But I have no taste buds and no interest in food. I eat a couple of small meals a day because I have to, and I snack a little bit during the day. I'd put my intake at about 800 calories or so, which is fine in the short run but obviously not sustainable in the long run.
I also have dry mouth, trouble swallowing, and shortness of breath. At this point I doubt I'm going to continue the Talvey, and definitely not until my taste comes back—which I'm optimistically assuming it will eventually. All of this is officially Not Good since there are very few multiple myeloma treatments left to me and I'm ineligible for clinical trials of new drugs thanks to my prostate cancer.
We'll see. The best possibility is that I'll recover from the Talvey side effects and then continue the treatment, which will affect me for a few days every two weeks but nothing more. Nobody knows how likely that is, so all I can do is try it and see what happens.
Man do I miss food. Pizza. Chocolate. Hamburgers. Spaghetti. Tacos. I don't care. Anything. A bag of Fritos. A can of peanuts. A pork chop. An apple. A BLTA. Kung pao chicken. A donut. Carnitas. A baked potato. You name it.
Look on the bright side. You don’t have to taste the vegetables everyone probably wants you to eat.
During COVID there was an NFL player who tested positive. Being 23 years old, he had no symptoms except one: he lost his sense of taste. He said his consumption of veggies went up considerably. He couldn't enjoy meals anyway, so he just ate what the team nutritionists told him to eat.
Yeah, it's kind of like being a bodybuilder, you eat what you have to, to gain weight. Harder to do than say, but you've got to find the will and the way.
This is bad, Kevin. I hope you get your sense of taste back soon and start enjoying food again. Have you tried THC?
This has been recommended to me, more than once. I haven't tried it though.
Kevin, I really hope that this all gets better. I'm a daily reader of your work. I have great respect for what you do and say. I want you to still be alive for many years to come!
Orson
When I did my chemo (very different from what you're getting, I am sure) I had similar issues. I found Peppermint candies (like candy canes but the little round ones) helped activate the taste buds.
I don't know if it'll help, but I hope you find something that does.
I have discussed your case with other people....while deeply sympathetic to you, I am not sure they, or for that matter myself, can fully understand with the loss of taste mist be like.
I sit here enjoying the sweet bitter taste of my coffee and remind myself how damned lucky I am...and how I owe a debt to Kevin for showing me how to keep on pressing forward under impossible circumstances.
Geeze, I am not a praying man...but I do pray for you. Best Wishes Traveller
Kevin you are one tough person. Damn this must be frustrating. I hope your sense of taste resolves soon and your sense of humor stays steady. Hang in there.
Good health and happiness to Kevin Drum.
You still have your good taste in spouses!
I'm guessing you've tried hot and cold, e.g. coffee and ice cream. Hot peppers might still burn--but go easy if they don't burn going in 'cause they might burn on the way out.
We're all rooting for you---speaking of rooting, raw carrots?
Everyone above has said everything that's in my heart, so I'll just add this, in case it's not already clear: We love you.
I'm very impressed you keep on blogging during such an ordeal. No words for it.
Have you tried protein shakes, like Ensure? You might not taste them but they can keep your nutrition up with little effort.
My parents all but lived on them for a couple of years.
I lost my taste but ironically, sugar is one of the things I can eat. If you read a cancer book I'm just feeding the little fuckers, but I have to. Ice cream, chocolate, orange juice, they still go down.
Protein shakes can help a lot, they're pretty bland, but they go down and some of them can be around 300 calories. Try smoothies, I can still taste those.
Somebody suggested thc gummies. It's worth a try. I know people who've done it.
Sauces can help although they don't taste very good to me.
Don't give up man. Don't give up.
Just checked Boost is 530 calories. Definitely give it a try if you haven't.
Boost tastes best and more bang for your buck.
Agree. I drank vanilla Boost pre-colonoscopy & loved it.
damn, hang in there dude! I bet your taste will recover soon and you will enjoy all the flavors!!!! crossing my fingers!
Gatorade recovery is only 270 calories, but the texture is good.
I’m so sorry. When I was on chemo (inpatient—it was bad), for weeks all I could tolerate was steak.
I’ve heard losing your sense of taste is utterly awful. All I can think of are shakes with as many calories as possible. I hope you can taste a taco soon.
Maybe you could replace water with protein-fiber shakes. Buy bulk powder protein and fiber and make 1 1/2 gallons to drink throughout the day.
When I lost my sense of taste from a cold or bad allergies, I would just (over) eat cookies, potato chips, rice porridge, and chicken noodle soup. There's a lot to be said for comfort food even when you can't taste it.
a close friend of mine was diagnosed with Multiple Myeloma back in 2013 and has endured countless rounds of Chemo and also a stem cell transplant. His prognosis went from 3 years to now it's been 11 years since his diagnosis. He also lost an incredible amount of weight and his appetite was very poor but he now uses cannabis regularly which has increased his appetite. That an a daily Ensure supplement has kept his weight stable for years
This is interesting. It made me wonder if the opposite could be true: greater taste sensitivity linked to over-eating? A quick DDG and ... yes maybe? But more research needed:
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC10273260/
The consequences of tallow fries?
Here's hoping for tasty sustenance soon. I wonder if foods with strong smells might help? In other words trying to activate the olfactory portion of taste. In any event, sorry to hear it KD and I hope your taste buds recover soon.
Your experience with chemo and cancer therapies dwarfs mine, but I wish to reinforce one truth: Chemo, along with most any cancer drug, "is a liar," in the words of Father Merrin in The Exorcist.
I forced down lots of liquids at a time when water tasted like broken glass and rubbing alcohol, and also ate when I thought I could not possibly do so. Was my record of doing so particularly good? No: It was nearly abysmal. But I leveled off from a couple of chemo-induced spirals in calorie deprivation at a time when all food tasted terrible.
Keep whatever muscle mass and energy you can. If I, a weak-willed slob, can rise to smite the demons of oxaliplatin, albeit with flailing strokes which could better be described as "glancing blows with a fly swatter," there is hope for everyone.
Fingers crossed.
Have you tried strawberries? Under chemo my sense of taste wasn't gone but everything tasted *bad*....except strawberries, because my sense of smell was fine. Try them if you haven't.
And eat a lot of fritos. at least they are crunchy, which helps.