How worried should I be about an increase in perception of saltiness, bitterness and sourness in foods?
June 24, 2012 5:06 AM Subscribe
Everything seems to taste more salty/bitter/sour over the last week or so. How worried should I be that it's a sign of a disease?
It's across the board of everything I eat and drink. I haven't been adding anything new or changing any ingredients (most of what I eat involves very little cooking anyway). I haven't been taking any new drugs.
I actually kind of like it taste-wise, everything that normally tastes salty, bitter or sour has more of a "kick" now. But, I'm starting to worry that maybe it's a sign of some kind of neurological problem or something else health related (e.g. reading some kind of scary things about dysgeusia and hypergeusia).
I know there's probably not a lot of doctors on here, and ultimately I might need to go see a specialist or something like that. But, before I schedule an appointment any say "everything is starting to taste more salty, bitter and sour, I'm not dying or going crazy or something, am I?" I wanted to kind of do a reality check first.
It's across the board of everything I eat and drink. I haven't been adding anything new or changing any ingredients (most of what I eat involves very little cooking anyway). I haven't been taking any new drugs.
I actually kind of like it taste-wise, everything that normally tastes salty, bitter or sour has more of a "kick" now. But, I'm starting to worry that maybe it's a sign of some kind of neurological problem or something else health related (e.g. reading some kind of scary things about dysgeusia and hypergeusia).
I know there's probably not a lot of doctors on here, and ultimately I might need to go see a specialist or something like that. But, before I schedule an appointment any say "everything is starting to taste more salty, bitter and sour, I'm not dying or going crazy or something, am I?" I wanted to kind of do a reality check first.
Annnd now I see from past comments you label yourself a guy, sooo probably not. But if women can have harmless taste fluctuations due to normal hormones I don't see why guys can't too.
posted by saucysault at 5:14 AM on June 24, 2012 [1 favorite]
posted by saucysault at 5:14 AM on June 24, 2012 [1 favorite]
Are you on any new meds? That can change your sense of taste.
posted by ThatCanadianGirl at 5:23 AM on June 24, 2012
posted by ThatCanadianGirl at 5:23 AM on June 24, 2012
Oh, oops. You ruled that one out already.
posted by ThatCanadianGirl at 5:27 AM on June 24, 2012
posted by ThatCanadianGirl at 5:27 AM on June 24, 2012
Seconding the pine nuts thing. I went through exactly the same thing - everything tastes a bit metallic and sour. My complaints only provoked merciless ribbing from my SO before we found out that it was a real thing. Of course I got sympathy, so I win in the end. \o/
posted by Magnakai at 5:37 AM on June 24, 2012
posted by Magnakai at 5:37 AM on June 24, 2012
Response by poster: @unSane interesting that you mention it. I don't recall eating anything with pine nuts, but I live in Denver and we've been getting some of the smoke from the High Park Fire and now another one burning near Colorado Springs.
I guess I'm thinking forest fires, burning pine cones with pine nuts and carrying particles of whatever taste distorting stuff they have in them to in to the air? Although, I don't know of anyone having similar symptoms in response, and I don't recall having a similar experience during the Hayman Fire when the smoke was worse. I'm just kind of stream of consciousness typing now, so I'll stop. :)
posted by scharpy at 5:42 AM on June 24, 2012
I guess I'm thinking forest fires, burning pine cones with pine nuts and carrying particles of whatever taste distorting stuff they have in them to in to the air? Although, I don't know of anyone having similar symptoms in response, and I don't recall having a similar experience during the Hayman Fire when the smoke was worse. I'm just kind of stream of consciousness typing now, so I'll stop. :)
posted by scharpy at 5:42 AM on June 24, 2012
I had something similar to this after I got a cut or graze on my tongue at the dentists. Even raw celery started to taste like vegetable stock. It wore off after a week or so.
posted by BinaryApe at 5:56 AM on June 24, 2012
posted by BinaryApe at 5:56 AM on June 24, 2012
Best answer: Stuffy sinuses, for me, blunt some tastes and heighten others. Also I had a calcium supplement for a while that made everything taste like licking pennies. Cloves overwhelm my taste buds so much that if I eat, say, a clove-y stew, nothing tastes very vibrant for hours. Even a strong smell of cloves will blot out flavor. If my husband gets any aspartame, everything tastes wrong to him for hours.
