Terbinafine Loss of taste
Posted , 110 users are following.
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
klara99693 jonathan21989
Posted
Hi Jonathan. Wish I had read this or researched this drug before I started using it. I was not informed of this side effect, and had this been the case I would never have used it. I am around week 6 of taking these and started to lose my taste a week ago. I have a white coated tongue so chemist said it was oral thrush. I actually took the tablets with me and asked if they could cause this and he said no. I have exactly the same symptoms as you and others on this forum. I could sit and cry. When I do try to eat everything tastes awful and I just feel sick. Phoned doctors today and they have sent me for a Covid PCR test. After reading this I am presuming that this will be negative.
Thank you for posting this. Thrown my last packet away and truly hope I get back to some normality soon
susan80229 jonathan21989
Posted
I took terbinafine. Half way through the 2nd dose (5 week mark) I lost my taste. Wasn't able to taste sweet, sour, bitter, salty. Nothing, yet had salty taste in mouth and water tasted salty. Could hardly drink water because of the salty taste. Couldn't tolerate solid foods. Lived on chicken broth for 3 weeks. Then started drinking Boost for nutrients and energy because had become very weak. Eventually able to eat baked potato and fried eggs. I lost 19 pounds. At week 10 taste returned. Great, but after four weeks taste left again. I am now experiencing the loss of taste as before. Has this happened to anyone else where your taste returned only to go away after a few weeks? Just wondering when I will get my taste back for good. This is the most horrible thing I have ever experienced healthwise. I am 71 and from everything that I have read I should never have been prescribed this medication because of my age. It also affected my liver. I am still being monitored to make sure my liver numbers come down and stay down. AVOID terbinafine at all costs.
divya36243 jonathan21989
Edited
Hi there, I am a 22 years old female and just started taking Terbinafine for a toenail problem, on day 4 as of August 9 2022, however, i started to develop a foul taste whenever eating food, it makes me feel nauseous, not sure if this is from the drug or something else. The taste is somewhat metal like and cardboard like. It is just foul. Should i stop the medication or continue and has anyone else experienced this?
christina95877 divya36243
Posted
i would guess it would depend on which tou want more, your taste to return quicker or to get rid of the problem your taking meds for? i personally stopped meds i can not take this awful taste in my mouth and no taste when i eat. So awful Im hopeful its not permanent but dont know how much longer i can take it. praying its not the 10-12 weeks like everyone else has indurred
christina95877 jonathan21989
Posted
So i know this post is from several years ago, its now August 2022 and suffering from this awful side effect from taking terbinafine for a toenail fungus. Began taking medication July 1 2022 and stopped taking it August 19th due to finding this forum and experiencing a constant "warm" salty and/or metallic taste in my mouth and taste loss when I eat ANYTHING. Even trying to satisfy my thirst by drinking water is hard- taste like salt water. I constantly feel like my tongue is dry (it isnt) as well. I am so happy to see everyone eventually got their taste sensation back, but can someone please tell me how long the constant salty/metallic taste happened for? I think i could handle the 10-12 weeks not tasting food, if only i didnt have this awful taste constantly in my mouth. Please tell me that went away faster than taste sensation returning.
Nikki49271 jonathan21989
Edited
My experience with Terbinafine mirrors Jonathan. I was taking the medicine for 5 weeks and 5 days, I woke one morning to no taste. I immediately stopped Terbinafine and it has been 1 week and 4 days since then and my taste hasn't returned. I also have a constant salty metallic taste in my mouth and am drinking a lot of water as my mouth feels dry. My sense of smell wasn't affected, which makes not being about to taste the food I can smell much more difficult to tolerate. Food I usually enjoy taste bland or just awful. I found eating and the desire to eat difficult, although being very hungry. My stomach hurt with hunger but I just found it difficult to want to eat. I decided to try to take a positive spin and have started diet shakes, this was to also ensure I would receive the required nutrition.
I'm not sure if I was taking the Terbinafine long enough to clear up my infection but I did have the starting of a clear nail. I have also started the Loceryl lacquer but I had tried this unsuccessfully, prior to the oral medicine.
I have spoken to my doctor regarding where too from here and was advised that only 1% of people suffer this complication (lucky us). He also advised there was not enough anecdotal studies to provide reliable information on how long it will take to regain taste (if ever in a few cases). From what I have read from these forums I'm looking at 3-4 months. I honestly done know how everyone did this, it is going to be a long 3-4 months! For those that never had their taste return I can't even think about that as a possibility without feeling like I'll have an anxiety attack. I can completely understand how this leads to depression but for now I'm going to take this as a 4 month body cleans and hope for the best. As for my nail I will be super annoyed if it doesn't clear up completely!
I hope this post helps others as all your posts helped me.
monica45183 Nikki49271
Posted
hi nikki, looks like you posted two weeks ago. Any changes with your taste? Unfortunately, my issue is everything tastes foul and gross, water tastes like salt or gutter water. I would rather have no taste than this disgusting taste. I have lost 4 pounds in five days. I read in these posts that zinc may help regain taste. I have a dietitian friend who suggested some nutritional foods to try so even if I eat very little a day, it at least has nutritional benefits versus Jell-O and applesauce, which is all I have been eating this week. I did find that garbanzo beans were tolerable. Lettuce by itself is tolerable, I took terbinafine I believe for four weeks. I will have stopped for one week coming this Sunday.. I look forward to hearing about your progress. Good luck to you and everyone else on this forum!!
