Third day post chemo and terrible taste in my mouth. Any suggestions?

When my mom had breast cancer, they gave her a medication (prescription) to take at the hint of nausea to prevent it. It worked.

They are now experimenting with my anti-nausea meds. I was taking 2, and 4 days of a steroid. Just bad luck that they didn’t work. I had IV fluids snd IV anti-nausea meds at the hospital today and am much better. Thank you.

I hope you feel better real soon! ❤️ 🤗

Has anyone found a way to make water palatable? I usually drink a lot f ice water but it tastes terrible due to chemo. Thanks.

Squeezing lemon in my water helped make it more palatable, also helped a bit with the nausea. I also wore sea sickness bands. You can get them at any pharmacy. As far as the terrible taste from chemo, I found that sucking on a sour gummy worm helped. It’s a weird solution, since I don’t normally like them, but made all the difference for me. Hope it helps you.

Hi @franciekid. You have my empathy. Losing our taste buds with chemo is hard to describe to anyone who hasn’t gone through that! Foods taste and feel so different! Either slimy or like eating cardboard. I remember developing a revulsion to cheese. It felt like putting butter in my mouth. Just the slipper feel with no taste.

Water was awful too. First suggestion is to ditch the ice water and try it at room temperature. That made a huge difference for me. One of the flavorings I found most helpful was True Lemon products. They’re made from actual freeze dried bits of Lemon, Lime and Orange, no sugar in the basic citrus packets. Now there are tons of new flavors out with flavored lemonades. You can find most of the products at grocery stores or Amazon.
I couldn’t actually taste the flavoring but it changed the water enough to make it palatable. Oddly enough, I also found a drop or two of maple syrup helped as well.

I had to be cautious with mouth sores though so you might want to try only small sprinkles to begin with. I’d only use a couple sprinkles and that was enough to make a differnce in the water ‘taste’. Too much acid from flavorings such as lemon, gummies, etc., really irritated my tissue.

Have you tried any flavorings?

Thanks so much. Do you know anyone who has tried CBD for nausea?

I haven’t used CBD personally for nausea. It was suggested not to use it because of potential interference to other medications I was on. I have heard from other acquaintances that it worked very well.
We do have a number of members in the forum who have used CBD for nausea.
I did a quick search and there are several pages of references for you to peruse through. Type in, CBD for nausea up in the search bar and you’ll get a listing of all the conversations.

What are you currently taking for nausea? I had 3 meds but the most appreciated were the little Zofran sublingual melts.

I know it’s awful trying to find foods that are even remotely appealing. There’s a great website you might be interested in checking out. Cooking for Chemo. Chef Ryan has some really good recipes that trick the non existent tastebuds. 😅

Are you nearing completion of your chemo?

I have 2 sessions left - June 7 and June 28. I take Compazine snd Zofran for nausea, and I get IV Zofran the day I get my chemo infusion. Days 3-8 after chemo are the worst for nausea.

I'm a lurker from the pancreatic cancer board. I had chemo for ovarian in 2007 and am in again, this time for pan can. I've found that table salt "disappears" on food; I can't taste it, so everything tastes flat. A coarser-grind kosher salt works much better for me. Last time, I couldn't stand lemon. TicTacs helped me counter the lousy taste in my mouth. This time, lemon works well. Lemonade is particularly tasty. Re food, we have experimented and played to food jags and whims. We have so much weird stuff in this house--pudding, Jell-o, Pop Tarts. I just finished chemo no. 3, and we may have the nausea under control. Some foods I found OK when I was dicey were baked potatoes, rice, light cream sauces, pudding, sorbet. Eat tiny, tiny amounts more often, just enough to keep you going. Basically, I am going for calories and not worrying about nutrition. If I get the calories, I've helped fuel myself, even if it's not optimal. Good luck! I hope they can help you get the nausea under control. That's no fun, I know.