Dysgeusia - Metallic Taste in Mouth

[ddaybrat]

Hi, Everyone...

I know there are a couple of older posts on this subject, but wanted to share what I have learned about it.

I woke up from surgery with the horrible taste in my mouth.  Some days, it's so bad I can hardly stand it  The AN side of my tongue feels like it has an acid burn all of the time.  My tongue is also very sensitive to acidic foods like fresh pineapple and strawberries.  It is also very sensitive to carbonation, salt, pepper, etc.

I had read on the forum about taking zinc.  My doctor also recommended it.  I'm 3 months post-op and have been taking the zinc for about 1 month.  It doesn't seem to be making any difference.  I spoke to my dentist about it.  He said that the nerves are confused and nothing will help...his suggestion???  Drink bourbon...lol  If you drink enough, you won't care.  Seriously, he did say to stay away from sugar as it encourages the nerves to continue the metallic taste.

I have done some research on the internet regarding metallic taste.  Here are some other suggestions for 'curing' the metallic taste:

Create a tea or mouth wash from cilantro by boiling a couple of ounces of fresh cilantro in two cups of water. Strain off the cilantro and either drink it as a tea or use it as a mouth wash.

Gargle with salt water...of course, if salt burns your tongue, this isn't an option.

I haven't tried the cilantro tea.  It's worth a try and I'm sure it's safe. I've looked at several homopathic remedies, but ot knowing anything about them makes me cautious about recommending that someone try them.  I hope I have helped some of you.  Please post if you have tried something else that worked for you.

Thanks, Pat

[leapyrtwins]

Pat -

the only tried and true cure I know for this side-effect is time.

In my case, and in numerous others, the metallic taste went away over time.  I don't remember how long it took for it to leave me, but I'm sure it was longer than 3 months.  I'm thinking it was more like 6 months.

So hang in there and good luck,

Jan

[wendysig]

Pat,

I have to agree with Jan that time is the only real cure for the metallic taste.  However, the cilantro tea would probably help short term since it is a type of parsley and parsley is a natural breath freshener.  If you don't mind drinking the cilantro tea a few times a day, it should provide at least a temporary fix.

Wendy

[mk]

The metallic taste that you describe is due to the trigeminal nerve. It was probably affected somehow during surgery. As such, nothing "external" can really help - but as everyone else said, it should get better as the nerve heals. In the meantime the best option is to avoid foods that make it worse. For example I don't eat any of the "sweet and salty" type granola bars, or other very salty or sugary foods that trigger this.

Marianna

[opp2]

ditto to mk. I have a lot of trigeminal side effects. I have a salt water pool and I have to tell you, some days the water is very very bitter.

The bad taste comes and goes. I have the sensitivity to spicy food.

Oh and I was having some nice fresh Ontario cherries this week. They taste weird on the AN side. We eat a lot of cilantro at our house. I've never really noticed a difference, but then again, I don't have the bad taste in my mouth all the time.

Hang in there.