# In Your Opinion, what is the nastiest flavor of medicine? **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [November 4, 2015, 10:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-your-opinion-what-is-the-nastiest-flavor-of-medicine/736658 "2015-11-04T22:58:43Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![GIGObuster](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gigobuster/32/421_2.png) [@GIGObuster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GIGObuster)\ **Post date:** [November 5, 2015, 9:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-your-opinion-what-is-the-nastiest-flavor-of-medicine/736658/41 "2015-11-05T21:08:42Z")
From the old country, I was surprised to find that Zorritone is still being made. > **[Amazon.com: Zorritone Syrup 4.0 OZ : Health & Household](https://www.amazon.com/Zorritone-Syrup-4-0-OZ/dp/B005D52ME4)** > > Zorritone Syrup Dietary Supplement 4 oz - Suplemento Nutricional Yep, that name came from the foul taste of the allegedly effective cough syrup, I remember that ads in my youth reported that the medicine was made with natural elements like eucalyptus, mint and a bit of -mercifully- artificial skunk glands extract. :eek: I still think to this day that it was very effective reverse marketing (with a taste like that, it \*\*should \*\*be effective!) or the grandmothers and parents figuring out that kids with annoying coughs would be quiet as they would know that making a lot of noise would mean that the gross spoonful was coming. A good number though reported that it was effective for them. ---
**Author:** ![AHunter3](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ahunter3/32/368_2.png) [@AHunter3](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AHunter3)\ **Post date:** [November 5, 2015, 9:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-your-opinion-what-is-the-nastiest-flavor-of-medicine/736658/42 "2015-11-05T21:59:44Z")
> [@Shodan](#): > > Do they still use elixir of terpin hydrate anymore? I rather have the cough. > > Regards, > Shodan I remember that stuff from childhood. I dont think the folks who produced it were willing to go through whatever required tests would have allowed them to stay on the market (so I was told) (could be bullshit). Honestly, as bad as that stuff was, I think some of the hideously flavored-over concoctions (the berry-flavored pre-colonoscopy stuff, the cherry-flavored cough syrup) are worse. ---
**Author:** ![ivylass](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/9de053/32.png) [@ivylass](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ivylass)\ **Post date:** [November 5, 2015, 10:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-your-opinion-what-is-the-nastiest-flavor-of-medicine/736658/43 "2015-11-05T22:09:29Z")
The stuff you have to chug for a colonoscopy. I don’t care what flavor it is. ---
**Author:** ![Ponch8](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ponch8/32/9883_2.png) [@Ponch8](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ponch8)\ **Post date:** [November 5, 2015, 10:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-your-opinion-what-is-the-nastiest-flavor-of-medicine/736658/44 "2015-11-05T22:34:54Z")
Licorice, like the old Vicks 44 cough syrup. The strange thing is that I otherwise love licorice. ---
**Author:** ![dwyr](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dwyr/32/363_2.png) [@dwyr](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dwyr)\ **Post date:** [November 5, 2015, 11:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-your-opinion-what-is-the-nastiest-flavor-of-medicine/736658/45 "2015-11-05T23:21:08Z")
> [@The\_Stainless\_Steel\_Rat](#): > > Can’t remember what it was called, but before my colonoscopy I had to drink nearly a gallon of stuff that was supposed (HA!) to be raspberry flavored at intervals of about 10 minutes per 8 fluid ounces. To 'clean me out." > > Getting those last 2-3 glasses down my throat were not pleasant. Stuff worked, though…which was also not pleasant/ Berry flavor my ass. That stuff is the vilest. I didn’t mind the results nearly as much as the taste of the evil concoction. > [@puzzlegal](#): > > If you use a straw, and put the straw deep into your mouth, so the stuff barely touches your tongue before you swallow it, it’s much less unpleasant. Tried it. Didn’t help. I swear I could taste it all the way down my throat. Sucking on lime slices only muted the horror a little. I really don’t want to do this again. ---
