Both chemo and radiotherapy can cause your taste to change; food may taste more salty, bitter or metallic. We don't fully understand how this happens but doctors think that the cells in the mouth are especially sensitive to chemo and radiotherapy.
About half of all the people having chemo will have taste changes at some point. It can come and go throughout your treatment. If it's making it difficult for you to eat, talk to the dietician or get some tips on eating problems.
Changes in taste won't last forever but how long it lasts varies. When you've finished your treatment, things will start to go back to normal, but it can take up to a year for your sense of taste to come back fully.
Your experiences
See all 2 tips on this topic >>Food!
x_Vez_x (Hodgkin's lymphoma, 22, F, England) , tip added: 24/07/2005
Don't eat you're favourite food just before, while or just after your treatment - because it puts you off them for ages!!!
