Taste Following Tonsillectomy

I posted a few posts ago- Its now a little over 3 months post op and I still have a slight taste disturbance in regards to sweet food. I taste it on the tip of my tounge, and the bitter/sour taste comes from the back. I still have hope.. I think it did improve slightly. I heard from a doctor friend of mine that a nerve grows at a rate of 1cm per week- if that. What is really weird is I can taste dessert wine perfectly! Its super sweet, So i use that to get my sweet fix :-). Some people's post says they lost all taste and even hot sauce is distorted. That did not happen to me.. its just all sweets. I'm thinking by 4 months I will just take it that its not coming back. Its not the worst thing in life consider i can taste it on the tip of my tounge... I figure it could always be worse.. Good luck everyone.

I am 37 and I had my tonsilectomy and uvulectomy on April 9, 2010. Wow, what an experience. I found out that I am a big baby.

I have a deviated septum so I was a mouth breather while sleeping at the start because the uvula area was all swollen. I had to think about breathing through my nose. I would wake up with a super dry mouth and a tongue that felt more like a sanding block. I could not really eat anything... ice pops tasted gross but the nurse kept insisting I eat it and it will help, so I went through the motions as much as I could bear.

The first 10 days, I ate almost nothing, mostly room temperature water. I could not even have ice water as for some reason the sides of my tongue at the base would get ever increasing pain (tongue.. not tonsils). I managed a little chocolate protein drink. I managed 1 drink in 3 days.... about 5 ounces a day... I tried yogurt, but the pain was there on the base of my tongue as well as it tasting horrible. icecream... horrible, ice pops terrible. I did not have a metallic taste in my mouth, just a "not as clean, I hate this nasty taste" taste.

Then, I managed to choke down a full protein drink in a day.. The next day I tried the eggs in a carton.. I could eat it. tasted fairly normal. I thought, "Great, I'm getting there"

But I spoke too soon. Egg tastes normal, but nothing else I have tried has been normal.. it is only edible or inedible... sweets are the worst. Like so many others on this blog thing... tip of the tongue seems to taste, but the back is not working right. Starts off sweet at the tip, but then the back takes over and ruins everything. I even tried a spoon of straight sugar last night to see if I am just imagining this... Yes, I am awake... Damn!

I am already at the stage that I am just consuming food.... no longer will enjoy it... But I am looking at it in a positive manner now.. When my wife asks me if dinner tastes good, I will tell her the truth... It tastes like c**p, but don't worry... everything tastes like c**p so it MUST be good! I will just eat cheap junk that is good for me... you know... the stuff that tastes terrible.. well now that stuff must taste just as good as everything else so ALRIGHT! TIME TO GET HEALTHY

I am not counting on getting my taste back after reading many of the posts. Like people who have other problems, we will adapt. I am just going to have to find something else I can enjoy more than how I enjoyed food. Karaoke is out because somehow my voice did not improve after surgery, I thought I was going to be the next frank sinatra... what a gyp! I am pushing 40... maybe I will just have to start my mid life crisis a little early! Wahoo! Porshe... here I come!

I will just try to stay positive.. I hope everyone has at least some improvement to make it tolerable. Positivity breeds positivity... so pass it on and maybe we can all get through it eventually. Good luck all.

I'm am a 25 year old female, and I had my tonsils removed exactly 2 months ago. I'm so glad that I found people who can finally relate to what I'm talking about. I talked to my ENT surgeon and he said that everything should be ack to normal soon (he couldn't give an exact time), and he reassured me that everything was going to be ok. I constantly suffer from this nasty taste that stays in mouth. Sugary foods, fruits, and fruit juices are the WORST!! I'm so stressed with this problem and I can not wait to post a positive post saying that this nightmare is over. I have to admit that my taste has gotten better that what was, but I can't wait for it to be ALL the way back to normal.

anonymous wrote:

My ENT also didn't bother to mention this potentially life-altering side-affect. I am now 20-days post-operative & foods taste normal-ish on the tip of my tongue but lousy on the back & I *always* have a bad taste in the back of my mouth. I still crave the same things & unfortunately my appetite has completely returned so I'm not losing weight anymore (I still eat & try to remember what it used to taste like) and it's *really* depressing. I'm not a fan of our overly litigious society, but I feel these ENTs need to be held accountable when they don't even bother to mention such a serious long-term side affect. Would I have had the operation had I know about this possible outcome? Duhno. Probably not. I would have at very least not prematurely stopped taking the liquid Lortab thinking it was the cause of the bad taste ... the pain on top of this really sucked.

