vile bitter taste whilst taking terbinefine

Hi, can you advise how you are? I stopped tablets after 4 weeks for same reason. I have been off them 2 weeks and still cant taste at all, losing weight fast, any help would be appreciated,😞

I had this a few years ago, and am now 100% OK. It takes about six weeks before the medication is eliminated from your system.

1. I stopped taking Terbinafine immediately, and successfully self-treated later with essential oils (more about this later).

2. Nobody will understand that you cannot eat because food tastes like full strength disinfectant and, as you say, water tastes like soap. They will keep trying to suggest food that tastes nice so why don’t you try eating some delicious soup with a nice crusty roll of bread instance. No matter how much you explain, they will never hear what you are saying.

3. Nobody will believe that you actually cannot eat anything, they think you are just not eating very much. A dietician (when I was eventually in hospital) questioned whether I was passing stool regularly and when I said “well no because I am not eating anything”, she was unable to understand this and she insisted that I must be constipated. She just could not take on board that my whole digestive system was completely empty.

4. I kept going back to my GP who said “there, there, don’t worry about it” and they even told me to go home and rest when I collapsed in the doctor’s reception area after two weeks of no food. Another GP suggested that I could drink a horrible dietary supplement of milky food for invalids - she just could not understand that EVERYTHING is too bitter to swallow. It is as though you are speaking in a different language or trying to communicate with Martians. I remember trying to swallow some grains of cooked rice like pills (washed down with soapy-tasting water) and managing to get down two or three grains before giving up.The next week I put three baked beans on a plate and tried to get them down, but after a long fight only managed to swallow half of one baked bean (I think) but had to spit the rest of it out. I remember setting myself the discipline of regularly sitting with a glass of (soapy tasting) water and weeping over the task of getting it down to desperately try and keep hydrated, and taking half an hour to an hour each time to empty the glass.

5. Eventually I was rushed to hospital suffering from dehydration and starvation.They put me on a drip and after “observing” me for three days to see that I was really not able to eat, they put me onto a feeding tube up my nose and into my stomach (which I had suggested to my GP would make sense when I first got the symptoms and looked on the internet for other people’s experiences). Apparently they cannot do this without “observing” you for three days. As if anyone would make this up and WANT a tube stuck up their nose and down their throat! But if I could have had this done when I first asked then I would have been able to continue to work and would not have lost my new job (ironically as a medical proof reader for studies about the side effects of medications). As it was, I was too weak to work for two weeks before admission to hospital then had a week in hospital, and being a new job and having been off sick for a three weeks and then walking round with a tube week plastered to my face, they dismissed me.

6. I was sent home with the feeding pack which is a small shoulder bag holding a pack of liquid feed and an electronic device which sends it through the tube drip by drip for about 16 hours in every 24. An uncomfortable experience but manageable.

7. It took about six weeks from stopping the Terbinafine to the magic of returning to normal taste. Magic one day waking up and the horrible taste was reduced, and it took a few days or a week to go completely.

8. Self-treat. Twice a day until new nail grows up and old infected nail has grown out completely, paint on or drip around the nail essential oil/s of your choice. These kill bacteria and funguses You can get essential oils from health shops, and online or from an aromatherapist. Essential oil of Myrrh. This is dark and sticky, and I think was the most effective one but it is more expensive. You can use this neat. (Experts will tell you not to do so but if you research this you will see that some essential oils can be used neat - and have been used for thousands of years) The only reason not to use it neat is because it might dry your skin - OK so rub in a bit of olive oil or almond oil from the supermarket). Tea tree essential oil - again you can use this neat. Lavender essential oil - again you can use this neat. Experts will tell you that you can set up an allergic reaction by using them neat, but in fact it is 99.999% certain that it is synthetic perfumes which set up allergic reactions, not natural essential oils. KEEP FEET DRY BY USING CORNFLOUR (CORNSTARCH IF YOU ARE AMERICAN) AS A DUSTING POWDER. THIS IS CHEAP FROM THE SUPERMARKETS. TALC MAKES FEET SOGGY, CORNFLOUR KEEPS THEM ABSOLUTELY DRY. EXPENSIVE TALC SUBSTITUTION POWDERS ARE ONLY CORNFLOUR WITH A WHOLE LOT OF UNNECESSARY ADDITIVES TO TRY AND JUSTIFY THE EXPENSIVE PRICE.

Good luck,

Stephanie.

Hi Stephanie, thanks for your comprehensive update, its very much appreciated. It sounds like you had a terrible time through all of this, i'm so pleased your now 100% fit and well and you cleared the infection via oils instead of this awful drug. I am starting week 4 now without the medication and still restricted to curry and rice, expresso coffee, some pepper coming back but sweet is a nightmare, it tastes vile and i'm struggling to get sugar in to my system. I am now drinking full sugar drinks which i never do normally albeit i still cant taste it, its like cold water but at least i can drink it. I was horrified to read your story where it got to the point you had to go on a drip, thankfully i'm not that bad albeit some weight is coming off. I' am about 10stone now from 11.5 stone. This is not great but at least i'm still ok and not so weak as i collapse. The doctor last Friday advised he could not tell me when this will be out of my system fully so i am hoping your six week timescale is correct for me too. The fungis infection i had has cleared up already and no sign of it coming back which is a plus, i would have been more annoyed to lose all sense of taste and the tablets not to work at the same time. Thanks again for your update, its very much apprecated and i'm glad your fit and well. I am English too, for the record, realise a lot of comments are from the USA too. warm regards, Michael.