Did you get sensitive to smells during treatment?

cllinda

I just remember that cooking smells would get to me. He could be at the other end of the house making a hamburger and I would be gagging way in the bedroom.
So what bothered you during treatment?

LiveWithCancer

That was true for me when I was getting regular chemo. It was awful!

ChildOfGod4570

I can't say that I remember smells setting me off, but taste was a major issue when I was on chemo. Between thrush and the metallic chemo taste in my mouth, some foods were overshadowed by that awful taste, and I craved salty foods and frozen items to cut through it. After treatment was over, I never really cared for yogurt again because I had a lot of it to combat the thrush. HUGS and God bless.

MarcieB

Oh, my goodness - YES! The first time I noticed it I was upstairs and my husband was cooking downstairs - I awoke to what I thought was a horrible stench and I ran downstairs to see what had happened (I thought he had burned something...or two or three things!). My husband looked at me and said, "What?" Nothing was amiss, it was just that I could smell EVERYTHING and it didn't mix well. At least not to me. Later I was aware of smelling people. I swear I knew when my husband came in the back door because I could smell him. I really hated that, almost more than the skewed tastes of things. Thankfully, it was the first thing to go back to normal for me, fairly quickly after chemo.

TerriL

Yes, yes, yes! I was so sensitive to food smells it made it hard to eat.

Jouska

Smells and taste were both weird. I love Mexican food and I couldn't eat any Mexican food throughout chemo, both smell and taste - it all tasted of salt even when I made it myself and I knew it wasn't over salted. Thank goodness that went away. I hated the smell of toothpaste and that was rough because brushing is so important during chemo and I just had to tough my way through it.

GregP_WN

Since my laryngectomy, I've had very little smell and not much taste. Other than the strange smell thing I described in another post where I can smell something that is actually coming from my throat. I have always assumed it had something to do with the material they used to rebuild my esophagus. I can only describe it as a plastic type of smell.

MarcieB

Greg, as if you don't have enough to deal with, now a persistent smell? Because of the timing I would assume, as you do, that it has something to do with your re-built esophagus or maybe your breathing stoma (am I using the correct term?). Have you asked your doctors? This does not seem like an acceptable part of any new normal - it sounds like a maddening nuisance! Have you noticed if anything can make it lessen? A mint?