Tastes like Chicken or Not

The weirdest side effect to chemo treatment thus far is the change in my taste buds.  Foods that I used to love, particularly chocolate, just don't taste the same and in fact, sometimes taste outright terrible.  Apparently, the cells on our tongue that are responsible for taste, are quite sensitive to chemotherapeutic drugs (Dacarbazine is the likely culprit in my regimen).   50% of people who undergo chemotherapy experience some change in their taste buds.  For me, salty foods have become easier to eat.  Quite a switch for someone who used to prefer sweets.  On the bright side, my blood pressure is so low now that I can afford the salt and the decrease in sweet cravings should keep my blood sugar in the normal range, despite steroids which can increase blood sugars.

So what do foods taste like?  It's really hard to explain.  I ate a chocolate covered cherry which made the front of my tongue tingle and then felt like I was chewing on thistle (the spiky, annoying weed that's taken over my yard!)  Sometimes my tongue feels tingling or sore and other times it appears normal.  Nonetheless, my stomach keeps my hunger alive, so don't worry, I'm not losing weight!

Oral sores can also be a side effect and seem to come and go for me.  I typically notice them more in the evening, but they aren't quite as severe as canker sores in that they dissipate rather rapidly.

The solution:  WATER!  Water tends to help everything.  Water not only quenches thirst but it decreases nausea, it lowers cravings, washes away any oral pain, and keeps the kidneys flushed of all the toxins.

FYI:  Most humans possess nearly 10,000 taste buds.

Though some may see their shortcomings as the greatest evil from the pit of hell, while some throw invectives at God for bringing them into a cruel problematic world…their invectives are just a waste of time, and the world is the most sweetest to those with functional taste buds.  

~ Michael Bassey Johnson