**Author:** ![jayrey](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/47e85d/32.png) [@jayrey](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jayrey)\ **Post date:** [November 5, 2015, 11:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-your-opinion-what-is-the-nastiest-flavor-of-medicine/736658/46 "2015-11-05T23:39:57Z")
Cepacol sore throat lozenges, regardless of the “flavor”, are the nastiest throat drops on the market. ---
**Author:** ![Rysto](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/ecccb3/32.png) [@Rysto](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rysto)\ **Post date:** [November 6, 2015, 12:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-your-opinion-what-is-the-nastiest-flavor-of-medicine/736658/47 "2015-11-06T00:16:40Z")
To be fair to Buckley’s their tagline is “It tastes awful. And it works.” You can’t say they didn’t warn you. Banana-flavoured medicine sticks out in my memory as the worst I’d ever have to take. Honestly, I actually remember how my family made a big deal about it being an awful flavour for years afterwards more than I remember the actual taste. ---
**Author:** ![HeXen](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/c89c15/32.png) [@HeXen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HeXen)\ **Post date:** [November 6, 2015, 12:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-your-opinion-what-is-the-nastiest-flavor-of-medicine/736658/48 "2015-11-06T00:25:39Z")
Anything cherry flavored. As a child, whenever I was sick, I had to take some kind of cherry flavored medicine…apparently the only flavor that existed? To this day, I get sick if I taste that cherry/menthol mix. ---
**Author:** ![nearwildheaven](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/90db22/32.png) [@nearwildheaven](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/nearwildheaven)\ **Post date:** [November 6, 2015, 1:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-your-opinion-what-is-the-nastiest-flavor-of-medicine/736658/49 "2015-11-06T01:44:29Z")
> [@Guinastasia](#): > > I can’t recall the name of it, but when I was six I had strep throat and I had to take this really disgusting liquid antibiotic. I can’t remember the exact taste, just that I had to drink several glasses of Kool-Aid to get rid of it. > > Oh god, I love Dimetapp. That stuff tastes like liquid heaven. Did it have a metallic aftertaste? My old boss said one of his kids had to take something that did (yes, he tasted it to see if the child had a good reason to fuss about it) and it was a now-obsolete antibiotic with the brand name Prostaphlin (aka cloxacillin). He said it smelled good, and tasted good at first until the aftertaste kicked in. ---
**Author:** ![nearwildheaven](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/90db22/32.png) [@nearwildheaven](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/nearwildheaven)\ **Post date:** [November 6, 2015, 1:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-your-opinion-what-is-the-nastiest-flavor-of-medicine/736658/50 "2015-11-06T01:47:20Z")
> [@kayaker](#): > > My gf’s horse was on metronidazole once. I had to grind up ten tablets with a mortar&pestle, then mix the powder into molasses, then squirt that into the horse’s mouth. > > The metronidazole was so foul that the dust I tasted in the air made me gag. > > Oh, and a horse lineament with DMSO tastes awful seconds after making contact with your skin. DMSO goes right through your skin. That’s why some people use it for their own arthritis. I’ve made metronidazole suspension. You’re right - the dust is disgusting. It gets into your sinus cavities, too. That’s nothing compared to verapamil. You can’t even see airborne verapamil dust, but hoo boy can you feel it! Cipro dust isn’t pleasant either, although they’ve since come out with a liquid formulation. ---
**Author:** ![nearwildheaven](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/90db22/32.png) [@nearwildheaven](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/nearwildheaven)\ **Post date:** [November 6, 2015, 1:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-your-opinion-what-is-the-nastiest-flavor-of-medicine/736658/51 "2015-11-06T01:51:08Z")
> [@GIGObuster](#): > > From the old country, I was surprised to find that Zorritone is still being made. > > [Amazon.com: Zorritone Syrup 4.0 OZ : Health & Household](http://www.amazon.com/Zorritone-Syrup-4-0-OZ/dp/B005D52ME4) > > Yep, that name came from the foul taste of the allegedly effective cough syrup, I remember that ads in my youth reported that the medicine was made with natural elements like eucalyptus, mint and a bit of -mercifully- artificial skunk glands extract. :eek: > > I still think to this day that it was very effective reverse marketing (with a taste like that, it \*\*should \*\*be effective!) or the grandmothers and parents figuring out that kids with annoying coughs would be quiet as they would know that making a lot of noise would mean that the gross spoonful was coming. A good number though reported that it was effective for them. I had never heard of it, so I Googled it, and one of the English-language links says it has a “soothing, mildly refreshing menthol taste.” That says enuff! 😛 In the old days, medicines were deliberately made to taste bad because people believed that the worse they tasted, the better they worked. That may be feasible for adults, but try to get something foul-tasting down a kid. Good luck! ---
