Sense of taste screwed up?

[Tammie]

Wondering if anyone else has found that foods do not taste rt anymore? I am barely able to keep most foods down for some reason, but even before this became a problem, foods started tasting really bad and I was gagging on a lot of things that I used to love.

In a way this is a moot point for me rt now, bc like I said, I can barely eat anythign without having it come rt back up.....am pretty much limited to rice and breads - of course, these are the things that are not good for CFS and that do cause weight gain.....at this point I am so sick of them, too, I am just constantly craving veggies, but most of them do not stay down and many also taste really bad (even though I used to love them)

 

[Lily]

Yes Tammie

My taste has been 'off' for about 3 years.......sometimes I'll have a couple of days now and then when things taste more normal. But usually everything sorta tastes like cardboard, even if the day before the same thing tasted great. This came on gradually, actually probably been longer than 3 years.
I have no hunger or thrist, sometimes forget to eat or drink because I always feel full. That lead to a bit of trouble, in that my electrolytes went a little wacky. Sodium, potassium and chlorides all very low, Now I eat (try to) just rather mechanically. I do have some nausea, but seldom throw up. Low sodium and potassium makes me feel very bad, and it's kinda dangerous, so I try to do better. Some days are hard.

 

[caledonia]

Do you have nausea? I used to have sort of a low level nausea and during those times, couldn't eat much.

Food tasting like cardboard is also a symptom of depression.

On the other hand, changes to your brain can apparently cause problems with taste, sense of hunger and thirst, etc. My elderly dad has small vessel disease which causes a bunch of teeny tiny strokes to your brain. He's having a terrible time with getting enough to eat or drink because of it. He either doesn't feel hungry or thirsty or if he does, whatever is there to eat tastes awful to him, even if it used to be one of his favorites. He also has problems swallowing and choking.

If the problem is chronic and severe, like you are losing too much weight, not able to get your medicines down, getting dehydrated, etc. you might want to consider an appetite stimulant or even a feeding tube, IV's etc.

ps. there is an appetite stimulant derived from marijuana called marinol. This is a legal prescription. Or if you live in California, you can legally get the real thing. I don't know if either of these is better or worse than anything else, I just thought it was interesting.

 

[caledonia]

Do you have nausea? I used to have sort of a low level nausea and during those times, couldn't eat much.

Food tasting like cardboard is also a symptom of depression.

On the other hand, changes to your brain can apparently cause problems with taste, sense of hunger and thirst, etc. My elderly dad has small vessel disease which causes a bunch of teeny tiny strokes to your brain. He's having a terrible time with getting enough to eat or drink because of it. He either doesn't feel hungry or thirsty or if he does, whatever is there to eat tastes awful to him, even if it used to be one of his favorites. He also has problems swallowing and choking.

If the problem is chronic and severe, like you are losing too much weight, not able to get your medicines down, getting dehydrated, etc. you might want to consider an appetite stimulant or even a feeding tube, IV's etc.

ps. there is an appetite stimulant derived from marijuana called marinol. This is a legal prescription. Or if you live in California, you can legally get the real thing. I don't know if either of these is better or worse than anything else, I just thought it was interesting.

 

[Tammie]

Well, cardboard would be an improvement! ....sorry to be gross, but it's more like things are tasting like vomit or like they are spoiled

and I do have nausea and many foods do not stay down.....however, the really weird thing is that I NEVER lose my appetite - I wish that would happen, but no, I can be throwing up and still feel hungry ....and despite all this I am gaining weight (probably bc the only foods I can keep down are simple carbs - really bad for blood sugar, weight control, and for making me feel full)(plus, in the past if I was craving something I could have a small amt of it and the craving would go away....now I keep craving stuff, but when I try to eat it, it doesn't taste rt, so the craving never gets fulfilled)

I am going to be getting an ultrasound done of my abdominal area to see if anythign is visibly wrong....and the Dr did give me a script of Reglan to use in the meantime fro the vomiting (that scares me bc it can cause a bunch of problems, but it is the only thing that helps at all with the nausea and vomiting)....no solutions thus far, though, for things tasting bad

 

[Dainty]

My sense of taste does go out of wack, oh yes. This symptom has been one of the stranger ones. I recall white rice tasting like butter and brown rice like peanutbutter .

But not all of them are so funny. There are many tiems I'll have my mom fix some food for me that sounds really good, and with the first bite I'm literally spitting it out and gagging, apologizing all the way..."sorry, I know there's nothing wrong with the food, it's jsut my body acting up again..." There will be days where she'll fix food after food, trying to find something that will agree with my tastebuds. When it's really severe then I cannot even stand the smell of it...she brings it into the room and even though I'm hungry and the food sounded so good to me with the first whiff of it I'm gagging and motioning for her to take it out. It's quite frustrating.

Thankfully, for me, these episodes don't tend to last longer than a week or so. When it gets really bad and I realize that I really can't eat much, I generally find it most helpful to go on a partial fast, eating only tiny quantities of whatever I can tolerate (say, half a spoonful of honey) and cut out all activities that are not strictly necessary so as to conserve my energy during the fast. It isn't fun, but within a few days I generally improve. I jokingly theorize that when my body realizes that being picky is going to result in not getting enough nutrients it wises up and stops being so sensitive about it.

I can be throwing up and still feel hungry.

Yes!! I eat, I vomit, I eat some more, I vomit some more...because I'm still hungry! Even while I'm vomitting I'll be planning what to eat next. Hahaha...

Although, for me, I've learned that *mild* nausea often gets misinterpereted as hunger, and if I realize what's happening before it gets severe I can force myself away from food and sometimes calm the situation down, but in the meantime I still feel very hungry and it is quite uncomfortable.

 

[fds66]

I also have days when everything tastes strange. Not at all how it is supposed to taste - not like cardboard - just not how it should taste. It usually only last a few days at a time.

I also find that when I have mild nausea then sometimes I mistake that for hunger too. Sometimes eating a little helps the nausea.

 

[Tammie]

well, it is nice to know I am not alone in this, but at the same time i am sorry that others have to deal with it, too.

and, I had the ultra sound and nothign showed up....doc sent an email saying "good news" & I have to say that though i didn't want to find something really awful, I do NOT think that finding nothing is good news - I mean, duh! I am still nauseous, still throwing up, still having things taste weird, and so obvioulsy there IS something wrong - not finding it just means we still have no answer - how exactly is that good?!

 

[Athene]

ZINC ZINC ZINC DEFICIENCY!!!!!!!!
That is what makes everything taste like nothing, or else gross.
Also Vitamin B3 is the other nutrient deficiency which can do this.

If you have anxiety and or depression, you should suspect vitamin B3 deficiency. Just about everyone with CFS has zinc deficiency, it is badly absorbed. You have to take it between meals.

There are some other serious diseases but I reckon they are less likely (renal failure, hepatic failure, hypothyroidism)

In case you want to do more searches on Google, the medical terms are
ageusia (complete loss of taste and usually loss of many smells too)
dysgeusia (things have a different taste from their real one, usually something gross like sick or mould and you can have a bad taste in the mouth generally with this one)
hypogeusia (things have less taste than normal)