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Terbinafine Loss of taste

Posted , 110 users are following.

jonathan21989
jonathan21989

I had taken terbinafine for about six weeks for a toenail infection when my sense of taste pretty much completely disappeared over the course of 3-4 days.  I have a vague salty/bitter taste in my mouth, but nothing tastes of anything....sweet, salt, bitter...all gone.  I can put pure sugar on my tongue and not taste a thing.  That refreshing zing you get from toothpaste?  Gone.  Everything tastes grey at best, or just nasty at worst.

The infection responded well to terbinafine - I have about 4mm clear nail now, but I've decided to stop taking it as nothing is worth this cost.  I've switched to Loceryl lacquer but I don't even care about the nail anymore.  I just desperately want to be able to taste things normally again.  I can completely understand how this can cause weight loss and depression.  My advice would be to avoide terbinafine.

13 likes, 364 replies

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  • sherrill96001
    sherrill96001 jonathan21989

    Posted

    I lost my taste as well a couple of years ago and was very upset. I think that the taste is muted is a good sign it is coming back. I had a terrible taste in my mouth on top of not tasting food. It took weeks to return fully. I cant believe this drug is still prescribed. I made a complaint to the FDA and the drug company.

  • margaret33565
    margaret33565 jonathan21989

    Posted

    Thanks..like others, this forum has saved my sanity and helped me deal with this horrible situation, I am very grateful.

    I am at the end of week 3 without taste and might have another month or more to go (pharmacist told me it could be 16 weeks!!!)...really hoping I have my taste back in time for my birthday on 7th March....I will cherish my taste buds for the rest of my life...!

    • Pluc09
      Pluc09 margaret33565

      Posted

      i hope it goes away but my loss of tastebuds lasted like three months. i hated it. good luck

  • francois64188
    francois64188 jonathan21989

    Edited

    Hi!

    English is not my 1st language so I’m sorry if it’s not perfect 😃

    Here’s my story.

    I took Terbinafine for 6 weeks and gradually and completely lost my taste. It's funny how it took me time to realise it though. For about 2-3 weeks I kept finding that food and drinks were tasting horrible without realizing it was me! I thought ''this is bad coffee!'', ''these bananas are awful'' 😃 When I understood it was a side effect of this medication I stopped it immediately and started reading online and found this website. I was pretty depressed to learn that it could take many weeks or months for the taste to come back! I would say that now that I stopped the medication since a month my taste is about 80% back. Not too bad! I took zinc supplements because I had read it could help and there was no downside, I have no way to know if it helped.

    I’m very confident in general in modern medicine and MDs, but I think this medication should be reserved for more severe cases because of the risks. I barely have onychomycosis on a small part of one toenail! When I told my MD about the side effect I experienced she simply sent a prescription for Itraconazole, which also has similar risks including death! I’m science and evidence oriented so I did lots of serious research on trustworthy websites and medical studies, and talked to specialists, to find alternatives and almost went for YAG laser treatments but found out it’s not actually effective over the long term and can even worsen the situation. I was about to ask my MD to give me a prescription for Jublia lacquer (or Clenafin), which is Efinaconazole, or Ciclopirox lacquer as a second choice. Apparently these are quite effective but long and expensive treatments, which I don’t mind too much, but again, for the severity of my case I’m not sure it’s worth it. I work in customer service and the other day I stumbled on a paramedical esthetician who specialises in toenail fungus treatment and seemed to know a lot about it and the different treatment options! She insisted people should get a culture done before getting treatment because a few different things can happen to your nails and give the appearance of onychomychosis. So this is my next step, and then I will get informations and recommendations from her and research them before deciding what to do (if I do anything). I’ll give you and update then.

    • francois64188
      francois64188 stephen89367

      Posted

      I forgot to explain why this can be so depressing (for anyone reading this without having experienced it). When home made pizza feels just the same as eating cardboard, and freshly brewed coffee or beer tastes like unsweetened pedialyte, life really sucks. But on top of that, at the peek of this side effect I also had a constant and intense taste of salt in my mouth! Just like if I just poured a complete salt shaker in my mouth. I felt like throwing up all the time! While talking to friends and family, while serving customers... That was awful and it lasted a bit less than 2 weeks. Mint chewing gum helped. So Stephen, I hear you. Be patient and be confident. Again I cannot be sure if it helped in my case but try zinc supplements because apparently it can cause no harm and could help. A small clue for me is that I've read studies stating that the mean duration of the side effect is 3 months and it only took 1 month for most of it to dissapear for me. Maybe not because of the zinc, or maybe.

  • steve65703
    steve65703 jonathan21989

    Posted

    My taste problems have returned after about 5 months of recovering. It is not as bad as first go around, but it is scaring me as I did not take lamisil again. Sweet and salt are all but gone for a few days now. The horrible taste has not returned. It is scaring me as I have not seen a relapse months after recovery in any of the threads. Has anyone heard of this problem coming back?

    • Lou787
      Lou787 steve65703

      Posted

      hi Steve

      No fortunately i haven't had this problem and its about 2 years now for me. Hopefully your taste buds have returned now.

  • peggyblane
    peggyblane jonathan21989

    Edited

    This discussion has been a life line to me.

    Like many others, my sense of taste changed after taking terbinafine for 5 weeks. My mouth was salty constantly. I could have liquids and most cold foods without too much trouble. Bread, meats, cheese, and sweets were the worst.

    I found that spicy and salty things were easier to take throughout this time. Smoothies were the best though.

    After 6 weeks of this things started to come back. First vegetables. Then on and off fish and meats would taste normal. I really had hope when a piece of rye bread tasted good. Then a pear was delicious!

    Finally, after 7 weeks I ate an oreo cookie and it was good! I think I still have a little ways to go to get back to 100%, but it's close now.

    I'm posting in the hopes that this helps someone else struggling with this awful side effect. It does get better.

    Thank you to all of you who posted previously!

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