**Author:** ![nearwildheaven](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/90db22/32.png) [@nearwildheaven](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/nearwildheaven)\ **Post date:** [November 6, 2015, 1:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-your-opinion-what-is-the-nastiest-flavor-of-medicine/736658/52 "2015-11-06T01:59:29Z")
> [@AHunter3](#): > > I remember that stuff from childhood. > > I dont think the folks who produced it were willing to go through whatever required tests would have allowed them to stay on the market (so I was told) (could be bullshit). > > Honestly, as bad as that stuff was, I think some of the hideously flavored-over concoctions (the berry-flavored pre-colonoscopy stuff, the cherry-flavored cough syrup) are worse. You are correct re: terpin hydrate. It’s actually a derivative of turpentine; stories about people in the old days using turpentine as cough syrup aren’t an urban legend. When I worked at the grocery store, we usually recommended that people get the unflavored dynamite 😃 and use Crystal Light as the flavoring - after they’ve poured it into a glass. If you dump Crystal Light into the jug, you’re kind of stuck with it. What really freaked people out was that it often came out the other end smelling exactly like it did when it was drunk. (No, I haven’t done this fun thing yet.) We heard many times that the lemon-lime that came with the jug was the least unpleasant, and the pineapple flavoring was the very worst. ---
**Author:** ![JohnGalt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johngalt/32/184_2.png) [@JohnGalt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JohnGalt)\ **Post date:** [November 6, 2015, 2:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-your-opinion-what-is-the-nastiest-flavor-of-medicine/736658/53 "2015-11-06T02:05:03Z")
> [@GIGObuster](#): > > From the old country, I was surprised to find that Zorritone is still being made. > > [Amazon.com: Zorritone Syrup 4.0 OZ : Health & Household](http://www.amazon.com/Zorritone-Syrup-4-0-OZ/dp/B005D52ME4) > > Yep, that name came from the foul taste of the allegedly effective cough syrup, I remember that ads in my youth reported that the medicine was made with natural elements like eucalyptus, mint and a bit of -mercifully- artificial skunk glands extract. :eek: > > I still think to this day that it was very effective reverse marketing (with a taste like that, it \*\*should \*\*be effective!) or the grandmothers and parents figuring out that kids with annoying coughs would be quiet as they would know that making a lot of noise would mean that the gross spoonful was coming. A good number though reported that it was effective for them. This is the story line of a movie or TV show I saw recently. It was a board meeting in a big conference room where the company is trying to make their medicine appeal to kids, but the consultant says “no, make it taste terrible, because it’s the adults that buy it”. I can’t recall what show it was - any ideas? ---
**Author:** ![CerebrAl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/5f8ce5/32.png) [@CerebrAl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CerebrAl)\ **Post date:** [November 6, 2015, 2:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-your-opinion-what-is-the-nastiest-flavor-of-medicine/736658/54 "2015-11-06T02:12:31Z")
When I was just a very young man…like 5. The doctor prescribed the nastiest tasting syrup you could possibly imagine. You know how plastic smells? The plastic they use in the manufacture of baby dolls. The smell that will just take your breath away and make you gag…like a new shower curtain? That is how this medicine tasted. Like fresh plastic, It was well worse then the malady…which escapees my memory, permanently. This was a long time ago. it was so long ago, that the doctor actually came to the house…yea I have been around a while. But I still remember Dr Palmisano and his bag of very nasty elixirs. ---
