I have had pd for 5 years now and it’s getting to a point where I had nearly had enough. On top the the tremor and stiffness I lost my sense of taste last year which is terrible. The food I eat is boring and obviously tasteless. It occurred to me that the thought of a large Christmas lunch was something I had no desire for, I even choked on a shortbread biscuit yesterday. So it looks like me and the cat for Christmas lunch, a good bottle of red wine followed by some port and sleep it off until new year!
People do not understand the problems we have to put up with on a daily basis, it’s no fun.
Happy Christmas
David
Hi @davidmoldon,
Unfortunately, loss of taste is quite common among people with Parkinson’s and we have a number of threads that cover this topic. You can find a few of them here and here.
For more information and support on this, you can always give our helpline a call 0808 800 0303 and speak to one of advisers about this.
Best wishes,
Reah
“Two of the great joys in people’s lives are the sensations of smell and taste,” says R. Peter Manes, MD, an ear, nose and throat specialist at Yale Medicine. “When these senses are altered or absent, people lose that pleasure and can feel isolated from those around them who are not afflicted.”
Within our mouth each taste bud contains 50 to 100 taste receptor cells. The sensation of taste includes five established basic tastes: sweetness , sourness , saltiness , bitterness , and umami .
I have accepted my loss of smell as a non-refundable product and have to make the best of it. As a reasonable cook who would not hesitate to try a new recipe it is a hammer blow to have that “avenue 0f pleasure” (faulty Towers) cut off is a bummer.
All I can suggest is to try some of my dishes that seem to work. Use ingredients with some salt and try frying to release the sugars. Vinegar is a known taste and I make my own chutney with plenty of chilli. I think seafood is a thing of the past and any delicate dish is probably a waste of time and money. My standby is corn beef hash with seasonal greens.
Ham egg and chips is good but this can be expanded to include battered cod and fishcakes with plenty of seasoning. I tried risottos and that worked for a while until I realised that the first mouthful tasted like the last one. The problem is that all good cooking requires some time, and if the end product is tasteless, what’s the point.
Some herbs like thyme and turmeric are good but I have excluded red meat as a problem digesting it and is something we should all cut back on.
Well what’s your favourite?
Happy Christmas and remember the poor turkey who gave his or her life so you could blow yourself out.
Don’t know your tastes but I have a haggis pie recipe if you would like it
The problem is finding the enthusiasm to follow a new recipe, Sainsbury’s do a good haggis, available all year, I must try one again. I had a Jack Russell who loved that haggis, strange little dog, I do miss him but now a young cat has adopted me and she has a ferocious appetite. Keep the feed going it should be helpful for other sufferers. Thanks.
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The basic pie uses short crust pastry, the making of which is well known, and can be bought ready made.
The filling is made by breaking up the haggis into a bowl, adding a smothering of…wait for it… dandelion and burdock - the more you add the greater amount of gravy - then microwave for 10 minutes.
Either boil and mash some potatoes, again quantity is personal taste, I used 3 medium sized,
Add haggis mix into pie, spread mash on top, add pastry top, brush with milk
Put in pre heated oven 200 for about 20 minutes or until pie is nice and golden