Metallic Taste & Appetite Loss on Chemo (AC regimen/ TNBC) – Any Tips?
Hi everyone, I'm caring for my mother who was diagnosed with Stage II Triple Negative Breast Cancer in November last year. She is the third generation along my maternal line to be diagnosed, but her genetic markers came out negative. She’s been undergoing chemotherapy for the past 5 months and is currently on Adriamycin and Cyclophosphamide as part of her treatment.
The past week has been ] difficult—she’s barely able to eat because of a strong metallic taste, and whatever she manages to eat leaves an unpleasant aftertaste that lingers for a long time. It’s really affecting her appetite and energy levels, and I’m feeling a little stuck on how to help.
If anyone has gone through something similar or has suggestions on foods or remedies that can help with the metallic taste, or even ways to gently improve appetite during this stage, I’d really appreciate it.
Thank you in advance for any guidance or support!
Comments
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Hi @mandira! Welcome to Breastcancer.org. We're sorry for your mom's diagnosis, but glad you found us!
Many people going through chemotherapy report that their food tastes metallic; your mom is definitely not alone in that. Hopefully, some other members will pop in soon with their tips and experiences!
In the meantime, we have a couple of helpful articles on our main site that talk about taste changes during treatment and ways to manage them, see here:
Eating When You Have Changes in Your Sense of Taste or Smell
Hope this helps! Please come back to let us know how you both are doing.
Sincerely,
The Mods
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@mandira Hi sorry your mom is having a difficult time with eating. I definitely had the metallic taste and also loss my sense of taste towards the end. I used plastic utensils to eat and citrus hard candy seemed to help a little. Enhancing with spices and flavorful sauces may help diminish the metal taste when eating. Sorry it's a tough period to go through but her taste will return to normal when treatment is complete. It took me a couple weeks after chemo for my taste to return to normal. Sending strength and positivity your way.
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Hi, I'm in the throes of this right now so I can relate! Wanted to add that if your mom's center has an oncology dietitian (RD) it might be worth reaching out for some more helpful tips. Many really are quite skilled at this kind of problem-solving. Good luck!
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What really helped me was drinking ice cold protein shakes (I liked Orgain milk-based chocolate, but there are many, many options) through a straw. They pretty much bypassed the taste buds and the protein really helps with chemo recovery.
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I just finished up with 4 rounds of AC chemo and now I'm going through 4 rounds of Docetaxol. With the AC chemo most foods would taste like mushy nothing. I can tell if something is sweet, like candy or dessert, or savory, but it's difficult to eat in general without much flavor. I've dealt with a lack of appetite since my original cancer diagnosis in 2017 and have grown accustomed to forcing myself to eat, which isn't optimal, but I've managed to maintain a fairly even weight for the past 3 years now. I've found on the AC chemo that I can taste a little bit of flavor if I eat more pungeant foods, especially things with a tomato base. The foods I taste the best are chicken tikka masala, anything with barbeque sauce, and mexican foods with red sauce. I've noticed after the first round of Docetaxol last week that foods have even less flavor than when I was on AC chemo. The foods I taste the best on Docetaxol have BBQ sauce or a lot of garlic. Another thing I've noticed with chemo both now and when I had it back in 2022 is that anything with high fructose corn syrup tastes absolutely disgusting. I discovered Mexican coke is made with real sugar which has been a huge improvement over the high fructose corn syprup version that is sold in the US. It's pricey, but worth it. You can also find ketchup made with real sugar. Another thing I've learned is when all else fails and everything is just yucky and blah it can help to eat whatever your comfort foods are. Sure, they don't taste like they normally do, but you can psych yourself out a bit since you know you like these foods and what they normally taste like.
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