Want to talk about chemotherapy aftereffects.
What I’ve experienced and feel like? Contact me via the contacts page and share yours. I’ll be happy to add them to this or future blogs.
In every session so far, the most significant issue I’ve had is low or zero taste buds. So regular foods have no or little taste at all. I can only say it’s either a dry or a silky tongue texture; you could say this is like putting a bag over the tongue and hoping you can still taste things.
Carbohydrates, i.e., bread, pasta, rice, potatoes, and corn, generally taste more like cardboard to me. In fact, I’ve tried cardboard as an experiment, and that’s the only comparison I’ve come up with.
Dairy products like yoghurt have a smooth, pasty texture. It was milk that tasted okay, though almost like it’s on the turn.
Chemotherapy session one…
Even after researching others’ experiences and online information, I still encountered a few major issues. The first was cramping of the hands and toes, which was not only strange, not having full control, but it was as if demons possessed them; this was a fairly scary situation as well as very painful.
Hair loss had started, but not as drastically as some have reported. My head is very thin, and I’ve experienced virtually no growth in the past two months or so. However, I’ve been using Amargan-based shampoo/hair products daily, and for me, this has been helpful. I can’t guarantee that it will be effective for everyone else, as my experiences are purely based on my own, and results may vary due to individual differences; bear that in mind!
Chemotherapy sessions two & three have been on par…
Taste buds are now down to virtually zero, and the texture is now more like silk, even with cold or room-temperature still water, which isn’t great and is just about all I can tolerate. Of course, I need to keep hydrated more so now than ever, though I can now drink decaf tea, and it’s okay. Anything with sugar in it is just nasty, which you could say is a good thing.
CBD oils can also help, which are available over the counter from places like Holland & Barrett. However, they are not cheap, and even though I started using them without any real results, I was advised to wait until Chemotherapy was well underway.
Although numerous online reports claim that herbal remedies are best, based on my experience, I disagree, as medical science has already proven good results, with much lower PSA/LPA levels within months of starting treatments.
The recovery road is a long one, and we are not out of the woods by any stretch of the imagination. However, this will give anyone going through a similar situation some hope that medical science can work!
Let me make one thing clear: my experiences are purely based on my own, and anyone else with similar health issues may have different experiences and results than mine.
Positive note to finish with…
Keep positive, which is your best ally. Positive people around you are also key to your recovery and mental well-being. Keep away from negative situations and start doing the things on your bucket list 110%.
Last, but not least…
I’ve added a few photos of today’s happy place, which I love at the National Trust, Emmetts Gardens.
