Will I be able to eat again after radiation to my neck and head?

I could hardly eat anything after my 30 rounds of radiation treatment. I lived on creamy mashed potatoes with butter. Cottage cheese. Egg’s anyway cooked, peanut butter and jelly , banana , power shakes with powdered supplements and boost , apple sauce, baby food jars, soups and noodles, Boost/ ensure cans pack a lot of good calories. I had to FORCE myself to eat as I had no appetite. Salt throat rinse several times a day helps. I finished July 2023 and today I’m about 95% back to normal but it has been a very slow climb back. Hang in there and throat exercises will help. The best one for me was tucking my chin into my chest and doing a HARD swallow. God speed.

There are more online. My therapist had me put my tongue on roof of mouth, then move it side to side. Holding the tongue in place is more difficult than it sounds. The exercises in the screenshot are great for swallowing.

@thomason THANK YOU !

Sadly the answer to your eating question is maybe.
Don't give up on eating but don't count on it either

@ernierogersquamus123 My issues are mostly the mechanics of swallowing. I wasn't nauseous at all. Really no pain either. I did the exercises as prescribed and had to learn to move the food from front to back and chew enough before swallowing. Early on food went right to the back and there was a lot of choking. I had to teach my tongue to keep the food forward until I was done chewing. Progress was slow but worth it!

@robertpeters thanks , I have to try harder !

@jonesja
Such good advice and feedback . Thanks
I need to try harder .
My intestinal fortitude is severely lacking .

I just have a question to others who had head and neck cancer treatment for tonsil cancer. I was stage 3. I had 5 chemotherapy treatments and 35 radiation therapy. I went to CT scan and MRI but were all clear. My biggest concern is that I didn’t get my weight back until today when I finished treatment last year October. I’m now stressed 😰 is there anything wrong again? I had blood tests done and they were negative

@linda90 I think you must be doing great! I went through treatment in 2012 and have never gotten my weight back to what it was. I was skinny then and even more so now. I constantly work to hold my weight where it is at 15 lbs below my presurgery weight. I spent over 2 years on Libtayo, an immunotherapy and it knocked out my appetite, food just doesn't taste right although I've been off it for 3 years. I have metastatic SCC which began in my external ear canal and have had 4 metastases over the years since 2012 so my weight likely is due to continued disease, but so far over 4 years of no evidence of disease. I would thing returning to your normal weight after 9 months is success.

I tried taking beta vitamins to see if I can get my weight back but it only went up with 5 kg of which is still not good enough. I used to weigh 78kg but until now I only weigh 73 which is where I’m currently stuck and it’s really frustrating me because I can’t fit in my clothes anymore and the body doesn’t look good. To make the matter worse it’s the comments I get from people about how I lost weight. So sad 😭