Ellen,

I might be a "worse case" scenario for you but then no one should sugar coat the matter. I was 59 when diagnosed and am told that being on the older side of life it could have had more of an impact with my taste buds. I will have to be honest though to say that it wasn't until after at least 3 years before mine were back to perhaps 90% normal. There are some foods/tastes that to this day, just over 5 years, that still do not taste like they used to and probably never will be at this point in time. Two things in particular, chocolate and most alcoholic beverages, seem to be the hold outs. I never was much of a drinker anyway so that didn't bother me but I sure miss the true flavor of chocolate. It's also odd that chocolate was probably the very first thing I noticed to change in flavor in my early stages of Tx, maybe just into the 2nd week. I was forever thankful that my favorite beverage, coffee, was never really ruined even temporarily to speak of.

I hope that doesn't dim your spirits but feel that I should share my personal experience for what it's worth.

Good luck,

Bill Dozier