Tastes symptoms and conditions

I was put on a 13-day DexPak and got off of it after 6 days! The doctor wanted to try it before surgery of spurs in my neck. The side effects are horrible. Finally my heart is slowing down and the itches have subsided, but the weakness and shakes remain. I'm also numb in parts of my body and everything tastes like salt water. When does this stop? It's been 36 hours.

I have been taking Keflex, 500mg, for about 4 days now, in that time I have since developed a lack of appetite, I have lost my job, my roommate stole my favorite shoes and walked through puddles, my normal sure handedness has disappeared resulting in me dropping 4 eggs on the kitchen floor, my toes are swelling to the point that flip flops are not an option... AND coke tastes like Pepsi...

All of this to treat a sinus infection. I will never take this medicine again.

I have been taking now the 1000mg a day & i have gained weight and i experience diarrhea and nausea. I read someone else's comment about it regulating their period. Hasn't done that for me and I have very irregular periods. Food that I used to love tastes horrible to me and i feel like it's making it harder for me to lose weight.

Metallic taste, loss of taste: A few weeks after beginning my once/month Boniva dosage, I lost my full sense of taste. I now continuously have a sort of metallic taste in my mouth, a combination of salty/bitter tastes, and have lost the 'sweet' tastebuds. Further on the back of the tongue I still have some taste, but it is not what it was before. It's a personal loss, as I used to have very sensitive taste buds, this loss handicaps my ability to cook well, and I had been a very good home cook. I still retain a full sense of smell.

I have been on Boniva for about a year and a half, my doctor says she's never heard of anyone losing taste sensations as a side effect of this medication. I'm too concerned about possible osteoporosis, as I have osteopenia, to discontinue the drug for this alone. Has anyone experienced this side effect, is it permanent, or does it disappear if the drug is discontinued?

I went from a rational non-emotional women to a crazy person!!! I feel awful. I would rather have pain than feel this way. I can't sleep though constantly fatigued. Achy body, headaches. Everything tastes like cardboard so I'm not eating well though I have gained a few pounds. I am severely emotional. I almost left my husband this weekend whom I adore, can't stop crying, very depressed and irritable. I want nothing more than to be alone and sleep, which no one can live that way. I am a mother of 3, a wife, and have a full time job. I can't function properly. I will never undergo hormone treatment after I get through this! I am currently on Lupron, just had laporoscopy 2 weeks ago for the 5th time all for endometriosis and I'm only 25. I started Premarin today to assist this anxiety and mood swings. Wish my family and I luck.

My insurance changed and i was substited budeprion for the other generic for Wellbutrin which was buproprion. The first thing I noticed is that I was extremely irratable and downright mean to people. I never used to be like that while on Wellbutrin. I cried easily and this new pill just did not help me like the old original. But the most annoying side effect I have noticed is that it has given me an awful odor. It took me awhile to put two and two together but I noticed the budeprion has an awful smell in the bottle as soon as I took the lid off. Then I noticed my urine had a horrible strong smell which I associated with the same smell as the pill. Now I also am afraid it is being excreted thru perspiration as well. I am certainly not going to continue to take this budeprion if it is making me smell bad! Has anyone else noticed this side effect?

I have been scheduled for an overnite sleep test at the hospital and was told I'd have to be off of Paxil for 3 weeks prior to the test. I tapered it down myself (now I know better) in what I thought was a reasonable period of 2 weeks. After reading all of the comments here I now know that I should have done this over months not days. I've been experiencing the "brain jolts" accompanied by the rapid distortion of vision for years and just assumed that it was another weird MS related symptom. Now I'm wondering if Paxil may have played a part in this all this time.
This morning I felt so much better about myself after reading all of the comments here. I was saying yes to all of the symptoms I've been having including dizzyness, extremes in emotions, nausea, less appetite, cold sweats, hot flashes, inability to concentrate, some paranoia, slurred speech, tinnitus, disorganized thoughts and disorganized physical space. I had no idea that Paxil was the cause of all of this. Not one clue.
Along with having less appetite I've noticed a change in tastes/flavors. I can taste really salty or really sweet and anything in the middle has almost no flavor. I also get a craving for something and finally make it, eat a bite and throw the rest away. The other thing going along with the LOUD tinnitus is that all sounds seem amplified. I don't know if anyone else has experienced these things. Thanks to all who have written because if not for this I would have continued to think I was losing my sanity.
I am supposed to go back on Paxil after the sleep test but have absolutely no intention of putting myself through this again. I haven't been able to work do to the crying at ever "Kodak moment" and really can't afford to miss this kind of time again. If only the doctor had told me what the withdrawal could be like at the time of prescribing it!