The worst is the total helplessness I feel. Everytime I met with him I felt rushed & after the operation hi poked his head in the room my wife was waiting in & simply said the operation went fine & left. That's it. The pain ... sucks. I talk for 8-9 hours a day solid & after a week and a half I was worried about returning a couple days later when I hadn't been talking more than a couple minutes a day yet. I met with the ENT who extended it another week & gave me more liquid Lortab, but I didn't mention the taste issue then because I thought it was a side affect of the medicine. Now, I return to work in 2 days & my voice still is weak, my tongue feels fat in the back & I am a little difficult to understand. I want to meet with him ... I want to tell him that he ruined my taste and didn't have the decency to tell me it could happen ... but I sure as you-know-where don't want to pay him for the privilege. I think this is why many of the referenced ENTs said that they never encountered it, follow-up care sucks & people don't want to pay to report something that they can tell from online research that there is nothing that can be done.

I am 33 years old & the thought of spending the next 6-12mos or possibly forever with malfunctioning taste ... I don't expect anyone who is not experiencing this to understand how depressing it is. I could stand to lose 20lbs but this is a horrific way to do so. If I had some assurance that it would be temporary it would be less bad ... but I don't. My wife is getting frustrated that everything she cooks tastes like c**p to me. The only 2 things that I have found so far that aren't as affected by this are eggs and croissants. My thought on the former is that the "bad" taste is somewhat sulfuric & therefore less noticeable with eggs & I only ate croissants as part of egg sandwiches. I ate the better part of 5 cartons of "Kirkland Real Egg Product" (basically just egg whites, from Costco, ~8 eggs per carton, about 3 dozen eggs) in the first 2 weeks after the first couple days that I ate nothing but rootbeer popsicles.

If anyone would like to contact me, likewise without quotes (posted this way to avoid spam).

I'm a 50 year old woman, had my tonsils out about 7 to 8 weeks, I read your commit about taste , will it get any better, my throat feels like it is full of scabbs, I can't stand it , makes me fell like life is not worth living,if I'm depressed about all this , my mouth tastes like a sour yikie taste and all my food sucks, can't even drink without it tasting bad, ever had a rotten coke?, give me some hope thank you

This is a more tecnical point of view

Hey guys, I'm from Portugal and if you think in the US (which is where they are the most worried about getting a law suit) doctors don't tell you everything about side-effects imagine here.
Lauren I noticed the exact same thing as you did, that nasty sour taste in the back of my mouth and that makes me worry about having bad breath which I've never had in my life so I panic when I don't have any mints or chewing gum...
The first bite tastes quite normal like in your case and I get all hopeful and then I take another and that weird metallic taste comes back. You can taste things with the tip of your tong and not the back right? Sweets are the worst for me... My boyfriend just brought me my favorite chocolates from switzerland and the first one is okay but when I eat some more they go back to being c**p again...
My surgery was in the 20th August 2010 so I'm starting to lose hope... It's been 5 months now... There go the wine tasting lessons I got for Christmas...
I reckon they damaged the nerves that are attached to the taste buds in the back of my mouth during surgery, those are the one which are more turned towards the tasting of sweet and that's why I can eat salty and savoury stuff. But everything tastes weird anyway because even if they have no sugar most foods are a mix of all flavours so they never taste right..
I've been doing research and reading lots of papers and theses about this and most of them say your suppose to get part of your taste back slowly after a couple of YEARS! I'm sorry to say this but if it really is due to nerve damage and I am convinced it is because I see no other plausible explanation I can assure you that your taste is not coming back.
What happens is your brain gets used to the "new" taste of things and it's like you learn to taste again like you were little, your brain assimilates the new way you taste as normal and by the time it does that you've forgotten how things used to taste so you think it has come back to normal but it hasn't.

The best example I can use is this: When you go blind, your other senses develop and get more accute right? So a few years later you can manage to do more stuff than in the begining, you adapt to an optimal usage of your other senses. But you never get your eyesight back. Well with the taste it's the same thing, you forget how things tasted before so you take the way you taste now as normal, but it's still the same actually.

