Taste, sore mouth during Chemotherapy

Going through breast cancer treatment Top tips and practical support
1

Just wanted to give everyone undertaking chemotherapy treatment the benefit of my experience regarding sore mouth, lack of taste or food/drink tasting awful.

 

I had FEC/T and at the second treatment of T I mentioned to the nurse the taste problems I had been having. She told me that there is research being undertaken to find out if sucking ice lollies just before and during the infusion could help reduce these side effects, similar to cold cap for hair loss. I had three lollies then and my mouth was less sore and taste improved much quicker. At the last treatment I had five lollies and, Day 10, my taste has started to return and my mouth did not develop such a white coating.

This may be worth trying, hope it helps some people.

 

Linda

2

hI LindaBag

Thank you so much for sharing this tip with others.  I am sure many will find it very useful.

I hope you are recovering from your treatment.

Best wishes
Anna
Digital Community Officer

3

I found very cold and sweet things eg frozen yogurt helped Also mouth wash

4

Yes I too tried the ice lolly sucking during my second dose of T and definitely didn’t have such a horrible white coated mouth this time. Also my taste buds returned to normal fairly quickly whereas last time I was still struggling on Day 13. 

So  I would advise anyone to give it a go- nothing to lose anyway. I took my lollies into the chemo unit in a thermos flask and they stayed frozen for several hours.