Making sense of a sense of taste.

User

Posted 20 Mar 2015 at 14:55

Hi,

Just had a thought while making a sandwich this lunchtime, that I think my sense of taste may have changed. I'm wondering if my cancer has made any difference to this.

For years, up until three years ago, I loved eating cucumber. Then over a period of time, I started to hate the taste of it. Two or three months ago, I started to like it again, and I can't imagine why I'd hated it for a while.

I'm wondering, as my oncologist said that my cancer had been there for at least a couple of years before it was diagnosed (last June), if the developing cancer had changed my sense of taste until I'd had my radiotherapy (October/November) which, hopefully, has killed off my cancer. It could be that I may be cancer free now and my body has returned to how it was before the cancer started to develop.

Has anyone experinced the same thing?

Steve

Edited by member 20 Mar 2015 at 15:24 | Reason: Not specified

User

Posted 20 Mar 2015 at 17:02

Hi Steve,

Can't say that I've noticed any change in my taste.

My consultant was pretty sure that my PCa had been present for ' quite some time ' before my diagnosis.....

According to my wife my appetite has increased since I was originally diagnosed!

I'm a 'bit of a worrier' by default so she was expecting me to go off my food, but in reality the opposite has happened!

Best Wishes
Luther

User

Posted 02 Dec 2015 at 17:51

Hello,

It has been 15 months since my Brachytherapy and 14 months since the radiation treatment, in the last few months my sense of smell and taste has been affected.

I am also on hormones, have been for 18 months, and I had put the loss down to those.

Pierre

User

Posted 03 Dec 2015 at 00:40

I was never aware of any changes pre op or post op.. Always loved chocolate, currys, and custard creams, and hated ginger!

Paul

Stay Calm And Carry On.

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User

Posted 20 Mar 2015 at 17:02

Hi Steve,

Can't say that I've noticed any change in my taste.

My consultant was pretty sure that my PCa had been present for ' quite some time ' before my diagnosis.....

Best Wishes
Luther

User

Posted 20 Mar 2015 at 19:50

Hi Steve

Good to hear from you.

My OH did have issues with changes in taste. By taste I do not really mean likes and dislikes but that he now needs 'stronger' flavours to really notice flavours and enjoy them.

I will speak to him later to glean more.

Alison x

User

Posted 21 Mar 2015 at 11:11

That is very interesting. Since my op I have been taking a daily dose of sildenafil. I have noticed over the past few months that my sense of smell has deteriorated. I saw my GP on a couple of occasions and he could find nothing physically obviously wrong. I wondered if this might be a side effect of the sildenafil but there is nothing about this in the fact sheet that comes with the pills.

I recently saw my urology consultant and he said that although he had never heard of this particular side effect, sildenafil does sometimes cause nasal congestion and could possibly be the cause of the loss of sense of smell.

User

Posted 21 Mar 2015 at 11:29

I've noticed that since being on treatment I've become a curry whimp.
Anything with a hint of heat will bring me out in sweats, so kormas only for me nowadays.

Even a spicy sausage (oo-er Mrs) has the same effect.

..mind you I am from the south. :)

Kevin

User

Posted 21 Mar 2015 at 11:50

Welcome to the world of the Middle-aged woman, my friend :-(

"Life can only be understood backwards; but it must be lived forwards." Soren Kierkegaard

User

Posted 21 Mar 2015 at 14:38

My OH sense of smell has deteriorated too (and also his hearing!) since treatment.

He has had a host of tests too, but finding nothing of significance (thankfully!).

In saying that, now 2 years down the line, he has got a little used to it and does not notice these issues as much.

Alison

User

Posted 21 Mar 2015 at 16:14

Hi,

Thanks for the replies.

I suspect my change of taste came from the cancer developing rather than an side effect of the treatment and it only changed back again once the cancer cells have been killed off by the radiotherapy (hopefully).

Maybe just a coincidence but it gives me hope that the cancer has been killed off.

Steve

User

Posted 21 Mar 2015 at 16:35

They say that some dogs can smell cancer. For a short while before J was diagnosed, our dog kept bothering him which was unusual. I wondered in hindsight whether we should have taken more notice. Also, when J is about to get ill (normal ill not cancer ill), I know before him because his breath smells - same used to happen with my father-in-law.

"Life can only be understood backwards; but it must be lived forwards." Soren Kierkegaard

User

Posted 24 Mar 2015 at 09:16

Hello, Steve - I just want to say thank you for your message. It made me feel like I am not walking across a desert. I can't reply in the message thing - it won't let me yet because I am new, but I wanted to find a way of saying how much I appreciate your reaching out.

User

Posted 29 Nov 2015 at 14:03

Hi,

Thought I'd bring this thread to the forefront again because we have had new members here since I originally posted it last year.

I'd be very interested to hear it anyone else has had a similar experience.

Please read from the original post.

Steve

User

Posted 02 Dec 2015 at 17:51

Hello,

It has been 15 months since my Brachytherapy and 14 months since the radiation treatment, in the last few months my sense of smell and taste has been affected.

I am also on hormones, have been for 18 months, and I had put the loss down to those.

Pierre

User

Posted 03 Dec 2015 at 00:40

I was never aware of any changes pre op or post op.. Always loved chocolate, currys, and custard creams, and hated ginger!

Paul

Stay Calm And Carry On.

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