My wife and I both on 14-day Biaxin XL for bad flus. We both have an absolutely completely disgusting tastes in our mouths. Have tried everything drinkable & edible for relief to no avail! My wife with some diarrhea, myself some sleeplessness. The worst is this taste! We are both hoping that we can last another 6 days until we finish. Will never take this med again if we can take an alternative!

2 yrs ago I was diagnosed with peripheral neuropathy. I have been on Topamax since, because of the severe pain it causes. I have never experienced weight loss and I was on up to 400mg a night. I am now on 200mg a night. My tastes are fine and my drinking sodas were never like metal. But for the fatigue of the disease I also take Provigil in the morning. I have noticed my eyes have changed. Never gave it a thought to be Topamax. Plus I just got new glasses again 3 months ago and am seeing a change in my sight again. Also there is a noise in my ears,not ringing,but sounds like crickets. Never had that before. I was on 2 other meds but I took myself off of them because I really don't like taking so many. The others had worse side effects. Until they find a cure for this disease it looks like I'm stuck with Topamax. This is one pain I will not and can not live with.

About eight to ten years ago i had a violent reaction to lactaid. I had taken it numerous time before with no problems and then I woke up one morning - had a bowl of cereal and a lactaid pill - within the hour I was experiencing severe stomach pain along with vomiting and diarrhea. I thought it might have been due to the fact that i had had very little to eat the day before and only a bowl of cereal that morning with the extra strength pill.

the following weekend i was brave enough to try it again with some ice cream at night (this time i had a full stomach from dinner). BIG mistake - this time it was worse - the stomach pain was out of this world (i have a high pain threshold but this had me in the fetal position) and i couldnt leave the toilet and trash can for a few hours. My girlfriend was scared and called one of those nurse hot lines. they told her to coat my stomach with some kaopectate - which seemed to help. I checked the bottle of lactaid - and the expiration date had passed - so i threw it away and swore off of lactaid pills. fortunately they came out with the lactaid milk!

Fast forward to now - never touched the stuff again. well the other day I was out of lactaid milk and my wife (yes the same girlfriend) had picked up some samples of lactaid pills at a trade show - so I guess with the passage of time - I forgot how painful and miserable the other experiences had been - so i took the pill. Nothing happened!

Last night i decide to take another one because i had a craving for ice cream (had been awhile!). I figured it was ok since i had no reaction a week ago. Well sure enough - within the hour I was on the floor in severe stomach pain - followed by vomiting and diarrhea. This time we had kaopectate in the house - so i started taking it - well i just threw it right back up.

This episode lasted about an hour and a half this time. There was a metallic taste in my mouth about the third time i vomited, and the fifth and final time, there was puddle of yellow liquid that came out at the end.

Today is day 8 on Topamax. The only symptoms I've really had were the first few nights on it I woke up in the middle of the night but that has stopped. I had a few bad dreams but that has stopped. Drinks taste a little weird to me, but nothing like anyone else on here has described. I can still taste the carbonation at times. I just started taking 50mg today. I do 25mg in the am and I am going to take 25mg in the pm. For the previous 7 days I was only on 25mg per night. I have heard all this talk about weight loss on Topamax. That's part of the reason I am on it...to counteract the weight I have gained since I've been on Lamictal. Anyway, I haven't noticed a decrease in my appetite OR any weight loss at all so far. I was just wondering how long it took to start affecting you guys with the weight loss. Is there a certain mg you are on that it starts to affect your appetite/weight loss or a certain time frame or what? Any information would help. Thanks!

