Taste Following Tonsillectomy

Hello All,

I'm 32 and 8 weeks post tonsillectomy and i am having the same problems. Loss of taste and horrid salty taste in my mouth. i looked for answers online and it seemed to me people only seemed to have questions and i was getting no answers :-(.

Well in my research i came across Oral Thrush (which i've never had before, so didn't know the symptoms), it leaves a nasty salty taste in the mouth and can affect the taste buds. I went to my GP and explained the situation and he agreed i had thrush, although i didn't have an overly coated tongue but it is coated more than usual.

He has giving me drops for it and even though i still have the salty taste it has greatly reduced in 24 hours and i am starting to get my taste back.

I'm not saying that its the answer for everyone but it might be worth a try to see if you maybe suffering with the same problem (Oral Thrush). Like i say its ony been 24 hours for me so well see how it goes, i need to complete the course before i know if its worked 100%

Be well guys. God Bless

An update years later. I can taste now but not to the extent I could before. Subtle differences escape me. I have trouble discerning flavors. The good news is most food doesn't taste "bad". The sweet taste is back although not at the same level. Bananas still seem to have a less enjoyable flavor now, but it is acceptable. I think my mind just adjusted and adapted to my new sense of taste. All in all, I am happy with the level of taste I am at. It did take a long time to get to this point though.

Hi there,

I really understand how you guys felt. I had my tonsillectomy last February, and up until now my taste haven't fully recovered. Some light-taste foods taste the same, however I can't have the same satisfaction as before with some foods that have strong taste.

For example, since I'm an asian(Malaysian), I always had fried rice and curry and soup as part of my daily meals. Since we used a lot spices and stuff in our cuisine, the taste is very rich and strong. I used to enjoy eating my meals. But not anymore! After the operation, the taste is not as rich as before. When eating, the taste becomes weird especially when it reached the back end of my my tounge. It seems like the taste bud doesn't function normally and the food become tasteless. At first I thought it just some minor post-op effect, but the taste never feels the same again, up till now. 

Another problem is, I always took cereals for breakfast, but now I couldn't recognized the milk taste. It tastes like I'm just having the cereals with cold water. It's really troublesome because the milk will usually taste weird when nearing the due date, and now I can't differentiate whether it has become spoilt or not. 

I told the doctor in charged about my condition everytime during my follow-up appoinment. But the doctor changes everytime I go. Probably, they just have the same information shared in my follow-up profile. But it's frustrating for me though to have to come for the follow-up appoinment every month just to be told that my case is rare and he never had any patient that have the same post-op effect like me and tell me that 'we'll see your progress in next month'.

However, I'm very grateful to god and this forum to let me know that there're people out there that have the same problem as me. It makes me feel normal again. Thank you! Now, I'll try to be patience and with god will, I hope that my taste will eventually recovered. 

Mine is an asperin taste makes everything nasty

Good Lord say it isn't so! I've been reading these posts and it has filled me with a mix of depression, anger, sadness, despair (pick a negative adjective). I had my tonsils blasted out 4 weeks ago yesterday. The surgeon said my tonsils were quite large and had many stones in them a lot of nasty pathogens. The surgery took almost twice as long as normal. (so maybe my tongue was in the clamp longer than normal?)  I am a 31 Y.O. male in excellent shape from eating moderately well, playing a lot or sports and working out, and having good genes. I scoffed at all the online posts of how bad the recovery would be. "Surely all these people are whiners and sissies, probably a case of selective bias"  The humble pie I've been forced to eat is just as nasty as everything else going down my hatch. Recovery was a barbaric hellacious nightmare of the epic proportions. After the most painful 2 weeks the pain subsided but now 4 weeks later my throat still feels nasty and uncomfortable. Almost like there are hairs or something stuck in the tissue where my tonsils used to be, especially when swallowing. Very awkward and very annoying, if not uncomfortable 

Pain and the odd sensation of my throat up until now have been the least of my worries. I, like many of you, cannot taste things worth a damn. It all tastes nasty. I can distinguish most of what I am eating if i had a blindfold on, but barely. That's about the extent of it, I can sort of get an initial but muted taste on the tip of my tongue but that's where the taste ends. Immediately after that initial muted taste I get the metallic, or mineral or chemical taste that seems to come from the back of my mouth. I definitely cannot taste anything on the rear 2/3rds of my tongue. The worst tasting part for me is when the food passes or gets past down my throat by my tonsils that have been healing for 4 weeks. The nasty taste seems to be amplified every time i swallow and the food touches those areas. It is so hard to describe the taste and sensation in words. maybe its like tasting a combination of rust, mashed up wet scabs, and some sort of kitchen cleaner. Its really disgusting. 

