Copying with a Dry mouth and Taste changes

Coping with Taste Changes

The following suggestions were provided courtesy of The Sussex Cancer Centre,The Royal Sussex County Hospital, Brighton

Eat foods you like but try foods again as your tastes may change over a few weeks

If meat tastes bitter, try marinating foods, you can buy ready made marinades in supermarkets, or try Worcestershire sauce, soy sauce, brown sugar, garlic, honey and mustard. Try alternatives e.g. chicken, eggs, fish, beans

Cold foods or foods at room temperature often taste better than piping hot.

Drinks such as fruit juice, lemonade, milk, herbal and fruit teas may be more refreshing than tea or coffee

If you have a bad taste in your mouth, try sucking on boiled sweets.

Coping with a Dry Mouth

The following suggestions were provided courtesy of The Sussex Cancer Centre,The Royal Sussex County Hospital, Brighton

Take frequent drinks sipped through-out the day

Choose soft, moist foods with extra sauce of gravy

Savoury Foods

Scambled egg, cottage/fishermans pie, casseroles, stews, cauliflower or macaroni cheese.

Non-Savoury Foods

Milk porridge or 'Ready Break' cereals with warm milk, milk puddings, mousses, creamy yoghurts, custard and ice cream.

Try Pineapple chunks. They can be refreshing and may help clean your mouth.

Chewing gum can help stimulate the flow of saliva.

It is important to keep your mouth very clean, so brush your teeth frequently with a soft tooth brush especially after meals and before bed.

Artificial saliva (spray or lozenges) may help. Your Doctor can prescribe this.

Keep lips moist with Vaseline or lip balm

Another Useful Tip - Larry Judd from the USA suggested that if you use lettuce leaf to wrap around your food almost anything will go down better. Even if it is a dry piece of meat, if people cut it up small, then wrap some lettuce around it will go down better. (Wish I'd known earlier)

Personal Footnote: Drinks loads of water, a least two litres a day. It helps the remaining saliva glands to compensate for the lost ones and it helps cleanse (detox) the body of any toxins, especially if you have had chemotherapy. You may not feel like chewing minty chewing gum or yoghurts later in the treatment as they sting inside the mouth especially around the site of radiotherapy

During the last three weeks of the radiotherapy I practically lived off cold rice puddings, banana custard, luke warm scambled eggs and some soft bread. Meat was totally out as it all tasted metallic. It appears that the sense of taste goes temporarily when the radiotherapy kills off the specific saliva glands and they will not come back until the remaining saliva glands training themselves to compensate for the lost glands. One suggestion which worked for me was to take ARNICA 30 homeopathic pills. ARNICA is famous for quickly healing sores, bruises and wounds. The pills were particularly useful as I could concentrate their effect in my mouth and tonsil area. They were recommended to me by a Macmillan nurse to ensure that my tooth extraction wound/scar healed up quickly as radiotherapy could not commence till they had healed. I decided to carry on using ARNICA after the radiotherapy to take advantage of its healing benefits, and it seems to have worked as the scar ulcers in my mouth have healed very well and my taste buds are back to normal 8 weeks after the treatment had finished.

Please check with your doctor to make sure they do not have any objection with you taking these pills/remedy

For more info on ARNICA and where to purchase (especially in the UK) click the following links

http://www.worldwideshoppingmall.co.uk/body-soul/product.asp?productid=2837&room=room5.asp