Connect
← Return to Sore on tongue from treatments: What helps?
Discussion
Sore on tongue from treatments: What helps?
Head & Neck Cancer | Last Active: Nov 25, 2023 | Replies (36)Comment receiving replies
Hi,
Question my boyfriend had Squamous cell cancer on his tongue. He had radiation and chemo treatments a yr ago. He still experiences metallic taste in his mouth, it bothers him so the taste as he describes it like blood.
His words below this!
.
I'll tell you what is really bothering me besides the swelling , and the constant burning feeling , is this F,en , metallic flavor I have in my mouth.
Its seems as its just flowing out of my tongue , but I don't think it coming from my tongue , it weird , and hard to discrbe.
But the more I salivate , the more prominent it seems to be .
Also when I have a cough , not now but in the past ; and I go to hack something up it taste kings like blood .
But its not , its got something to due with the chemo drugs ?.
I don't know , I would have thought that I be beyond that by now.
See these are the things that drive my crazy .
Can anyone identify with this?! Please help me with this.
Thank you very much
Replies to "Hi, Question my boyfriend had Squamous cell cancer on his tongue. He had radiation and chemo..."
Connect
No need to describe your taste issue. Blood, licking an iron pipe, eating steel, tingling and stabbing pains on the tongue, all sound about normal after radiation. Some Chemo patients have also reported some of this for a short time after chemotherapy ends but it seems more common in radiotherapy.
Magic Mouthwash (doctor prescribed) usually with Lidocaine seems to help folks. I chewed cinnamon Dentine gum or sucked on Altoids (strong as they are) and sipped cold water to fight metal mouth.
Radiation can and often does cause neuropathy of the taste buds. The good news is that it goes away in time. There is healing time from injuries, then there is healing time from radiation. Radiation healing time can literally be years.
Probably in another year or so he won’t notice this taste so much if at all. Keep in mind our view is much better from this the green side of the grass.