So yeah, it could be lots of things and stuff in the air isn't a bad contender!
Also my autocorrect tried to change sinuses to anuses, wtf, Android! I'm constantly discovering new depths to the oddness of its dictionary!
posted by Eyebrows McGee at 6:13 AM on June 24, 2012
So yeah, it could be lots of things and stuff in the air isn't a bad contender!
Also my autocorrect tried to change sinuses to anuses, wtf, Android! I'm constantly discovering new depths to the oddness of its dictionary!
posted by Eyebrows McGee at 6:13 AM on June 24, 2012
Any new toothpaste or mouthwash? Affected my taste.
posted by PickeringPete at 6:50 AM on June 24, 2012
posted by PickeringPete at 6:50 AM on June 24, 2012
forest fires, burning pine cones with pine nuts and carrying particles of whatever taste distorting stuff they have in them to in to the air? Although, I don't know of anyone having similar symptoms in response, and I don't recall having a similar experience during the Hayman Fire when the smoke was worse.
Supposedly, it is only raw pine nuts that lead to pine mouth. Link (FDA). Also, it is rumored to be only Chinese pine nuts, but I can't find a convenient link for that. (I'd swear the FDA advisory used to mention this.) So, I think you're ok with the fires in this respect.
posted by advil at 7:22 AM on June 24, 2012
Supposedly, it is only raw pine nuts that lead to pine mouth. Link (FDA). Also, it is rumored to be only Chinese pine nuts, but I can't find a convenient link for that. (I'd swear the FDA advisory used to mention this.) So, I think you're ok with the fires in this respect.
posted by advil at 7:22 AM on June 24, 2012
Pine nut syndrome is linked to pine seeds from two Chinese species not typically eaten in the west. (See the section called Botanical Origins.) I think it's unrelated to your problem.
Constant exposure to smoke, though, might change your perception of how things taste.
posted by purpleclover at 7:51 AM on June 24, 2012 [3 favorites]
Constant exposure to smoke, though, might change your perception of how things taste.
posted by purpleclover at 7:51 AM on June 24, 2012 [3 favorites]
I've found that increased sensitivity to taste is an early warning sign to me that my mood's getting lower. It's a correlation I've noticed but not really seen much about. So change in mood may have led to an increase in your level of alertness to surroundings.
posted by ambrosen at 8:16 AM on June 24, 2012
posted by ambrosen at 8:16 AM on June 24, 2012
If you're allergic to woodsmoke, it might well be that. Like Eyebrows McGee, I have found that a flare-up of respiratory allergies really changes my taste experience.
posted by Sidhedevil at 9:13 AM on June 24, 2012
posted by Sidhedevil at 9:13 AM on June 24, 2012
For me, taste changes are part of my migraine aura; usually arrives about 24-72 hours before one hits. A week is a bit long to have an aura, but if you're prone to migraines, it might be something to consider.
posted by skye.dancer at 1:08 PM on June 24, 2012
posted by skye.dancer at 1:08 PM on June 24, 2012
When I had pine mouth it didn't just increase my sensitivity to saltiness and bitterness, it really made everything taste terrible. I really doubt that it is involved if the change in your taste perception is in any way pleasurable.
posted by dfan at 5:46 PM on June 24, 2012
posted by dfan at 5:46 PM on June 24, 2012
Have you by any chance cut back on your consumption of Tabasco sauce or other sources of high levels of capsaicin?
According to my Merck Index,
posted by jamjam at 6:33 PM on June 24, 2012
According to my Merck Index,
Prolonged [capsaicin] treatment causes insensitivity to painful stimuli and induces selective degeneration of certain primary sensory neurons.I gave up eating really hot food because after I did, I noticed it took a couple of days for food to regain its usual intensity of flavor.
posted by jamjam at 6:33 PM on June 24, 2012
How's your emotional state? I had the opposite effect years ago, when I'd had a lot of bad news in a short time; everything lost its flavor.
posted by The corpse in the library at 10:32 AM on June 26, 2012
posted by The corpse in the library at 10:32 AM on June 26, 2012
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posted by saucysault at 5:11 AM on June 24, 2012