Nikki49271 monica45183
Posted
Hi Monica,
I'm entering 4.5 weeks and still no taste. I also have the bad taste in my mouth. I've been supplementing my diet with weight loss shakes and drinking heaps of water as my mouth feels dry often. I'm eating oats mixed with banana, salad with lettuce, cucumbers, capsicum (I think peppers in America? sorry I'm in Australia) and broccoli. I was also having scrambled egg on toast but that got old quickly. I've lost about 3kg (6.6 pounds?) but I'm eating very health since taste doesn't really matter. I do have steak and vegetables once a week but there is no taste. I've tried grilled fish which wasn't that great. I'm still not sure if my nails are clear as my infection was bad on my toenails and it takes forever to grow! I'll be sure to let you know when my taste comes back but in the meantime I'm just trying to stay positive and take this as a good opportunity to detox. I find the metallic taste in my mouth changes but hasn't disappeared, mine doesn't sound as bad as yours but it could be I'm use to it now. I'm finding my mouth goes dry and this can affect speech.
Good Luck let me know how you get on and make sure you let your doctor know as there appears to be many people suffering from this.
Nikki
monica45183 Nikki49271
Posted
Hi Nikki, I did tell my doctor and he didn't seem too interested in hearing about it or thought like it was a rare thing. I actually saved the info sheet that comes with prescriptions and found about half way through the "about" paragraph that it may cause you to lose taste/smell which could last a long time or may be permanent. i think those warnings should also be put on the script label and tell the patient it is a known side effect in patients. I'm considering contacting the FDA to bring attention to this horrible nightmare. I too am taking advantage of this situation by detoxing and I’ve got back down to my goal weight (lost about 8lbs in 2 weeks). Trying to get back to the gym to get the rest of my body healthy and in shape. I also suffered severe headaches from this drug, at least those have mostly subsided since I stopped taking it. Trying different foods to expand beyond rice and beans. (You mentioned salad, I was a salad nut! I certainly miss enjoying a good salad). Water or any other drinks still taste terrible. Definitely nothing sweet! I’m only 2 weeks in but hopefully little by little it improves. Keep me posted as I will too. 😃
Nikki49271 monica45183
Posted
Hi Monica,
6 weeks tomorrow and my taste has not returned but I think it might be improving very slightly. I don't have the constant metallic salty taste. My mouth does dry out more than normal. I'm not sure if it is wishful thinking but last night I had the hint of a fresh mouth after brushing my teeth! I also think my toe nail infection hasn't cleared up. I am using Loceryl lacquer but it seems like all this pain for no gain! I hope you are going well and the taste in your mouth is better. My weight loss has slowed and I'm down 4kg but I'm working out so hopefully building muscle. How have you been going?
Nikki
monica45183 Nikki49271
Posted
Hi Nikki,
I'm glad to hear you have a slight improvement! And that your salty metallic mouth is better, that's a big positive change, that's promising!!! That's still a big problem with me. However, I'm trying different foods and some foods are becoming tasteless rather than everything being so foul so that's my improvement at Week 4 this Sunday since I stopped the medication. I am so sorry that the torment you are going through and the meds didn't even fix the problem!! I hope something ends up working and your taste eventually gets back to normal - sooner than later! I'm holding my weight now too which is making it easier as I am able to eat more foods without being grossed out. 😃 Still can't tolerate any kind of condiment and any kind of beverage is still terrible. I hope if the salty metallic taste in my mouth subsides some, maybe water will at least be better. My mouth gets dry too, especially dry during the night. I have to keep a water bottle to sip on, I'll wake and feel like my tongue is stuck to the roof of my mouth! LOL. Keep up the body building - you might be tone and ripped before you know it. 😃 Hope you have a great weekend!
Monica
Nikki49271 monica45183
Posted
Hi Monica,
I'm 7.5 weeks in and my taste is retuning slowly. It is so strange it took a bit to actually notice as I was eating very bland foods. I can now taste yoghurt which was like eating nothing before. I do not have the salty metallic taste at all. my mouth isn't as dry either and I've noticed I'm not drinking as much water. Hang in there it is a terrible time but it does improve.
Nikki
monica45183 Nikki49271
Posted
Hi Nikki!
that's great news! I'm so happy to hear that for you! 5 weeks tomorrow for me, more foods are more tasteless, but i too eat mostly bland foods. Salty/metallic taste has really gotten bad, however. (yuck!) I hope by 7 or so weeks like you it will go away! I tried cottage cheese over the weekend and i had a hint of its real taste, I hope it progresses. But your story gives me hope! Thank you for the updates. 😃
Monica
monica45183 Nikki49271
Edited
Nikki,
By the way, did your salty mouth ever get worse before it got better, and ultimately went away? It got worse for me in the last week. I drink more water now than before this all started and it's just terrible to drink, like it came straight from the ocean. 😦
Monica
Nikki49271 monica45183
Posted
Hi Monica,
Yes, the taste in my mouth did get worse. Especially the dryness for me. However I am on week 9 now and my taste has returned almost to normal. The sweetness is still a little off but it is hard to complain after 7 weeks of nothingness! I lost about 6kg and I'm actually sticking to my good food diet and exercise as this was a great (non- voluntary) way to sort out my bad eating habits. You are almost there! just take each day as it comes otherwise it is overwhelming.
Nikki
monica45183 Nikki49271
Posted
hello Nikki
I finally have some good news to report that there is light at the end of this very long and dark tunnel. I have finally started to taste food! It is still a very, very subtle taste, but I now believe there is hope that it will return. I am about 7 1/2 weeks now which seems to be on the same course as you. I too have lost weight, and I am happy about that and will stick with my new eating habits as well. I can’t wait to enjoy a bowl of cereal or a nice salad! By the way, is your fungal infection getting better yet?
Monica