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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

364 Replies

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  • jojo83113
    jojo83113 jonathan21989

    Posted

    Awesome. After two days of frantically searching the Internet for an answer, as I am a hypochondriac and thought the worst of this loss of taste, I find this forum. I'm not sure if I'm relieved or even more disappointed. I've been taking lamasil for around six weeks now, and my sense of taste disappeared last Thursday. It's now Tuesday and all I've lived on had been Cheerios and drinking milk. I've stayed home sick from school because I feel nauseous from this gross taste. My mom wants me to complete my perscription, but this is the second refill I've had and there are three weeks left. I can't do this for three weeks added onto the time it takes to regain my sense. I can smell fine, and being a food fanatic it's absolute misery smelling my favorite foods only for it to taste like cardboard. I'm going to try peppermint oil, but otherwise I'm getting rid of these pills. If I need surgery on this damn nail, so be it. Better than no food.
    • penny22436
      penny22436 jojo83113

      Posted

      Good idea to stop the medication. I  thought it was far to risky to keep on taking it after the taste issue arose. Try nuts (without salt), pears and carrots. I found all of these tolerable throughout. Chewing gum also really helps to take the bad taste away although obviously impossible at night, My taste is almost back to normal after nearly 7 weeks.Big releif and lovely to eat normally again.

      Penny

  • thomas99726
    thomas99726 jonathan21989

    Posted

    Tom Healy here in the UK.I had a parallel effect fro a drug named Daktarin. Two applications to my enflamed toes and I swallowed my taste buds. Given again Daktarin gel for my mouth and it moved the enflamation down to my throat. After 6 months I still have no tastes and my speach is croaky and sore. I stopped taken the mouth gel after three days and will never trust a British Doctor ever again. In Britain our biggest Drug Barons is the Nation Health doctors dispensing drugs for any ailment! I wonder if they get paid for prescribing drugs by the Pharma companies?
  • danette11216
    danette11216 jonathan21989

    Posted

    I took terbinafine for 2 months. The last two weeks of taking the drug I noticed my taste problem but continued to take the drug. I stopped 2 1/2 weeks ago and still no return of taste. It is very depressing and causing me to not want to eat. I'm trying to keep my strength up but it's hard. I'm going to try taking Zinc and peppermint oil after reading the posts. It's very comforting that there is a group that is all going through this. I don't feel so alone. I'll let you know if these two things together have any effect.
    • thomas99726
      thomas99726 danette11216

      Posted

      Tom Healy UK here. I lost my taste buds 7 months ago and they have not come back. I accept they will in 2 years. The only goood thing about having lost my sense of taste is that I do not crave for anything and as a Diabetic I do nor grave for sugar. I have lost 35 lbs weight and like it. I do not eat out and I take and make my own smoothies of all good ingredients  perhaps that you would not like by taste but to me I am healthier and eat cheaper without being mean to myself. For a Scotsman this is a bonus! Hope you get your taste buds back, me I do not care much.I do not need a spoonful of sugar to make the medicine go down!

      However on a serious note I think someone should be held accountable.

    • matt04
      matt04 danette11216

      Posted

      Oh dear, I'm sorry to hear that!!

      I've been through the same problem, It's difficult I know.

      My tips for you: Try to eat spicy food, Mexican food, popcorn, cassava cheese puffs (brazilian cheese puffs that really helped me a lot) In this case, texture is better and more important than the taste. 

      Orange and Lemon juice hmmmm delicious. You can feel the sour in it. It really helps a lot!!

      Now it's time to be a masterchef,,,I'm very thin so I knew very well that I didn't have the choice to lose weight so I had to use creativity to create different and pleasant dishes!!

      Keep us updated!!

      God bless you!!

      Matt

    • danette11216
      danette11216 matt04

      Posted

      Thanks Matt- I'll try the juices and food tips. I'm trying really hard to find foods I can tolerate until I get my taste back. Unfortunately I hate cooking and haven't used more than my microwave for years! I'm certain the oven and range still work, but I never use them smile
    • danette11216
      danette11216 thomas99726

      Posted

      Hi Tom, I certainly hope you don't have to wait 2 years. It's really frightening to me that it's been 7 months for you. I may resort to smoothies at some point but am still hopeful every day that I will get my taste back soon. I agree that someone should be made accountable. This is a very serious side effect. I'm very tired of not feeling good. Normaly I go to the gym every night but just don't have the strength right now. This is just adding to my depression. I really do look forward to my classes. 
  • alanna82512
    alanna82512 jonathan21989

    Posted

    Just wanted to send a note of encouragement to all of you.

