it all tastes flat

[redbird]

I don't have much of an appetite--haven't since slightly before the surgery. Part of the problem is that most things taste flat. The most reliable exception at the moment is raspberry sorbet, which is nutritionally in about the same box as fruit punch. I am going to try to finish this cup of tea. Then I will see if a bit of last night's tandoori chicken has any appeal. Or, failing that, what else might. Oatmeal? (I can't put cream in it, but cinnamon and maple syrup are okay, and dried fruit is encouraged.)

Comments

[callunav.livejournal.com]

Are you still taking opiate painkillers (vicoden, percoset/oxycodone, codeine)? They will often mess with your appetite in addition to slowing down your intestines.

There's nothing like them for pain, but there are certain drawbacks. On the plus side, as soon as you stop taking them, you can look forward to a radical improvement in appetite as well as, er, processing time.

(As you know from my journal, I am very familiar with the non-joy of lack of appetite. I'm sorry you're experiencing it, and I hope it clears up soon.)

[redbird]

Yes I am. Thanks for pointing that connection out. (In the short term, I can deal better with lack of appetite than with the pain--if I keep hydrated, I can live off stored energy for a while here.)

[copperwise.livejournal.com]

In addition to the painkillers, the general anaesthesia from surgery can mess with your appetite and taste for weeks after the actual surgery. It takes a very long time for it to process through the body.

[jerusha.livejournal.com]

This is an excellent point.

General anesthetics, just because of where they have to act, are pretty much all highly lipophilic. This is good, because they can go straight through lipid bilayers, like the blood-brain barrier. This is also bad, because they will distribute heavily into other lipid tissues, like many of our Personal Famine Survival Kits. And because they're not terribly water-soluble, it takes a long tome to mobilize them back out of the tissues and get them metabolized and excreted. So there might not be enough in your system to really affect your level of consciousness, but still have enough to make you feel a little "off" (to use the technical medical term :) ) for quite some time afterwards.

The good news is, it'll get better. The bad news is, it responds best to that old sovereign remedy, Tincture of Time.

Re: it all tastes flat

[pir-anha.livejournal.com]

also, fat is a major flavour carrier, and low-fat foods consequently often suffer from blandness IMO. they need pepping up a lot more with spices and herbs to make them interesting.

Re: it all tastes flat

[redbird]

True. I expect that was at least part of the problem with the tuna salad the other night.

On the other hand, I'm having that reaction to foods that didn't taste that way a fortnight ago, like the tandoori chicken from the local Indian restaurant, or Assam tea with just sugar in it.

[don-fitch.livejournal.com]

Absent long-term bad effects, I've found that "Listen to what your body is telling you" works quite well. And yes, practically nothing tasted either right or good to me after either surgery or stringent medication. That's always been a minor and temporary side-effect.