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About CancerMy husband finished radical radiotherapy for throat and tongue cancer 5 weeks ago. He has a N G tube feeding tube. He has terrible thrush in his mouth which doesn't seem to be getting any better. He has tried to start eating small soft food but says everything tastes awful and can't eat it. Any advice would be so welcome. Thanks
Welcome to Cancer Chat Parklane although I'm sorry to hear about the difficulties your husband has been having since finishing his radiotherapy 5 weeks ago.
Hopefully some of our members who have experienced these issues on their cancer journeys will be share their experiences and advice with you soon but if you haven't done so already, do make sure you discuss this with your husband's medical team as they will be best placed to help with this.
I hope this information we have on managing mouth and diet problems will prove useful as well but if you'd like to speak to one of our cancer nurses, you can contact them on 0808 800 4040, Monday - Friday between 9a.m - 5p.m.
Best wishes to you both,
Steph, Cancer Chat Moderator
Hope he is getting flucanozole from Dr for thrush (nystatin seemed rubbish for similar situation we faced, but is cheaper so often prescribed first). Until that goes his taste will all be off. My husband also had to use tongue scrubber (reverse side on some toothbrushes) to help get the worst of coating off his tongue, and eat plenty of live yoghurt/ daily actimel to help keep it down long term. The root of it all was extreme dry mouth after radiotherapy - Biotene mouth wash and toothpaste (from Boots) helped to get the balance right.
Suggest trying small soft food that's strong on flavour, like curried sweet potato soup or liquidized spinach+smoked mackerel with soft scrambled eggs. We are on that course just now after recent maxillectomy.
All the best.
