# 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:** 12\ **Page:** 4
**Author:** ![Cub\_Mistress](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/ea666f/32.png) [@Cub\_Mistress](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cub_Mistress)\ **Post date:** [November 7, 2015, 4:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-your-opinion-what-is-the-nastiest-flavor-of-medicine/736658/61 "2015-11-07T04:55:52Z")
> [@Ambivalid](#): > > The _best_ tasting medicine, by far, is grape flavored Dimetapp. Mmm. I’d drink that stuff instead of Gatorade. 🙂 mmmmmm we called that GI Gin in the military, big bottles dispensed to a family that were all fighting colds. I was disappointed when they switched me to daily pills because of recurrent ear infections related to chronic sinus problems. It was the prettiest blue color so I managed to deal with it > [@nearwildheaven](#): > > Ranking up there is acetylcysteine, which is an antidote for acetaminophen poisoning. It smells like someone busted open a septic tank, and also has to be give via tube most of the time. When I was in school, a pharmacist who had lost his license for using his own drugs came and spoke to our class, and he said he would drink bottles of Tylenol #3 elixir and chase them with acetylcysteine, to avoid Tylenol poisoning, and I said out loud, “This guy was hardcore!” because I had dispensed it and knew what it smelled like. An open bottle would stink up the whole department. Holy shit, that WAS hardcore. ---
**Author:** ![ftg](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ftg/32/2801_2.png) [@ftg](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ftg)\ **Post date:** [November 7, 2015, 4:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-your-opinion-what-is-the-nastiest-flavor-of-medicine/736658/62 "2015-11-07T16:58:04Z")
Yeah, codeine terpin hydrate was nasty. There’s also that prep stuff for a colonoscopy. Not so much the vile taste/ml but the total amount of bad taste involved. ---
**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, 6:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-your-opinion-what-is-the-nastiest-flavor-of-medicine/736658/63 "2015-11-07T18:07:25Z")
When I was a kid, I got recurrent UTIs, and after the first time, I was very happy when it hurt to pee because I got to take some of that yummy medicine. My parents had to put a chart on the refrigerator so I wouldn’t, like, go and ask the other one for a dose. :o I had no idea what it was until I was doing rotations, and opened up a bottle of Gantrisin suspension, and knew immediately from the smell that this was what I took. It’s still available but isn’t used much any more because it has to be taken 4 times a day. p.s. I licked a drop of it off my finger, and it was really sickly sweet, definitely flavored to appeal to children. I’ve heard the same thing about nystatin. ---
**Author:** ![Dr.Girlfriend](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dr.girlfriend/32/193_2.png) [@Dr.Girlfriend](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dr.Girlfriend)\ **Post date:** [November 7, 2015, 6:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-your-opinion-what-is-the-nastiest-flavor-of-medicine/736658/64 "2015-11-07T18:07:36Z")
> [@P-man](#): > > Yellow Triaminic was the first thing I thought of. Same here, that stuff was foul. I remember my sister calling it “fluffy pee” when we were kids. Not really a flavor, but valerian is right up there when it comes to nasty medicine. I tried it a few times and had to hold my breath when I would swallow the pill. The last time I tried it the pill got stuck in the back of my throat and started to dissolve. I could not get rid of that taste and I chucked the bottle after that. ---
**Author:** ![puzzlegal](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/puzzlegal/32/3827_2.png) [@puzzlegal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/puzzlegal)\ **Post date:** [November 8, 2015, 11:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-your-opinion-what-is-the-nastiest-flavor-of-medicine/736658/65 "2015-11-08T11:51:46Z")
> [@nearwildheaven](#): > > 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. I still have some in my medicine cabinet. I haven’t had such bad tummy problems that I needed it in years. An unpleasant flavor does deter abuse. It won’t stop an addict, of course, but it may discourage you from taking enough to become addicted. ---
**Author:** ![Son\_of\_a\_Rich](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/son_of_a_rich/32/5439_2.png) [@Son\_of\_a\_Rich](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Son_of_a_Rich)\ **Post date:** [November 8, 2015, 3:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-your-opinion-what-is-the-nastiest-flavor-of-medicine/736658/66 "2015-11-08T15:10:23Z")
Not medicine per se, but when I was a kid I let a One-a-day pill dissolve in my mouth like it was a piece of candy. Once the coating came off- yuck! ---