    After 5 weeks of being off terbinifine, my taste is 100% back!  I noticed it improving at 4 weeks, and it was pretty quick to come back completely.

    I took terbinifine for 5-6 weeks prior to losing my taste. Looks like it came back just in time for my Maine vacation next week-  lobsters here I come!

    Good luck to all of you. It was a frustrating problem to have. I definitely enjoy food and flavors more now than ever before!

    • danette11216
      danette11216 alanna82512

      Posted

      Congratulations!! have a great vacation and enjoy the wonderful food in Maine!
    • sally34840
      sally34840 alanna82512

      Posted

      So grateful for your update - I am in week 2 (I took for 30 days) and have a vacation planned for the week of July 4th, so afraid I will still be 'out of it'.  I've lost 10 pounds as all I can stomach are protien drinks.... Enjoy those lobsters - I'll bet they will be the best ever after this experience.
  • doppler
    doppler jonathan21989

    Posted

    I too have lost my sense of taste since this past Saturday, June 25 due to the prescription Terbinafine. I am stunned by how horrible this is. It is very difficult to describe the lack of taste. 

    Neither my my doctor nor my pharmacist thought this was a huge side effect and said they hope I get my taste back. They have no idea how debilitating it is. I wake up just to think, ok I have to eat but what can I put on my mouth that doesn't taste foul, like cardboard, etc... I look forward to going to sleep at night and taking naps during the day so I don't notice the foul taste in ,y mouth all the time. I wake up in the morning and say Day 6 of no taste. I have had people say, it's an easy way to lose weight since you can't taste stuff. So now I don't tell people about it. 

    Please post any foods you found palatable. I figured out sweets are a bust after trying cheery pie. The filling had the consistency of what I would think snot would be. (Sorry) 

    I get hope because most of you have gotten your taste back. Thank you all for posting on here and congratulations to those you got their taste back. 

    I think taste loss should be higher on the side effect list. 

    Kim

    • annette00717
      annette00717 doppler

      Posted

      Going through the same thing. Fruit milkshakes are the most bearable things . I'm depressed and just want a sandwich !!! Or something . It's been over 2 weeks of nothing because of the putrid taste in my mouth .... I was on lamisil for 2 months and quit about 10 days ago . Terrible side effect . Let me know if you get better .

  • sally34840
    sally34840 jonathan21989

    Posted

    Kim - So sorry to hear another is going through this, I am now into week 5. I completely get the disgusting taste and friends happy about weight loss.  No one can understand this - absolutely no way to describe.  I drink Atkins "Milk Chocolate Delight Shakes" I cannot taste the chocolate but the consistancy of the liquid is tolerable and it offers 15g of protien.  Cold vegetables - carrots and celery.  I think its the cold crunch that makes them tolerable. I wish you a speedy recovery. - Sally

     

    • penny22436
      penny22436 sally34840

      Posted

      Hi Kim and ally

      Don't lose heart. My taste has come back to normal and I am 15 weeks from stopping terbinafine. Things started to get better at 6 weeks and it was a  bit of a roller coaster after that with good and bad days.I also had a sweet taste in my mouth for a few weeks which was slightly worrying.  It has gradually improved and now I only get the occasional slightly unusualt taste in my mouth than I would expect - nothing discussting. I think it will slowly disappear completely. I'm  now enjoying all foods again. Hopefully this will be broadly the experience of everyone who suffers this problem.

      Foods to try when times are  bad are carrots, pears, milk and    unsalted nuts. I found chewing gum helpful to keep the mouth clear of the sour taste. I didn't find pepermint oil useful. I'm signing out of this forum now. I found it very helpful and I hope my comments now help others.

      Penny

    • doppler
      doppler sally34840

      Posted

      Sally, thank you for your response. i am doing protein shakes and will try your suggestions. Thanks, Kim 😊
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