I hope to God I'm wrong.... Please prove me wrong

I really love eating and cooking and everything... This is so frustrating.. Things never taste as good as they smell..

i had tonsil surgery 9 mo. ago and also removed a nasal papilloma, i have the same dramatic loss of sense of taste
the only thing i can really taste is a steak that is extremely fire grilled to the point of being blakened
i eat only to stop the hunger pangs, as i have tried and tired of wasting money to try to satisfy my cravings,
once you crave and cant taste the thing you want to taste, i.e. chocolate cake, choc candy, choc w/almonds, choc ice cream
it doesnt matter, how much, how free, how good it is to others, i simply am past the point of craving to where i
dont even get phased by it, but life is so increadibly boring w/or your sense of taste, i have now lost 90 pounds in 8 months
i look and feel better than ever, but i cant taste life anymore and i cant stand it, i cannot tell you the difference b/w a coke,
pepsi, dr. pepper, or any other soda, how bout u?

The last post I see is from 5 months ago - just wondering if there currently are people out there experiencing this at this time? It has been almost 8 weeks since my tonsillectomy and I still have the horrible taste in my mouth and most food tastes bad. The taste is so horrible when I wake up in the morning that it makes me feel sick to my stomach and some days I feel that way all day.  It is a very difficult way to live and I find that people just don't understand...

Today is September 16, 2011.  I had my tonsillectomy and septoplasty on August 31, 2011.  My sense of taste is all messed up, the only things I can really taste are salty things.  Funny thing is that I didn't even realize I could taste salty until my sister brought over some Chester popcorn puffs (or something like that) she thought they might go over well because they melt in your mouth and are easy to swallow.  I didn't have much hope but I tried one and Lo and behold I could taste it!!!  I have high blood pressure, so I don't consume salt at all, if possible.  I keep trying to explain it to people but nobody understands.  I told my neighbor, imagine what it's like when you just brushed your teeth and you try to drink orange juice and it tastes nasty... now imagine that you have nothing to eat but oranges and nothing to drink but orange juice or water.  Now you know why all I do is drink water.  It's already upsetting me and it's only been like 2 weeks.  I've lost 17 pounds and while I could definitely stand to lose a few pounds or more, this is depressing.  I called my ENT group today and they were unapologetic at best and told me that it should come back in about 6 weeks.
I love to cook and to eat.  Flavor is such a big part of my life, I can't imagine living without taste anymore.  I keep hoping.

I got my tonsils out in April of 2010. Everything was fine and I was looking forward to eating as much ice cream as possible. Then I realized that all the sweet things tasted wrong. Almost all foods tasted strangely sour or bitter. I spent nearly a month eating over salted top ramen because that was the only thing that didn't taste too weird. I didn't really get my sense of taste back to normal until mid-June. I wish at the time some one had warned me about this, but no one did.

I'm so glad I found this message board because I started feeling like I was alone! I am just 2 weeks out from my tonsillectomy and I am not able to taste anything. I experienced thrush a week ago and have been swishing Nystatin for a week. My thrush is cleared up, but I am still unable to taste. Like a lot of you, I'm able to kind of taste right at the tip of my tongue, but the further back the food goes in my mouth, the less taste I have. This was not explained to me as a possible side effect of anything. I'm trying to be patient, but it gets extremely frustrating. I've lost 21 pounds these last couple weeks which I'll never complain about, but I can understand how people could get depressed without a sense of taste. I'm only able to tolerate soft foods that don't require chewing such as: plain yogurt, applesauce, popsicles, ice cream and pudding. I can't taste them, but anything that requires chewing is just too frustrating to eat. The hardest part about this whole experience is that, now that the pain from the surgery has subsided, I am able to eat again but don't want to. Thanks for all the great info! I hope we all start to taste something soon.

I had my surgery about three weeks ago and I have notice that my taste buds are not working properly. Everything I eat just tastes bland and doesn't fulfill me like it use to. And I just eat because I have too and not because I enjoy it. This also makes me appreciete all of my senses but especially taste. I hope I will regain my sense of taste because it is pretty depressing. However, thanks for sharing b/c now I do not feel alone anymore.

Hi I'm 17 and had my tonsills removed about 3 days ago and i have been reading that everyone feels better the 2nd day yet i still feel horrible and i have also been having ear aches and every time i swallow it is very painful and many mouth feels as if i have a thick liquid inside it I'm not sure if this is normal or not but if any one has any suggestion please help =[

I'm a26 year old female, almost one week post op from tonsillectomy and frunulectomy. 

Oddly enough I have found that Gerber baby food maple and cinnamon puffs taste REALLY sweet even though I know they didn't before my operation 

how are you doing now? I'm a week in and feel worse than ever