Preventing taste loss with Ablative RAI

[JoanFowler]

I will be having an Ablative dose of RAI in a few weeks. I seem to remember reading something about the ideal specific timing of the use of lemon drops following the RAI dose.  Is there a specific protocol of when and how long one will do that.  

I will need to manage appropriate insulin doses via pump to support this, so want to be prepared as much as possible. Also does RAI have any affect on one's ability to process insulin correctly?

Thanks.

[AR-10]

Preventing taste loss?

Is this much of a problem?
Nobody has mentioned that to me yet.

[JoanFowler]

Well, from everything I've read it can affect your salivary glands, giving you dry mouth and affecting your sense of taste. Different people seem to report different levels of it.

From what I gather, it's a temporary thing, days to weeks, but again, from what I've read one should suck on lemon drops and it can prevent the loss of taste.

I found something somewhere which actually detailed very specifically when to do it, and for the life of me, I can't find it again.

[imedicmommy]

I'm having my RAI this week but my oncologist told me to suck on sour candy ie. lemon drops for the first 24-48 hours while awake. The way I understood it was that the radiation is in the saliva and they don't want it to sit in the salivary glands so you suck on the sour stuff to keep saliva production therefore keeping it from sitting in the salivary glands. I would think there was a sugar free option available to you. No one mentioned taste loss to me either but that's what I was told.
I don't know about managing your insulin pumps but if you stuck to sugar free wouldn't that make it easier?

Hope this helps.

[GravesLady]

The saliva glad is affected, by drying out and causing sore throat.  So  SOUR candy  keeps or help keep the saliva gland going to produce saliva to prevent the sore throat.  I personally don't remember having this problem but read where others have and the SOUR candy helped. The sore thorat, if any, could  appear up to two weeks after RAI and normally last only two weeks.

Candy must be SOUR.

Drinking lost of water helps flush out the extra RAI that lingers for a short time in the saliva gland and rest of the body.

Lost of taste is a individual issue and which I personally never experienced.
If it does happen, it should only be temporary.

[redhed87]

I lost my taste for a few months- actually, it was just duller.  It has come back now.  After my first thyca meeting, some women told me to rinse my mouth everyday with baking soda and warm water to balance the ph.  That seemed to help.  Drink lots of water and eat sour stuff- fruit juices are good too- oj, since it is tart.  Good luck