I first posted about 6 weeks ago when I began taking Topamax at 25mg a day. I'm now up to 100mg a day, 50mg am/pm and surprisingly it seems that most of my side effects have subsided. I have the tingling in my fingertips and feet now that I didn't have before, but it is rare and not something that keeps me from any normal activity. Sodas still taste flat but I've adjusted to that, beer is something that also tastes flat and that is rather disappointing. The only thing I've noticed is that I tend to have a slight headache most of the time that taking Advil will cure. I don't know if this is caused by the Topamax. When I do feel a migraine coming on, it seems to take days and never fully matriculates and I have to get a shot of Toradol. All in all, this is much better than the weekly migraines I was having.

I've been on Topamax since just Tuesday, 10/9/07. I find that I get very tired a couple hours after taking it and I have horrible nightmares and very dark thoughts, too. Diet coke tastes so HORRBILE which is bad because I loved my diet cokes, but then again I guess that's good b/c I need to stop drinking them anyway. My worst side effect is that I have horrible mood swings. Is this normal? Is this going to go away over time? Because if not, I'm going to stop taking it now. This is not like me and I am not going to subject my family to this - losing weight is not THAT important to me. Thanks for any help. :(

P. S. I'm taking 25 mg in the morning, afternoon and evening.

I have only been taking Topamax for one week, I have horrible migraine headaches. I feel very exhausted from taking topamax, and have HORRIBLE HEARTBURN, and I love pepsi, and it doesn't just taste flat, it tastes horrible, like I'm sucking on pennies! I unfortunately think I'm going to have to quit taking topamax, because I just feel so horrible....I can sleep 8-10 hours a night, and then wake up, and feel like I didn't sleep at all! Does anyone else know if these side effects get better as you keep taking the meds? Help!

Yup, all of the above... I have been dizzy, restless at night, nausious, but like you have all said, the worst is the TASTE that is in your mouth all day and night, it tastes like a combination of grass and metal and it gets worse every time I cough (I am taking Biaxin for a very bad lung infection). I wake up in the middle of the night gagging and I have to run to the bathroom to basically drink mouthwash so that it will go away for an hour or so and give me some relief. It is disgusting and if it weren't for the fact that I NEED to get rid of this infection I would definitly stop taking it if only to just get rid of the taste in my mouth.

I've been on Topomax for about 3-4 months now. I've had memory loss, slurred speech, decreased concentration (I have to re-read something several times to understand it) tingling in the hands and feet, depression, increased anger, loss of appetite, weight loss. I'm now at the point where I have a rash on my leg, severe nausea, and abnormal bleeding. I going to follow up with my neuro and PCP to see what's going on so we'll see. My migraines have decreased from 3-4 a week to maybe 1 a week, so it has been worth it so far so I can function for work and for my kids as a single mother. I've suffered from migraines for about 10 years and can't take the pain no more!!! If anyone has experienced the nausea, rashes or bleeding please reply.

I have been on Coumadin for about 2 months now after surviving a cerebral sinus venous thrombosis (blood clot on my brain - akin to a stroke). I am s 34 yo female who races triathlons and leads a very active healthy lifestyle. My side effects seem to be mild compared to what I read of others. I am on 5mg/day, except 1 day a week I take 10mg. My INR has been pretty stable. The side effects I notice are mild forgetfulness which I am hoping goes away as I start my 3rd year of law school next week! I also had some weird skin peeling on my hands, but that has subsided. I seem to urinate more often than normal and soda pop tastes weird to me now. Anyone else experience the frequent urination and/or taste issues?
Thanks!
Dana :)

Uh, I have read a number of postings where people are PROUD they stopped taking this last-line of defense antibiotic. Read up and be prepared before you take it. Stopping short only breeds drug resistant bacteria. If people didn't do this, we wouldn't need these horrible medicines.

You, and all the others that do the same, are RESPONSIBLE for this medication's existence. Had you kept taking that Amoxicillin back, when you were a spry 18 year old, instead of stopping when you "felt better", there wouldn't be a constant bacterial arms race.

Stopping these medications mid-treatment is a disservice to HUMANITY.

Keep it up, and next time you get a staph infection, you might find there are no antibiotics that work anymore.