**Author:** ![jz78817](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jz78817/32/1028_2.png) [@jz78817](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jz78817)\ **Post date:** [November 8, 2015, 3:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-your-opinion-what-is-the-nastiest-flavor-of-medicine/736658/67 "2015-11-08T15:13:34Z")
> [@Son\_of\_a\_Rich](#): > > Not medicine per se, but when I was a kid I let a One-a-day pill dissolve in my mouth like it was a piece of candy. Once the coating came off- yuck! “All vitamins are chewable, it’s just that most of them taste shitty.” - Mitch Hedberg ---
**Author:** ![burpo\_the\_wonder\_mutt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/burpo_the_wonder_mutt/32/365_2.png) [@burpo\_the\_wonder\_mutt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/burpo_the_wonder_mutt)\ **Post date:** [November 8, 2015, 4:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-your-opinion-what-is-the-nastiest-flavor-of-medicine/736658/68 "2015-11-08T16:38:11Z")
> [@Mean\_Mr.Mustard](#): > > Has no one here tasted liquid **Kaopectate**? I don’t even know if it’s still around, but I remember gagging on it as a kid (I’m gagging a little right now typing this). I think it was supposed to be vanilla flavored (?) > > I’d seriously rather have the squirts than drink that stuff. > mmm Came in here to say Kaopectate. The runs were more fun. There might have been a mint flavor, FWIW. As a kid, there was some OTC cough syrup that supposedly tasted like vegetables (kids love vegetables, especially when sick, right?). It didn’t; well, maybe Walking Dead veggies. I thought the name had “vege” -something in it and a big red “V” on the box. Made me think of “I Love Lucy” (_you_ know which one!). ---
**Author:** ![chizzuk](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/e36b37/32.png) [@chizzuk](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/chizzuk)\ **Post date:** [November 9, 2015, 4:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-your-opinion-what-is-the-nastiest-flavor-of-medicine/736658/69 "2015-11-09T04:18:12Z")
Another vote for yellow Triaminic. I can’t even describe how awful the taste was. Nothing seemed to get rid of it. My gag reflex response to unpleasant tastes has gotten more sensitive, not less, as I’ve aged, and now I’m not even sure I could keep it down. Avoiding that stuff was one of my major motivators for learning to swallow pills at a young age. Horrible, horrible. The overall award for “worst medicine tasting experience ever” goes to the time I accidentally bit into an aspirin tablet. I think I may have actually cried, and I was about 20 at the time. But it doesn’t count because it isn’t meant to be bitten into. Best-tasting were grape Dimetapp and liquid Suprax. I was disappointed when I got my last ear infection ever at 12 years old and they gave me erythromycin pills instead of the Suprax. ---
**Author:** ![nearwildheaven](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/90db22/32.png) [@nearwildheaven](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/nearwildheaven)\ **Post date:** [November 9, 2015, 4:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-your-opinion-what-is-the-nastiest-flavor-of-medicine/736658/70 "2015-11-09T04:58:58Z")
> [@burpo\_the\_wonder\_mutt](#): > > Came in here to say Kaopectate. The runs were more fun. There might have been a mint flavor, FWIW. There’s a “Beavis and Butthead” episode where they’re making fun of a video, and in the background, there are some bottles and one of them looks like it might be a Kaopectate bottle. One of them says, “It’s for diarrhea, right? I took some of that every day for a whole week, and I never got diarrhea!” 😛 😃 :smack: p.s. Questran (cholestyramine) was put on the market as a cholesterol-lowering agent, and because of its constipating properties, it’s often used for chronic diarrhea. I’ve always heard that it has no flavor (the powder itself looks like coarsely ground whole wheat flour) but it has an unpleasant texture - that it’s like drinking a glass of liquid (any liquid) with sand in it. ---
**Author:** ![Guinastasia](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guinastasia/32/5751_2.png) [@Guinastasia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Guinastasia)\ **Post date:** [November 9, 2015, 6:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-your-opinion-what-is-the-nastiest-flavor-of-medicine/736658/71 "2015-11-09T06:17:51Z")
> [@nearwildheaven](#): > > 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. I can’t remember whether it hand an aftertaste or what. Just that it was disgusting. ---
**Author:** ![hogarth](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hogarth/32/1773_2.png) [@hogarth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/hogarth)\ **Post date:** [November 9, 2015, 6:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-your-opinion-what-is-the-nastiest-flavor-of-medicine/736658/72 "2015-11-09T06:33:33Z")
> [@kanicbird](#): > > Bubblegum flavor, just sickening to have to drink that flavor. Even worse is bubblegum-flavoured fluoride that you have to hold in your mouth for a minute or more; you can’t spit it out or swallow it, so you just have to sit there absorbing that disgusting flavour. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-your-opinion-what-is-the-nastiest-flavor-of-medicine/736658.md?page=3)