Does anyone who has had radiotherapy (my mom's had radiotherapy for base of tongue cancer) experienced a taste of blood now and then in their mouth. My mom has been experiencing this recently and is worried about this. Has anyone been investigated for this following their radiotherapy treatment, if so, has your doctor done scans or just scoped? I would be grateful for any replies. Thanks

Hi Kat

When I was having radiotherapy I had the most awful taste in my mouth very metallic and yes a little like blood. The taste became like a living entity in my mouth and I just couldn't get away from it. It did start to subside about 3 weeks after the end of RT. Hope everything goes well for your mum. Best regards

Rosie

Kat.
i had the same feeling in my mouth as Rosie- it does taste a bit like blood- especially if you have chemo at the same time. I t does go but now my taste of things are not the same.
Hope it goes ok for your mum- you're doing a great job
Anne w

Hi Kat,

This sounds like a very common problem. From my experience it really is the taste of blood. I found that for a few months after my combined Radiotherapy and Chemotherapy I needed to blow my nose when I woke up, and there was always blood on the tissue.

Hi All

The taste of blood could be the bleeding from the mucositis (ulcerations of the oro-pharngeal mucosa) that occurs as a side effect of the irradiation. This would start in week two and last for several weeks post-radiotherapy. What do others think?

Best wishes
Vinod

Hi everyone, thanks for your replies. Just to let you know that my mom was seen by her ENT specialist and there is no sign of recurrence and he said that the bleeding was because the surface of her tongue is now quite friable following radiotherapy.