Now I want to buy some Buckley’s just because their slogan is awesome.
The worst I ever had was the liquid form of some anti-itch stuff I was on after having back surgery and being stuck in a body cast. I was still in the hospital and itching like a mofo, so they had me taking this stuff that was these itty bitty purple pills. No problem at all, until one time when for some reason all they had was the liquid. I was assured that it tasted horrible – but they did have some cherry flavoring stuff to try to make it a bit more bearable.
It didn’t. It made it artificially-cherry-flavored-ick. Nasty stuff. Luckily I was old enough, just shy of ten, to kind of have a sense of humor about it. I got it down and survived and got the pills thereafter.
This was twenty-four years ago in about two weeks. Bleagh. It did help the itching, though.
We had elixir of turpen hydrate and codeine at home, and I loved the stuff. It had a sort of orange flavor; tasted a bit like Cointreau, actually. The only real problem with it was that it didn’t do much. But there was another cough medicine we had, Dimetane, that was really awful.
But the absolute worst tasting drug I’ve ever had was an old antihistamine (that’s still around) called Pyribenzamine (generic: tripelennamine). It had a bitterness beyond all bitterness. I one accidentally got a tablet in some cereal I was eating and chewed it up. It took forever for that gawdawful taste to go away.
I’ve been taking the antidepressant Elavil (Amitriptyline HCl) for many years. Since it enables me to sleep and takes 3 hours to take effect, I have to take it 3 hours before bedtime.
Years ago I was working a late shift in Manhattan, and got off work at 9 pm. I used to take the medication (2 pills) just before leaving work, then walk home, and get to sleep around midnight.
One night I forgot to take my pills before leaving work, so I popped them into my mouth as I walked home . . . and chewed them up. First, it was the most intensely bitter thing I had ever tasted. Then I noticed my tongue was becoming numb . . . then my entire mouth . . . then my throat. Then, having lost the ability to feel anything in my mouth, I was beginning to have a panic attack. Luckily I found a grocery store open, and bought a carton of juice to wash down any remaining pieces of pill, and to get the horrible taste out of my mouth.
It was a few hours before I regained sensation in my mouth and throat.
Another vote for chlorhexadine oral rinse. My dentist wanted me to use it all the time–as in, forever. Ha. I decided after one dose, never again; don’t care if my teeth fall out!! (they haven’t.)
Probably because it’s a human medicine that’s also repackaged and sold to the veterinary market. What antibiotic was it?
As far as nastiest, I have to vote Cleocin (clindamycin) suspension. It’s the only suspension that we dispense that the manufacturer has not flavored at all, which is really strange because it’s brand-only so you’d think it’d be nicer. After reconstitution, it becomes a gray sludge that smells literally like days-old roadkill and dog shit. And it’s given almost exclusively to kids.
We try to sell flavoring for all of our liquid meds, and most people think we’re just trying to get extra money from them – but with Cleocin we really mean it when we say it tastes terrible. The first time I mixed it I almost vomited from the smell.
My mother used to take liquid potassium supplement. This tasted like orange juice that’s gone bad…about a year ago. Words cannot describe how nasty this stuff is. I thought that she was pulling her usual drama act, but I tasted some, and it does taste as bad as she claimed.
I’ve had to ingest various tracking substances for sonograms and MRIs and such. No matter how they’re disguised, my body always recognizes these substances as poisons, and tries to convince my brain that I really, really shouldn’t be drinking that stuff. My brain knows that this stuff is poison, and usually radioactive poison at that, but that I need to drink it down. But man, I don’t want to.
To prep for a colonoscopy, and for some other sorts of procedures on the GI tract, it’s necessary to drink a solution which will completely clean out the colon. NOBODY likes this stuff, or the way it cleans you out afterwards.
I’ve tasted some nasty pills, too, but generally they aren’t nearly as bad as liquids. I remember that I used to have to take one kind of pill that smelled rather sulfurous…and tasted like rotten eggs, too. Imodium AD tastes bad, and I think it would benefit from a coating, but since it’s an anti-diarrhea medicine, they probably want it to take effect as quickly as possible.
I think that the red Nyquil tastes better than the green stuff, but I think that the green Nyquil works better. Since it’s only mildly unpleasant, I’ll drink the green stuff.
People, I use that stuff too. I’ll agree that it’s nasty, and it might be the nastiest stuff YOU’VE ever tasted, but it is nowhere near the nastiest stuff available that’s intended for human use.
Damn, I just can’t WAIT until I have to take some hard stuff for the first time.
I can’t stand…well, just about everything medicinal. Hate Nyquil <any flavor>, alka-seltzer, and pepto bismol’s only use for me as a kid was to MAKE me throw up, which it still does. Thera-flu is bearable only because I invariably just add it to tea and as much honey as I can fit into the cup.
I know it’s not the worst but green death flavored NyQuil is the worst I’ve ever had. Since they now have it in cherry, with a hint of death, I don’t see why or how they can still sell the green stuff.
Another on my list= Liquid charcoal. It tastes like you would expect charcoal to taste with the consistency of gritty sludge and it seems to suck the moisture out of your mouth = bleaaargh
Myabe they were different when I was younger. I did chew them and they weren’t bad. I am unable to swallow pills larger than the little birth control ones. At times, I have been unfortunate enough to not find liquid versions and once had to take this gigantic one antibiotic. I couldn’t, so crushed it. Try that sometime and see how wonderful aspirin tastes by comparison.
Despite nearly dying after eating half a bottle when I was about 4, I still love the taste of aspirin. Could sit chewing 'em all day if they wouldn’t kill me.
Amlodipine is revolting. The tablets start breaking up in your mouth before you can get a swig of water, so you get a really good taste of the buggers.
Paracetamol (acetaminophen/Tylenol) is a close second, though you have to chew 'em to taste the horror.
They sell it to people like me. I think that the green stuff is more effective on me, so that’s the kind I buy and use, even if I find the red stuff to be better tasting.
Could it have been Paregoric (tincture of opium)? I had to take it as a kid, and it tasted like bananas rolled in dirt. As for nasty, plain old Listerine (not the fancy schmancy new stuff) has to be way up there.
Of those I actually encounter more than once or twice per lifetime, Robitussin syrup is pretty fucking awful.
And I’ve had turpin hydrate (the name comes from turpentine, by the way, which should shed some light on the taste). And I’ve chewed aspirins. I’ve chewed excedrins.
Mostly I’d rather have “undisguised mediciney taste” than “badly disguised medicine with an overlay of cherry or mint or whatever”. Sticky cloying sweet with an undertaste of putrescence and chemical warfare is a really repulsive combo. I’ve drunk several bottles of the nasty chalky stuff they make you drink before shoving a scope up your intestinal tract, and that ranks up there with the horrible ones as well.
Pills don’t usually stand a chance against vile liquids. I can put a pill between two fingers and stick it WAY back in the back of my mouth and drop it down my throat, untasted. Liquid is harder to escape.
Not if you had the codeine I had. Hell, I’m pretty good at not being nauseous around bad smells and tastes, and it still made me puke every single time.