**Author:** ![Oglomott](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/oglomott/32/3543_2.png) [@Oglomott](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Oglomott)\ **Post date:** [November 6, 2015, 3:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-your-opinion-what-is-the-nastiest-flavor-of-medicine/736658/55 "2015-11-06T03:25:32Z")
I was in the hospital for surgery. They wanted to give me iron pills. I told them I had difficulty swallowing pills, so they gave me liquid iron. Now that was some truly nasty tasting stuff! (I have since learned to swallow pills without difficulty:D) ---
**Author:** ![j666](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/9de0a6/32.png) [@j666](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/j666)\ **Post date:** [November 6, 2015, 4:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-your-opinion-what-is-the-nastiest-flavor-of-medicine/736658/56 "2015-11-06T04:37:30Z")
> [@Ambivalid](#): > > Cherry! My god cherry! Idc what medicine it is, anything cherry flavored tastes like metallic ass. I too came to denounce cherry flavoring. > [@jz78817](#): > > for the most part, it’s not the flavoring which tastes like ass. it’s what the flavoring is trying to cover up that tastes like ass. a lot of drugs are alkaloids, which are extremely bitter. With respect, no, that is just wrong. Bitter is bitter, and people know how to deal with it; nasty fake fruity flavoring is just so unpleasant and unnatural every cell in the tongue revolts. The only possible reason for that nasty fake sweetness is to confuse the gag reflex of children six and under, and believe me they remember and hate the flavor for the rest of their lives. Give me crisp, honest bitterness anytime. (I don’t know if I’m talking about medicine or friends now.) ---
**Author:** ![kayaker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kayaker/32/441_2.png) [@kayaker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kayaker)\ **Post date:** [November 6, 2015, 11:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-your-opinion-what-is-the-nastiest-flavor-of-medicine/736658/57 "2015-11-06T11:50:45Z")
Paregoric. ---
**Author:** ![MikeF](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@MikeF](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MikeF)\ **Post date:** [November 6, 2015, 8:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-your-opinion-what-is-the-nastiest-flavor-of-medicine/736658/58 "2015-11-06T20:16:05Z")
Ninja’d by Shodan - terpin hydrate with codeine has to be the worst stuff I was ever forced to take. Bleechh! ---
**Author:** ![P-man](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/p-man/32/3606_2.png) [@P-man](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/P-man)\ **Post date:** [November 7, 2015, 2:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-your-opinion-what-is-the-nastiest-flavor-of-medicine/736658/59 "2015-11-07T02:01:24Z")
> [@zweisamkeit](#): > > 100% agreed. Somehow that stuff actually tastes GOOD, not just tolerable. > > The woooooorst I’ve had are Adderall and the yellow Triaminic. My mom always got that yellow formula for chest congestion and the [del]ass[/del] citrus/orange flavor was still SO bitter. Adderall (not XL, since that may have a coating for time release), you gotta make sure you can get those swallowed before they even slightly dissolve on your tongue because good GOD, the bitterness! Yellow Triaminic was the first thing I thought of. The red was worse, but I don’t think it was common. My Mom once gave me a double dose of the orange because she didn’t believe me when I told her I’d just taken it five minutes earlier. Do they even make it any more? Maybe the memories were so traumatic that I didn’t see it when searching out cold medicine for my own kids. ---
**Author:** ![nearwildheaven](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/90db22/32.png) [@nearwildheaven](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/nearwildheaven)\ **Post date:** [November 7, 2015, 2:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-your-opinion-what-is-the-nastiest-flavor-of-medicine/736658/60 "2015-11-07T02:53:48Z")
> [@kayaker](#): > > Paregoric. I kind of liked the smell, but I couldn’t imagine swallowing a spoonful of that stuff, which isn’t made any more. It was deliberately given an unpleasant flavor to discourage its abuse (like an addict is going to care). It contained a minuscule amount of morphine. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-your-opinion-what-is-the-nastiest-flavor-of-medicine/736658.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-your-opinion-what-is-the-nastiest-flavor-of-medicine/736658.md?page=4)