I echo what people have said about sweets. EVERYTHING sweet is nasty and i don't even really get the initial hint of taste like I at least do for other foods. My life will be a nightmare if sweets don't return. I eat moderately healthy instead of extremely healthy simply because i have a huge sweet tooth. Especially for ice cream. I eat ice cream like it is going out of style. I consider myself somewhat of an ice cream connoisseur. After the tonsillectomy? Forget about it!!! It tastes like S*%T. I will be so pissed if this is permanent because enjoying food is such a great part of life. You don't realize that as much until you lose it. Now i am only eating to not lose weight, as I lost 10-12 in the first two weeks and don't want to lose weight. I lift weights regularly and want to gain weight not lose it. 

ENT doctors have no incentive to be open and honest it seems regarding this possibility. Why dissuade people from getting the operation when it will take money out of their pockets? I am so cynical right now, not one mention of this from the surgeon or pre-op assistants.  There are no consequences for them either, as how can one prove in court that he or she cannot taste well anymore? The whole 1% thing is such HORSE S*#T !! Why are their so many countless people on so many different forums complaining about the same thing. Especially when a smaller percentage of tonsillectomy patients are adults. I would have never gone through with this surgery if this is a permanent thing or 1-2 years of semi-permanence.  My 28 YO brother has the same tonsillitis and throat problems I had and also want to now get a tonsillectomy but I am going to talk him out of it.

Another month has past since i posted this and I'm here to report that things are as bad as ever. I am not getting any better and it has been over 2 months since my tonsillectomy. I refuse to believe that all these surgeons are so in the dark about this, mine seemed to think that it was very rare and abnormal. Either there is a conspiracy of ENT surgeons purposefully not telling patients that there is a good chance (maybe even guaranteed ) that this will happen.....or there is a huge disconnect between their understanding of the complications and post op healing process and what these ENT doctors think happen. I'm starting to think it is B.S. that such a small percentage of people have this issue, i bet it's much much more just from reading all the posts on internet forums.

My throat is still super dry feeling where my tonsils used to be, no matter how much i drink or what i do. I cannot taste sweets at all and everything else is extremely muted if i taste it at all. 80-90% taste loss on most things, 100% taste loss on anything sweet. Bread, dough based foods or baked items like cake or brownies or cookies are also especially disgusting. My mind still gives me cravings for things and my mouth still waters at the though of eating foods that should be good, only to be let down again and again as I bite into things.

This is no way to live I NEVER WOULD HAVE GOTTEN THIS PROCEDURE DONE HAD I KNOWN /

Hey guys... I'm 36, male, same thing for me... nasty taste all the time, like sucking a dirty penny like someone else here mentioned...

I'm now at week 9 after surgery, things aren't as bad as they were during the first two weeks, but for the last 7 weeks there has been no change at all. Sweet things are muted or even salty, worst are sodas especially coke. I really loved coke and red bull before surgery, i buy this stuff still everyday and hope it's getting better, but it isn't. chocolate is pretty good but also quite muted. salty and savory food is the most tolerable, but there are also worlds between if i compare it to the situation before tonsillectomy.

the worst for me is that i never had any problems with my tonsils, it just started at the beginning of 2014 with an abscess, ENT doc recommended to do the surgery. when I read the info sheet with all those complications, I asked my doc about this "permanent taste disturbance" thing, he just told me "noo, no, maybe that happens to very thin people with less tissue in their mouth, bleeding is the most common complication." and yes, i had a bleeding 9 days after surgery. guess what? i'd rather taken a life-threatening bleeding that this (hopefully not permanent) taste loss / disturbance. although I'm not very religious, I pray to god everyday, I please the universe to just let have me back my sense of taste :'-(

I am over 5 months out. Surgery was august 2014. I still have All of the symptoms described. Chocolate and most sweets are just gross. Soda has no flavor. I can taste some savory foods such as steak, potatoes and a few vegetables. The one food that I can taste and I do eat a lot of, is pretzels. The first bite of any food is really good, but after that it's nasty. It has gotten a little better, just wishing it would correct itself.

I don't have this to the same degree as everyone else (3 weeks out) but MAN does chocolate taste like sh*t. I've never been a chocolate fanatic, but I enjoyed it. Just now I was eating some M&Ms and realizing that they taste horrible. Thinking back, every chocolate thing has tasted bad. Fruit juice also sucks but I hardly drink that anyways.

Kind of disappointing, but everything else tastes fine and I had almost no pain, so I guess I got off easy.

