Dear Penny,
How awful for you. I had similar problems at the start of my chemotherapy. Here's how I got on top of them:
1. Ask for some ice chips to suck during treatment. This will reduce the circulation to your mouth and minimise the impact of the chemo drugs on your tongue.
2. Avoid eating or having anything hot to drink during chemo. This will increase circulation.
3. Talk to your doctor about fasting prior to chemo. I found this massively reduced the side effects and my doctor was supportive. There's research on this if they want to look it up.
4.Rinse your mouth regularly with a mix of one teaspoon of bicarb soda dissolved in luke warm water. This helps to keep the biome in your mouth balanced and to neutralise the excess acidity caused by the chemo. You can also use mouthwashes designed for those that suffer from a dry mouth but don't use 'breath freshening' mouth washes as the strong alcohol makes things worse.
5. Drink plenty of water. Herbal teas that have been allowed to cool to luke warm are also great.
6. Avoid all alcohol, excessively sugary drinks and food and highly processed food. It's also best to eat your food at room temperature or just slightly warmer. Your mouth will be oversensitive to heat. Watch out for coffee and tea!
7. Be prepared to experiment to find foods you can enjoy (or at least tolerate). I found adding cinnamon to things helped a lot. So did nutmeg. I have a friend that found chilli sauce and salt helped but I couldn't stand either. It seems our mouths and our tastes are very individual.
8. If all else fails, a smoothie is a quick way to get some nutrition into your poor body and because you drink it, you don't have to put up with any bad taste for too long. There's lots of online recipes for green smoothies and banana smoothies but avoid any with too much sugar.
9. It's normal and healthy to be sad about what's going on with your mouth. It also helps to remember that it's temporary.
I hope some of this is helpful to you.
Love and gentle hugs and best of luck with your treatment.
Meg