Hey! Who stole my taste buds?

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BigOwl

BigOwl

Well-known member
Joined
Feb 7, 2009
Messages
308
Location
North Texas, USA
I did a search for "taste" and didn't find much, so I'm askin': when do I get my taste buds back? I had a tough time in the hospital due to appetite (too little for really great food--I feel like a jerk for not enjoying it on behalf of everyone). But the day before I left I started noticing that nothing tasted right, and when I got home it was worse. Yesterday I ate a piece of usually luscious whole wheat bread and it tasted exactly like one of those cardboard cat-scratchers looks. Milk (1%) tasted like greasy water. Coffee this morning was a little better than yesterday, some Campbell's select tomato basil soup was semi-ok, and a pizza on a flatbread crust (mostly sweet peppers and onions with some sun-dried tomatoes) was good for a single tiny slice. I forgot to weigh myself this a.m. so don't know how it's affecting my weight.

I'm not sure what the culprit was, but I think it had something to do with the orange fizzy crap they made me drink when they were trying to balance my fluids (Too much lasix? Here, have some of this artificially-flavored orange froth that makes your tongue feel like shaved 'possum back). First I got it in orange juice, then I got it in water, and finally somebody figured out that giving it in ice chips worked really well. Was that the problem?

My tongue now feels smooth, and I am gradually getting the sensation back, but am really curious about the cause. Help?
 
Taste?

Taste?

The messed-up sense of taste following OHS seems to be a normal thing. I'm not sure why taste is affected, but it is reported as a frequent issue.

It took a couple of months for my sense of taste to fully return following surgery. I really had to work hard at making myself eat.

How long it takes to get back to normal varies among individuals.

-Philip
 
Yes, it is a common issue post op.

Nothing tasted the same to me for several weeks after my surgery - my favourite things like coffee, wine, and vegemite just weren't right.
Eventually you'll find your taste buds return to normal Big Owl.
 
Oh Big,

I was asking the same thing. I am almost 6 weeks post op and once a coke and sweet freak can't stand the thought of either. Sunday, I ate two giant dill pickles. I can't get enough of sour and salty, but can't stand sweet and want nothing to do with carbonation. I have lost 18 pounds and continue to lose.

I had to visit the neurologist today for some issues and she said this is quite common for after OHS. I've been kidding with my family saying I got "tainted" blood with my blood transfusion. The pickle craving worried my husband there for a minute........hehe.
 
I had the same problem big owl.I'm five weeks post op and my taste is slowly returning but still isn't right.I 'm a pretty picky eater and basically went about eight days in hospital without eating anything.I was in the hospital for ten days after surgery(five days because my incision was leaking a little bit).I was almost begging my surgeon to let me go home to try to make something I could eat.I basically told him what difference does it make if I die at home because of the incision or starve to death in the hospital.I even suggested hypnosis to him.I told him if they can make someone on T.V. bark like a dog maybe they could make me think what I was eating tasted great.Anyways I lost about 11 lbs. Went from 171 to 160.Have gained back 2 lbs since being home but still waiting for my taste to return to normal!!!!!!To me that was the worst part of the whole ordeal.
 
lilteach3234 said:
Oh Big,

I was asking the same thing. I am almost 6 weeks post op and once a coke and sweet freak can't stand the thought of either. Sunday, I ate two giant dill pickles. I can't get enough of sour and salty, but can't stand sweet and want nothing to do with carbonation. I have lost 18 pounds and continue to lose.

I had to visit the neurologist today for some issues and she said this is quite common for after OHS. I've been kidding with my family saying I got "tainted" blood with my blood transfusion. The pickle craving worried my husband there for a minute........hehe.
Click to expand...
Same with me about the Coke.I was a two liter a day coke drinker.Had one the 3rd day after surgery and couldn't stand it.It tasted like metallic.Had my first one yesterday (5 weeks post op) and though it was still off it was a lot closer to being back to normal.
 
Yep coke was awful, so was anything like a hamburger, chicken heck most everything tasted horrible for a couple months. Pork tasted the closest to normal for me after surgery. I lost a bunch of weight after surgery went from 192# the day after surgery (pillsbury doughboy) down to a low of 153#, my normal weight going in was 172#.
It WILL come back (so will the weight lol) but it will take some time.
 
I think it is actually all the drugs they give you that affect your taste buds. It took mine about two months before they started to return to normal. Even though nothing tasted right, I would make myself eat something. Don't worry about the weight loss, somehow mine has managed to find me again one year later.

Kim
 
weight loss? what's that? I've had a fight with my weight all my life, and although I may have temporarily misplaced a pound or two after OHS, I think the ones that everyone else reports losing have found ME!

As to the taste thing, my hospital food was the same as all hospital food, uuuggghhhy in the extreme!. I actually remember eating a couple really small apples that were on my tray, until my husband (who was there when I was eating them) told me they were actually plums.

