sulfasalazine taste change

[TammyAVE]

Hey all!

I’ve been on Sulfasalazine for a while now and after taking it for a couple of months it has changed my taste. Everything tastes really awful. I’ve halved the dosage over a week ago and it hasn’t really changed.

just wondering if anyone else has experienced this and what they did to help. Doctors haven’t been very helpful and it’s been weeks of not being able to eat much so I’m getting pretty fed up now…and hungry! 😜

Any advice would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks x

[AgedCrone]

Although I found SSZ useless I didn’t find it affected my taste….however I did find Methotrexate left a tinny taste…but as it worked so well I put up with it.

[MuppetBaby]

I think Methotrexate affected it more for me but it could have been the Sulfasalazine. It started not long after taking Methotrexate so put it down to this. The thought of some ‘very specific’ foods made me want to be sick. Luckily it was only a few items so just cut them out but it’s only this year I have been able to introduce them again. Four years from starting Methotrexate and three years from stopping it! Not sure what to suggest really. Are you sure it is the Sulfasalazine? 😊

[Silverpixie]

I lost my sense of taste completely on sulphasalazine. Could only discern texture. Ice cream just felt like cold oil. Apparently a rare side effect. Lost all the weight I'd put on with steroids though!

[BMCV]

I had to stop taking SFZ because not only did it make me dizzy, nauseous and make my mood quite low, but I completely lost my sense of taste after being on it for only 6.5 weeks. It was awful. Once I stopped taking it the nausea etc stopped almost immediately, but it took over a month for the taste sense to return.

[Alice70]

I've only been taking sulfasalazine for 3 weeks ,but I know what you mean about taste to me it is like an after taste left in you mouth and some foods can taste quite nasty

[challahheadRN]

Hi Tammy, same thing happened to me with sulfasalazine and I have to tell you it was absolute misery. It was the first med I took when diagnosed and while it actually worked quite well about 2 months into taking it things began to taste odd. Like a dummy I continued to take it and didn’t notify my rheumatologist of the side effect. I continued to take it for 2 more months and eventually even water tasted disgusting and everything had the texture of a mushy saltine cracker🤢 I lost 10 pounds in 2 weeks and finally at my next appointment my rheumatologist stopped the med and put me on methotrexate. I did speak to my pharmacist who said sulfasalazine can cause taste alterations and that my taste wouldn’t return to normal for quite some time. It took 7 weeks after stopping before my taste returned but it’s been 8 months since stopping and there are still times that foods taste odd.

I hope you can call your doctor and perhaps switch meds. My doctor said don’t suffer in silence nor should we put up with awful side effects. Good luck.