My husband was in the emergency room recently and was diagnosed with a kidney stone. As most of you know, this is quite painful and they gave him medicines for the pain and nausea.
They gave him fenegrin (phonetic spelling, I'm afraid), morphine, and something they said was stronger than morphine that started with a D.

Ever since he was released, he says that soda has a "bleachy" aftertaste to it. Could this be caused by one of the pain medications? Will it go away in time? Any thoughts, theories, or ideas would be appreciated.

Thank you.

Oh man I can surely sympathize with him. I got to experience that last April and it was the worst experience in my life. The Phenergan was for nausea and the most common side effect is sleepiness. Chances are the other drug was Darvocet, a narcotic for pain. Some of the main side effects of that are dry mouth, dizziness, muscle twitches, and sweating.

Really neither of those medications would cause a bleachy after-taste. Is it possible you've just got a bad batch of soda?

But he really should not be drinking soda at all. When I passed my stone the doctor told me I needed to avoid tea, sodas, chocolate, nuts, dark green vegetables, beets, and citrus because they all foods and drinks high in oxalate which does produce an oxalate kidney stone.

The D med that is stronger than morphine would be Dilauded, probably not darvocet. Darvocet is just a combo drug with Tylenol and Propoxyphene. Its not that strong.

I believe, Dilauded is 10 x stronger than morphine, without the respiratory depression side effects.

Hydromorphone (Dilaudid) is around 5-10 times more potent than morphine, but that just means that the indicated dosage is corresponding smaller to achieve the same effect. They are both "strong" opioids, and with dosing to achieve equal pain relief they also produce roughly equal respiratory depression and other typical narcotic side-effects.

I don't know of any explanation for "bleachy aftertaste." Is the drink being poured into a glass that's not been adequately rinsed after washing?

You're right Shel - probably not Darvocet. That was what was given to me and I knew it was a narcotic. But I don't "do" pain meds so to me all are strong!

Yes, thank you. The D drug was indeed Dilaudid. I remember the sound of the word and that is it.

In my opinion I think it might be psychosomatic. The drinks out of the bottle at home taste fine to him. Drinks out at restaurants and such have the aftertaste. I just wanted to eliminate any possible drug interference.

Thank you very much for your help.

Oh heck, if you are talking about drinks at a restaurant anything is possible. There is one place I go to where the water always has a petroleum undertaste to it. Sodas and water usually are dispensed from a metal hose. If not a hose than from a beverage dispenser.

So do these drinks taste strange to you when you try them?

Fountain sodas are different from store boughten sodas. Fountain sodas are mixed within the machine and sometimes the proportions are off. This can make the soda taste mighty weird. It may be a coincidence that this is happening right after the kidney stones.