowed things.
Hello, hope everyone ok,
Last night I was trawling through these sites in a fit of despair, eating not been too much of a problem,but drinking, everything tastes like the boottom of a slime bucket, then tonight I find some ideas to try thank you.
ayla, did you find anything that tasted at least reasonable?
Snoogle x
hi snoogle, How are you?
yes milkshake!
I had to take some pills and just grabbed the milk bottle, and it tasted great so then I mixed some vanilla ice cream in as well and that seems to have worked. Not the most ideal of drinks but who cares at least its liquid! I also tried the lime juice as mentioned by horace ok with lots of ice The good news is that I have had the last of my chemo sessions so hopefully the buds will be coming back in droves, then I’m gonna celebrate. Has chemo put anyone else off…CHOCOLATE?
Hi Guys,
I’ve had 4X EC and last week the first of 4 tax,had horrid mouth almost from the start,developed oral thrush after 4th chemo.It’s really difficult to find anything I like to drink,they say to drink lots & lots of water but it’s very hard when it tastes so bad.I drink hot water and lemon first thing in the morning (gone off tea,milk & alcohol)and then just try to get water down me the rest of the day.
I’ve lost over a stone since this all began.I’m looking forward to tastebuds getting back to normal and enjoying my food again.
Sorry if this sounds so negative,I’m ok otherwise!! Honest!
Love Helen xx
ps Sorry Ayla, but yes, chocolate tastes salty to me
Hi Helen, try hot Ribena, I found it quite tasty when everything else tasted shite. Get the original, not the ‘no added sugar’ stuff. Best wishes, Jacq.
Hi Jacq,
Thanks for the tip,will give it a go.
Helen x
I couldnt stomach chocolate on chemo but have been making up for it ever since:)
My tastebuds are still changed by chemo, which I finished last Oct. I used to love chocolate, but now I can take or leave it and it only tastes ok. I go much more for savoury things now. And I never used to like lemon things but now I do, which is a bit of an adjustment.
I well remember the awful mouth of chemo, and really struggling to drink water, but that passes quite quickly after you finish. I also found lime squash helped, but I could not stand having pineapple or its juice in my mouth.
Good luck to all going through chemo.
Kinden
xx
Little H,
Have you tried shandy to this is something I discovered the other day, can’t drink any other alcohol but found it quite refreshing at the moment
Also I been told to try frozen guiness in ice cubes??
Hi All
You have brought back all my memories of FEC and Tax in 2007! I couldn’t eat for ages. Everything tasted awful. Looking back the good news was losing a stone and a half which has never come back. Only good side effect I had!
Once chemo is over the taste buds recover really quickly, so hang on in there my loves. I feel for you all so much.
Love and strength
Dilys
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Hi Ayla,
Thanks for the suggestions,love the idea of the Guiness ice-cubes,wonder if they’ll stay very black…
Love Little H x
All I ate when I was on Taxotere was scrambled egg with buttered white toast,bananas and drank Roses lime cordial with water.
I haven’t bought or eaten a banana since because it reminds me of the horrible taste in my mouth!
Alli x