I have had migraines for 4 years almost on a daily basis and nothing has worked. Finally started Topamax, the first week iI felt like i had a stroke, my speech was slurred, I couldn't concentrate, I was exhausted couldn't make complete sentences, numbness in hands and feet and every thing tastes bad., I had been on 4 pills a days to start so decreased to one-i believe it it 50 mg. worked well then headaches began again after 2 weeks, so increased to 2 then again in a few weks to 3 now i have had only 3 migraines in 3 months. Still have the numbness and taste aversion but I have never felt better as far as migraines. My new problem is I am having a lot of digestive issues including cramping and constant acidy, bubbly,gassy, bloating feeling and no gas x, pepto or anything works??? Is this a side effect or something unrelated??

Anyone experience problems with drinking beer, wine, alcohol? Beer is undesirable since it tastes flat. Last night drank it anyway celebrating my son's baseball win with the team. Did't even finish the beer because it just tasted so bad. Felt awful all day today as a migraine ensued. Few weeks ago drank Wine. It tasted okay, yet I woke up during the night violently ill, diarrhea and vomiting (great - huh?)- So now I am afraid to drink alcoholic beverages. Am I alone here? has any one else had this problem?

2 weeks on Topamax and really ill with the fact beer tasted like liking metal. So I drank a few liquor drinks for the fourth of July- I only drink probably once every three to four weeks when we get together with friends. Got violently sick after four drinks- throwing up. Never done that before- so I guess soda, alcohol and food are out of my life- Wonder if I can tell my husband NO SEX is a side-effect because it will cause violent bouts of vomitting. Smile- what a trade off- migraines daily or side effects?????? Damned if you do- damned if you don't- but on a brighter note- these are things I can live with unlike cancer, parkinson disease etc. Just wondering if anyone else having marked side effect from drinking alcohol while taking the topamax?

I started topamax on Tuesday for bipolar disorder. My pdoc started me on 50 mg and I took one in the am and got really sleepy so I cut back to 25 mg at night and went back to 50 mg on the weekend. I was surprised to feel the effects the first day. I thought I had gotten a flat pepsi at lunch and then realized that my tastes had already been effected. I got the tingly hands and have noticed that my leg muscles have been twitching some. The very first day I felt like I was in a fog and I definitely don't want to feel dumb. I'm hoping that cutting back and titrating up more slowly, as well as taking the medicine at night will help. The side effects I can stand as I withstood 6 months on Accutane for acne which was waaayyy worse.

I too had chest pains!! That is something that they do no tell you.

This medication definitely needs to be re-evaluated by the FDA, to determine what damage it may do to your heart.

I was already seeing a psychiatrist for Panic disorder so I had valium at home. However, I still ended up in the ER for my chest pains after getting no call back from my dr for two weeks telling her that I was having all of the other side effects ( except the hair loss), tingling in the hands and feet, fatigue, moodiness, different tastes of things, especially colas.

Nevertheless, I was diagnosed at the ER with having a panic attack....DUHHHH, how could I possibly be having a panic attack when I had taken about 2 1/2 10 mg valium to try to get my chest to stop hurting. I explained to the ER dr. that I had started taking the topamax 3 weeks prior...There absolutely needs to be better education of this drug and its terrible side effects!!!

Hi Everyone,
I have been taking Topamax 25 mg for 1 week. I can't stand it. Today I am to up my dosage to 50 mg.I am not sure if I want to do that. The side effects suck.. I think I would rather just deal with my migraines, at least I know how to do that since I have had them for over 25 years. I have tried everything and nothing has worked so the Dr. and I thought we would give this a try.
I am trying to keep my place of employment happy with trying to cut down on the migraines but nothing works.
Most days I just want to give up.
Hopefully we will be able to figure something out.

I can't stand the pickhands and feet, the stumbling like I am drunk( and I dont' drink) nothing tastes right anymore, I have the shakes and I ache.
And all it does is makes me sleepy and like I am in another world.
I went to work today and made it half an hour before I came home because I stumbled and almost fell over. And when the boss talked to me it was like I wasn't there. So I came home. I don't know but I don't like it at all.

I started out taking 100mg and had the tingling hands, feet & face. Eventually went away after 5-6 weeks. Carbonated beverages tastes bad. First few weeks felt really out of it but that changed. Sometimes still feel a little out of it but not like in the start. I've been on topamax for a couple of months now and now take 200mg. 100 in the morning and 100 at night. I thing the side effects are worth it. Eventually they do go away somewhat you just have to stick with it. When you do increase you dosage they do come back sometimes so just bear with it.