If COVID-19 has kicked your sense of smell to the curb, wait till you meet the GLP-1 drugs with a knack for amusing the taste buds. With an unpleasantly persistent flavor, they've earned themselves the dubious honor of "Ozempic Tongue".

These drugs are in no way monopolizing the bad taste market. Paxlovid, our trusty antiviral aid in the fight against coronavirus, also throws in a free metallic tasting mouth. Oh, joy!

Speaking of joy, the use of Ozempic during clinical trials resulted in a flavor carnival in 0.4% of users. Their taste transformed courtesy dysgeusia, a disorder that turns the taste scale on its head. So, your veggie juice could taste like a rare scotch - if you’re lucky!

To make sense of this, let's talk saliva. As per Tricia Quartey, DMD, teeth warrior from Brooklyn and the American Dental Association's spokesperson, bad taste is the after-party when a drug gets absorbed and then released into your saliva. Some medicines even bring alcohol's best friend, dry mouth, to the flavor soiree. It's no surprise then that bitterness and sourness take center stage.

However, GLP-1 drugs sneak in an extra secret ingredient, shifting the perception of sweet, sour, salty, bitter, and umami (which for the uninitiated, roughly translates to savory). A cozy gathering by Physiology & Behavior in January discovered that about 85% of GLP-1 users were unable to properly identify tastes – quite the party pooper!

Imagine the dilemma when your taste goes haywire, and Doritos may seem "too flavorful". Mert Erogul, MD - a bariatric medicine specialist, cautions that the increased flavor sensitivity might be medicine’s doing or an odd side-effect of weight loss.

Yet, there's hope! If you plan to brave the taste tides and continue GLP-1 drugs, trust the wisdom of Britta Reierson, MD, an obesity specialist, and drown the bitterness with water or mouth rinses. So, don't write off "Ozempic Tongue" as just a bad taste meme; it's a strange but real dance between drugs, weight loss and your taste buds.