Anybody ever lost their sense of taste?

[DrW]

About a year ago, due to adverse reactions to chemotherapy I experienced a loss of taste. Based on the receptors found, scientist describe taste as composed of "sweet", "salty", "sour", "bitter", and "umami" (savory, similar to MSG).  For me, the taste loss was not complete. "Sweet" was the least affected. As I had never been much of a "sweet" guy before, you should have seen the joy on my wife's face when I became the best customer of her pies (German tradition: you have to bake a cake/pie on Sunday).

 

Beyond "sweet", everything else got screwed . I had always loved steak; now it tasted like wet cardboard. Strangely enough, chicken and salmon tasted the same; pizza too. It is not easy to consume enough calories and especially enough protein when there is nothing to entice you. To make things worse, "bitter" caused an overreaction. My favorite beer had been the Maharaja Imperial IPA from Avery. It has a lot of hops - but now it was insufferably bitter. 

 

I would like to hear from those of you with similar experience. But mostly, I would like tell you - the altered taste perceptions might not be permanent. About two months ago, I went with my wife through our local supermarket. Despite the dislike I had experienced toward all meat, I was attracted by the barbecue brisket. It was delicious (you have to take the "moist" variety, a euphenism for "fatty"; "lean" can be very dry) . Everything else seems to have returned to "normal", too. Recently, I enjoyed pizza and salmon.

 

 

 

  

[US Egg]

Same thing happened to my wife, she went through 2 1/2 yrs. of chemo/radiation/target drugs.

 

It came back gradually, different foods, different experiences.

 

Unfortunately, it was not the worst of after effects. Hope everything is back to normal for you.

[DrW]

37 minutes ago, US Egg said:

Same thing happened to my wife, she went through 2 1/2 yrs. of chemo/radiation/target drugs.

 

It came back gradually, different foods, different experiences.

 

Unfortunately, it was not the worst of after effects. Hope everything is back to normal for you.

 

Same here. Worst was leg muscle atrophy - losing the ability to walk. But it is coming back, slowly, with a lot of exercise.

Edited August 17 by DrW

[Augie]

I have a friend who lost his sense of taste following treatment for throat cancer. He said it was absolute hell trying to consume enough calories on a regular basis. Fortunately, after a couple years he’s back to being somewhat normal. 

 

My Lebanese FIL lost his sense of taste after years of chemo. It was from him that I learned kibbi can be edible if you smother it in Texas Pete! (He passed away about 30 years ago, and as I was typing this a Whitney Houston song came on and my wife commented how he always had it playing in his hospital room - what are the odds?) 

 

Good luck to everybody! 

[ICanSleepWhenI'mDead]

I once wore white after Labor Day, but that was a long time ago.

[US Egg]

19 minutes ago, ICanSleepWhenI'mDead said:

I once wore white after Labor Day, but that was a long time ago.

Think those jackets only come in one color.

[Ridgewaycynic2013]

Well, I did watch 'Hillbillies in a Haunted House' once...🤔

 

[US Egg]

33 minutes ago, Ridgewaycynic2013 said:

Well, I did watch 'Hillbillies in a Haunted House' once...🤔

 

.....with Uncle Jed, Grannie, Jethro and Cousin Ellie Mae?

[Jon in Pasadena]

Briefly when I got Covid. But it came back in a few days. Was a good excuse to finish all the sus leftovers in my fridge since I couldn't taste em anyway.

[unbillievable]

Every time I get a cold.

 

I start eating healthy, because there is no joy in eating food.

[Poleshifter]

Not quite the same, but I lost my sense of smell due to a case of atypical shingles 8 yrs ago. Atypical means it affects your head, not your torso.

 

I just regained it 4 months ago.

 

I also had neurological damage to my left ear, which persists.