The one thing I wanted when I came home, and almost the minute I came out the car, was a jam sandwich and a big glass of milk. Oh, how I salivated over the thought, for days and days. Well when I got home and got my jam sandwich and my big glass of milk, it was the worst-tasting thing in the world. Actually, the only things that tasted right for a few weeks were graham crackers and diet coke!
 
bookjp said:
Same with me about the Coke.I was a two liter a day coke drinker.Had one the 3rd day after surgery and couldn't stand it.It tasted like metallic.Had my first one yesterday (5 weeks post op) and though it was still off it was a lot closer to being back to normal.
Click to expand...


TWO LITERS a Day?

Good God, How many Calories is THAT?

How much do you weigh?
 
Well now I feel better--it was actually Bridgette who reminded me that there are worse things to taste than what's going on in my mouth at the moment. A little jab at those south of the equator: how can you Kiwis and Aussies even eat vegemite????

And book: 2 liters of coke? I haven't had that much soda/pop total in the last ten years! Of course, my relatively good diet (not much in the way of sweets, no carbonated beverages except San Pelegrino water, fairly low salt and fat intake) appears to be negated by my inability to make myself eat the small, regular meals I'm supposed to be consuming. But the high fructose corn syrup we're being drowned in is probably a major culprit in increasing waistlines and heart disease--so ditch the bloody sweet drinks! My husband and I have discovered that a nice glass of fizzy water (which we can get for about a buck a 750 ml bottle at Costco) with a little lemon or lime actually makes food more satisfying.

The main reason I'm worried about my diet now is not because of weight loss (I haven't really lost any, but need to drop about 50 pounds over the next year) but because of fluctuating coumadin levels. I'm trying to establish a steady, moderate, constant eating pattern to get my INR regulated ASAP so I can go on home testing.

My daughter and I are going to be getting together with some of the culinary teaching staff at my college to write a culturally-grounded heart-healthy cookbook, so you can see why I'm interested in this topic. Our eating habits in the West are getting worse and worse, as we get further and further away from our agricultural roots. In the meantime, however, your experiences have made me see this as more of a small hurdle than a high jump. Thanks!
 
I always joked that OHS was a great weight loss tool... a little on the expensive side, but you know... I think I lost 20+ pounds in the months after mine because I just had no appetite whatsoever (that didn't last, unfortunately!)

I don't remember the taste being the issue, just the tummy not being happy and not really craving or being hungry ever. I'll have to pay more attention the next time around. :)

Kerri
 
All my favs, including regular coke, root beer, 7-up, even my coffee cream and sugar taste like they're the aspertame products, which I loathe. Popsickles are ok, but that could just be the temp and easiness on the throat going down. Hope this doesn't last too much into my 2nd week post op.
 
I had the same issue - I am a huge coffee drinker and could not stand the taste for about 3-4 weeks. Thankfully, I got my taste buds back and can really enjoy my coffee everyday! Probably not the best thing for my extra beats, but I think I would rather have those than the stress not drinking my coffee causes me (well, maybe more like the stress it causes my DH since I am a B****H with a capital B without it!!! LOL).

I do remember my parents trying to get me to eat something in the hospital and they asked me what I really wanted and just to be obstinate, I said Lobster...well, they went to Red Lobster, had dinner and brought me back lobster, a salad with the shrimp vinegarette dressing and a couple of rolls and you know what? I ate every drop and loved it!!! Guess it just goes to show..the more expensive the food the better it tastes!! And since I had not had lobster for over a year (too expensive for us to eat), it was AWESOME!!! :D
 
hobbysdad said:
All my favs, including regular coke, root beer, 7-up, even my coffee cream and sugar taste like they're the aspertame products, which I loathe. Popsickles are ok, but that could just be the temp and easiness on the throat going down. Hope this doesn't last too much into my 2nd week post op.
Click to expand...

I lived on popsickles for a couple of weeks.....I tried the sugar free but those stunk. I think it was the "cold" and I just enjoyed that.

I can say at 6 wks post op it gets better but I'm still not real hungry.
 
Big Owl,

Vegemite is the YUMMIEST thing in the world to have on your toast.:):)

I guess it's an acquired taste though, LOL...
 
LOL, vegemite sandwiches are great too....my favourites are vegemite and cottage cheese or vegemite and lettuce.:)
 
The first few days all food tasted like nickel or iron to me. On the 7th days, I started eating again, yet very small amounts. When I got hungry at night since I did not eat well at dinner time, the nurses got me crackers which were fulfilling taste wise and I enjoyed them more than anything else. I stayed on small bites for alsmot 5 weeks...which was great as I lost 6 lbs (but got them back). So take advantage of it if you want to lose some weight!!
 
I ate breakfast for dinner tonight and cleaned my plate, even though my jam tasted like ketchup and the toast like baked cellulose sponge. I seem to do well with eggs, so will rely on them for protein until things clear up.

I've actually tried to like vegemite (since I was little, when I had it in Bermuda), but I think my nanny must have told me it was made from ground earthworms or something, because that's how it tastes to me. And no, I never really have eaten ground earthworms.
 
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