AboutSangeeta Bhagwat Expertise I can give support to caregivers and patients, on how to cope with chronic disease and provide assistance in searching the internet, for effective management of specific disease and conditions. I am a Listed EFT Practitioner. If requested, appropriate alternative and complementary treatments will be suggested.
Experience I have had over 13 years experience as a Caregiver for patients with chronic diseases like hypertension,asthma, heart disease and chronic renal failure. I have also counseled many patients and caregivers, in person and over the net. <BR>
<BR><B>Publications</B><BR>I have written 2 books: "It's Your Life - A Practical Handbook for Chronic Ailments" and "The Caregiver's Manual". Both these books are available for free reading or download, at http://www.soulspeakindia.com<BR>
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Expert: Sangeeta Bhagwat Date: 9/24/2006 Subject: METALLIC TASTE IN MOUTH
Question fOR 4 MONTHS I HAVE HAD THIS METALLIC TSTE IN MY MOUTH. i HAVE BEEN TO A GAST.,EAR NOSE AND THROAT SPEC.AND A DENTIST. All report normal results from their test and various blood work. I take avapro300,lipitor10,prolsec20,waterpill25nd a multivitmin. The ear nose and throat soec. suggested a saliva test. Would this test aid in finding the cause of the metallic taste? Do you have any suggestioms? I am 79
Answer Hello Wally,
This is a long reply, as I have listed below several possible causes of metallic taste, along with the sources they are quoted from. I hope that this will help you identify the cause, leading to a solution.
You haven't mentioned how long you have been taking your listed medication. The metallic taste may be a side effect of avaparo.
From 'Angiotensin II Receptor Blockers (ARB) - drug class, medical uses, medication side effects, and drug interactions by MedicineNet.com' at http://www.medicinenet.com/angiotensin_ii_receptor_blockers/article.htm
"The most common side effects are cough, elevated potassium levels, low blood pressure, dizziness, headache, drowsiness, diarrhea, abnormal taste sensation (metallic or salty taste), and rash."
* common cold
* nasal infection, nasal polyps, sinusitis
* salivary gland infections
* influenza
* viral pharyngitis
* mouth dryness
* aging (the number of taste buds diminishes with age)
* heavy smoking (especially pipe smoking) which causes mouth dryness
* vitamin (vitamin B-12) or mineral (Zinc in diet) deficiency
* injury to the mouth, nose, or head
* gingivitis
* side effects of drugs such as antithyroid drugs, captopril, griseofulvin, lithium, penicillamine, procarbazine, rifampin, vinblastine, or vincristine
* Bell's palsy
* Sjogren's syndrome
* strep throat"
The metallic taste can be due to a fungal infection. Your doctor probably intends to check on that with the saliva test.
There are other causes you should consider as well. From
Copper at http://www.umm.edu/altmed/ConsSupplements/Coppercs.html :
"Excessive copper intake can cause nausea, vomiting, stomach pain, headache, dizziness, weakness, diarrhea, and a metallic taste in the mouth.Copper toxicity is rare but can cause heart problems, jaundice, coma, and even death.
Copper overload may occur from using copper cookware and from water supplied by copper pipes on a regular basis. Copper can leach out of pipes into water, especially hot water, if it sits in copper pipes for an extended period of time. It is best to always cook with cold water. Flushing the system by running cold water for 2 to 3 minutes is an effective way to reduce copper. Also, it is best to avoid unlined copper cookware since copper can leach into acidic foods such as vinegar, tomato, or citrus. If you have blue-green stains around your faucet or sink, or if you detect a metallic taste to your water, you may want to have your water tested by a certified laboratory."
From Webhealth | Health information on the web http://www.webhealth.co.uk/a_to_z_of_health/metallic_taste.asp
"Persistent metallic taste sensations have been reported by workers in brass foundries and among those who weld with steel. Occasional patients with dentures, dental appliances, and amalgam fillings will also report a metallic taste. Certain drugs, most notably the antibiotic metronidazole, but many others as well, may cause similar alterations in taste."
I trust that your dentist has checked on any possible leak, from old mercury amalgam fillings, as these too could be responsible.
From Metallic Taste in Mouth - Atlanta Dental Group PC http://www.atlantadentist.com/metallic_taste_in_mouth.html
"Blood cells contain hemoglobin which carries oxygen. When blood breaks down, iron is released and causes a metallic taste in mouth. Bleeding can be from the gums, sinuses or nose. The taste can get especially bad when someone has post nasal drip and the dried blood sticks to the back of the throat. If bleeding gums are the cause there is often bad breath associated with the bad taste.
Another uncommon reason for a metallic taste in mouth is due to small electric currents in the mouth. When two types of metals are used in two different dental fillings a battery can be created. Some believe that it's due to the mercury leakage from dental silver/mercury fillings.
Many oral or IV medications such as thyroid medicine, penicillin, and lithium can give a metallic taste in mouth. When someone is allergic to a specific food, the food can often be detected even in extremely small amounts. Food allergies, such as with sulfur dioxide, can also cause this. Some gastrointestinal disorders can be aggravated by food allergies and cause burping, dry mouth, thirst, rectal itching and a metal taste. High protein diets can cause benign dietary ketosis. This has also been associated with a metal taste.
Chemotherapy, radiation therapy, or cancer itself can cause a metallic taste in mouth. It has also been associated with B 12 deficiency, zinc deficiency, Bell's palsy, Strep throat and Sjogren's disease along with anything that causes dry mouth."
You are likely to find the following article most interesting: http://www.discover.com/issues/jul-00/features/feattaste/ "Tourist in a Taste Lab"
The writer has occasional metallic taste and this article decribes a possible explanation.
An extract:
"Next Bartoshuk ponders my fungiformless spot. "Something has clearly happened to your trigeminal nerve," she says. In humans the upkeep of the fungiform papillae isn't done by the front taste nerve; it's done by the trigeminal nerve. "This is the nerve that dentists try to deaden when they're doing a lot of drilling work. And it's very easy to accidentally penetrate it with the anesthetic injection," she adds. "It could have happened when you were a kid, a long time ago."
The nerves going to the mouth are vulnerable to many kinds of insults: dental work, ear surgery, knocks to the head, whiplash, common viral infections, and the like. For anatomic reasons, the taste nerve serving the front of the tongue, the chorda tympani, takes the brunt of viral hits. As the nerve travels between the brain and the tongue, it passes right under the eardrum, the tympanic membrane. So during an ear infection, or an upper respiratory infection affecting the ears, a virus sometimes infiltrates this taste nerve and knocks it temporarily—or even permanently—out of commission.
Lucky for us, our sense of taste has a system of compensation. Normally the nerves of the tongue inhibit one another. The taste nerve in the front, for instance, inhibits the taste nerve at the back, and vice versa. Injure the front nerve, and there's a release of inhibition on the signals from the back nerve, which makes up for the deficit.
"So when taste in the front goes down, taste in the back goes up," says Bartoshuk. Our system for maintaining taste works so well, she adds, that "many people who have local taste losses aren't aware of them until we test them." But sometimes there's a cost. A loss in one nerve can lead to exaggerated responses in the disinhibited nerve, or even conjure up sensations that seem to have no real-world cause.
These "taste phantoms," says Bartoshuk, "are sensations in the absence of stimulation." They come in all four of the classic tastes, as we might expect, as well as the sour-mineral taste we interpret as metallic. The most common "release-of-inhibition" phantoms turn up at the back of the tongue when the taste nerve up front sustains some type of damage. My metallic visitor tends to make an appearance when I have a stuffy cold or flu, probably because the invading virus has made it into the chorda tympani."
