Anyone here take the anti-biotic Zithromax and then lose their sense of taste and smell?

Nocturnal

Lifer
Jan 8, 2002
18,927
0
76
I took my first dose of Zirthromax yesterday. As I ate lunch, I noticed I could barely taste my lunch. However, I do recall being able to taste my dinner.

But I cannot smell very well. When I do it's normally when I suck in air really hard or breath out really hard.

Has anyone else had this really nasty side effect? I'm not going to continue with the drug. I have read online that some people did not regain their sense of taste and smell for up to 6 months to a year. That's pretty scary!
 

JujuFish

Lifer
Feb 3, 2005
11,283
952
136
Zithromax is one of the few things I'm allergic to, but that was not my experience. When I tried Zithromax, I had the pleasant effect of gaining hives all over my body. My cousin is also allergic, but her symptoms were her face swelled up like a balloon and she had difficulty breathing.
 

Canai

Diamond Member
Oct 4, 2006
8,016
1
0
I'm not sure if it's related, but I was on Azithromycin (which I just wiki'd, and it is Zithromax) for a week. I got the most unbelievably painful diarrhea from it. It pretty much killed my digestive tract. I couldn't eat any lactose for two weeks, due to not being able to digest it. Bad shit.
 

Sust

Senior member
Sep 1, 2001
600
0
71
It;s probably a good idea to stop taking something when you notice strange side effects.
However, that also means that you need to haul yourself back to the doctor's office because you need to find something else to continue killing bacteria.
Bacteria can potentially build up antibiotic resistance by inconsistent or frivolous usage of antibiotics and when they acquire resistance to yet another antibiotic, it makes your life that much more miserable.

Go seek professional medical help.

BTW, i've taken it and it was awesome. Total elimination of bacteria in my sinuses and bacteria everywhere else in my body. Took the old GI tract a week or so to restore the proper balance of beneficial flora, but I think the trade-off was worth it since I had suffered for a week already anyways.
 

destrekor

Lifer
Nov 18, 2005
28,799
359
126
Originally posted by: JujuFish
Zithromax is one of the few things I'm allergic to, but that was not my experience. When I tried Zithromax, I had the pleasant effect of gaining hives all over my body. My cousin is also allergic, but her symptoms were her face swelled up like a balloon and she had difficulty breathing.

yep, it is the only medication that I have discovered I am allergic to. My father is allergic to penicillin (at least, no further tests have been done, doctor suggests it is possible he succeeded). I got all little itchy hives on my arms and legs. Oh it was annoying as hell. They put me on that for an ear infection iirc. Seriously? Just use amoxicillin, it's always worked, and i've had many ear infections in my life.
 

Captante

Lifer
Oct 20, 2003
30,333
10,842
136
Many antibiotics (and other drugs) can do weird stuff like damage taste, hearing etc ... stopping taking it was the right thing to do & you should also make your doctor aware of what happened asap.