I am a 23 year old woman. I had my tonsils out 17 days ago. I can't taste ANYTHING except cauliflower, tea, and I can taste of a hint of boxed cream of wheat. Sometimes I can taste food at the tip of my tongue, but it vanishes immediately there after. Physically I feel great having had my tonsils removed due to having strep 3-4 times a year tonsillitis 2 times and year, and the constant tonsils stones. But it has been so psychologically devastating not being able to taste food. My smell if perfectly fine, which makes it even more torturous. The enjoyment of my life has been DRASTICALLY decreased, and I was NOT INFORMED BEFORE surgery that I could possibly loose my sense of taste forever. I was only informed of bleeding. I would have NEVER NEVER gotten the surgery if I had known that I would never be able to taste food again. I would rather live with tonsil complications for the rest of my life! I have lost 19lbs in 17 days. I am always depressed and angry because of how much I miss the taste of food. Now I eat only because I'm hungry. I keep waking up everyday hoping that my taste will return, but it actually seems to be getting worse. To make food bearable I eat for texture, but eating for texture does not compare to flavor. Also I do not produce saliva like I used to. The saliva glands in my cheeks are not working AT ALL, only the saliva gland below my tongue works. I also think this is contributing to my loss of taste. I'm experimenting with taking vitamins that I read could repair nerve damage and improve taste. I ordered over $65.00 worth of vitamins from vitacost. I'm hoping that this will help. I'm on a diet of fruit, vegetables, cream of wheat, and Lipton soup. I only drink water or tea. I'm also trying to sleep as much as possible so that my body can heal itself. The vitamins I'm currently taking are folic acid, B-12, Zinc, Magnesium, and vitamin A. I just ordered omega-3, R-liopic acid, Benfotiamine, vitamine E, and acetyl-l-carninte. The vitamins I ordered are supposed to help with nerve repair and cellular growth. I will return to post in a month and give you all an update on my condition.

Give it some time.17 days is way too early to give any statements. I am out of surgery for 10 months now and certain things (i.e. pasta) still taste strange.Also coke or any sweet sodas do not taste the same as before, but with time, you get used to it. After 6 or 7 months you do not remember how things were before, but it will be much better. Never give up!

Ok so reading a lot of these posts is more depressing than before. I am a 37 yr old female and had a tonsillectomy and my adnoids removed 11-06-2014. Immediatley I noticed my taste was off.  I called  my ENT's office and they told me it was the anestisia and it would be back to normal in a few days. I called again after I was 10 days post  op because I developed thrush. The PA called me back perscribed a rinse and at that time I questioned him again about my loss of taste, and he said, " this sometimes happen, just be patient, it will come back in time." I went in for my follow up 3 weeks after surgury. I explained that sweets, bread, and soda taste awful, that everything tastes like baking soda, and I always have that baking soda taste in my mouth. Most all food tastes very, very bland or just bad. I never find myself saying, "mmmm, or this is sooooo good!" Again he said it will take time, but it will come back. He asked to see me 4 months post op and I have refused to schedule it. I pay a 50.00 copay each time I have to see him, just so he can tell me be patient. I am now 5months post op. No change! Sometimes I think its getting better and then I just wonder if maybe im just getting used to the way things taste now. i havent drank soda in 5 months. I rarely eat sweets, and I have to think long and hard for every meal including a snack because nothing sounds good at all. It drives me nuts when people say, "oh I bet you will lose a lot of weight, or that will keep you away from junk food." I want to punch them in the face and say, "NO YOU id**t...I still get hungry, my stomach still growls, and I still CRAVE things, I just dont get to enjoy the food I am eating anymore, but I still have to eat!!" Any how after all my venting I will say this. If I was told this is or could be a side affect, I would have never done it. I have searched and read many posts and maybe 3 have had postive things to say about getting there taste back. I am hopeful, but very doubtful.

I'm 10 weeks post-op and I still have the "horrible" sour type of taste in my mouth. Is there anyone on here that says their taste came back after an extended amount of time? I see no hope in all of the threads that I read. Just like every other adult that has a tonsillectomy I went through hell in the recovery of this surgery and it was never mentioned to me that this was even remotely possible before the surgery. There has to be a doctor somewhere that has some sort of explanation for this. If you are an adult contemplating a tonsillectomy I would never do this again unless it was life or death. NOT WORTH IT!!!

I'm with everyone else I'm 18 and just got my tonsils out three weeks ago and it was mentioned that I would have a metal taste in my mouth after surgery, but that it would go away after two weeks. Well newsflash it's still here I started surgery at 109 pounds I am now 99 pounds. I can eat everything, but the taste good gives me is depressing and I just refuse to eat. My mom is worried, but assured me after she got her tonsils out her taste never changed. It was overall a good surgery and not very painful except during the nights. I hope my taste returns, because I will be unable to enjoy the Fourth of July this weekend. It's good to see people with the same issues it makes me feel less alone, but sure doesn't make eating any better. I wouldn't recommend anyone get their tonsils out unless you're in dire need like I was.

Did any of your Ent doctors inform you of this side effect?Some doctors often don't inform you of possible side effects prior to op which I think is dispicable.