ONCE in a while, some of us experience something funny in the mouth… the mouth tastes bitter, sour, metallic or salty! Many people associate bitter mouth with on-coming malaria attack. One woman aged about 30 told me that when her period became violent, she was sure her agitating uterine muscles would soon be calm if she felt a bitter sensation in the throat and mouth, could vomit something sticky and lemon green in the throat and mouth, which seemed to lurk there. Thereafter, the period flowed on … normally. I did not immediately know how to simplify her experience for her outside the conception of the liver’s energy flow in Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM). Some TCM physicians believe the liver sent its energy “downstream” in the digestive tract. Western medicine physicians mention the liver’s secretions, including, of course, the bile, that greenish yellow bitter substance which helps the digestion of fats, transports fat soluble substances and traps fat-soluble toxins for export out of the body through the colon and anus. Some TCM physicians say that, when there are unresolved emotional disturbances, the liver’s energy may be directed upstream instead of downstream.This would imply that organs, such as the heart and the eyes, become engorged in or drown in an energy “river” or “ocean”. I have not ceased to wonder if this is why the elevated eye pressure in glaucoma, for example, takes place, and if this is why the Chinese believe liver health must be addressed simultaneously with eye health questions. We would have to reserve these thoughts for another day, lest we digrees. Metallic taste is no less common than bitter taste. Salty taste is about the commonest of these experiences of the taste system disorders which may be no cause for alarm in some situation, but call for serious concerns or warrant investigations for conditions as frightening as Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s diseases, and even cancer.
Years ago, a woman in Enugu telephoned me that she was experiencing metallic taste. What could have gone wrong? I wondered. She was neither hypertensive nor diabetic and, so, was not on pharmaceutical drugs, which may have exposed her to this condition, in some of their side effects which release metallic contents into the system. But I could not rule out bleeding gums from hard brushing or from a yet concealed scurvy. She had complained that her teeth were becoming molted, a sign of aging, chemical activity or microbial trouble. At her age, many women become so concerned about osteoporosis that they consume more calcium dietarily and through food supplements without matching up with magnesium and phosphorus. If this creates a surplus of free ionic calcuim and ionic phosphorus, and there are tissue blood leaks anywhere in the mouth, will this not inundate the mouth with metallic calcium and metallic phosphorus taste? I wondered. For a person, who at the sametime was beset with Systemic Lupus Discord (SLD), this thought may be plausible. SLD is an immune system weakening of blood vessels which may cause breaks here and there with blood leaches. In her case, she first noticed it in her scalp and around the ears.
Salty taste
This is the commonest disorder. We all have five various taste buds in various parts of the tongue. These are sweet, sour, bitter, salty and bland. A recent case of salty taste, which spurred the writing of this column concerns the Nigerian woman in New York, who, as reported a few weeks ago, was given antibiotic over six months for tuberculosis without probiotic prescription afterwards to rehabilitate the friendly bacteria population swiped away along with unfriendly bacteria in the intestine. This led to candida population overgrowth in the intestine reflected on the tongue by a thick grayish (whitish) carpet of thrush (candida). The intestine is not digesting food and absorbing nutrients properly. So, she is thin and her skin is wrinkled irrespective of whatever she eats. She suffered from migraine headaches now and then, perhaps from the toxins of candida and other yeast metabolism which may be finding their ways into the bloodstream. She suffered from anxiety and may be slipping into depression. To pop up the brain, her doctor gave her Ammonia sulphate-based drug. Ammonia is one of those gases, which ooze from the pit toilet. Some doctors believe a small dose of it keeps the brain lively and active. Others disagree. Many people believe Ammonia cannot be good since it is the gas depressed people visit pit toilets for to get high. There is no doubt, though, that the Sulphate, with four units of oxygen, will oxygenate and that the sulphur will help with some cleansing. For the cleansing, I wondered if the organic sulphur supplement would not have been better and go well with a brain energiser as Gotu Kola or CBD oil or both with an organic magnesium supplement interface. But would it work when the root causes of the problem i.e candida overgrowth in the colon have not been addressed? It was suggested she try Olive Leaf Extract, coconut oil, Oregano oil, Probiotic at about 40 billion cells per capsule at the time of manufacture, Vitamin C and about two or three other antioxidants. The antioxidants are required to quell or neutralise toxins from candida and yeasts cells that would be released into the blood stream when this pathogens begins to die. If they are not properly evacuated they may make the blood stream so toxic as to cause a serious” die off effect”. A serious “die off” effect may make the patient sicker before he or she gets better or well.
Salty mouth
While aging and infection may affect the taste buds and the nerves which the work with, making them inert, hyperactive or under active, dehydration is thought to be a major cause of salty mouth. For dehydration makes the saliva concentrated. The saliva is produced by three salivary glands in the mouth (one below the tongue , one each on both sides of the cheek), mucus membrane of the stomach, in the liver and in the pancreas. In the mouth,saliva begins the digestive process by moistening food and supplying an alkaline food filled with minerals, enzymes and immune factors. The enzymes ptyalin breaks polysacharides in the food down to disccharides which are further broken down to monosacharides or the simplest sugars in the digestive tract. Once the saliva has completed this task and the nutrients have been absorbed, it is itself re- absorbed by the colon and recycled all over. Dehydration may affect the quality and composition of the saliva in the mouth in diverse ways.
Some researchers believe that, where infection, disease or overconsumption of spicy foods has no hand in the salty mouth, dehydration may have concentrated stomach acid to the point that the body intelligently mobilises alkaline profiles, such as sodium and other mineral salts, to dilute it. The healthy stomach acid level is put at 1.5pH, that of the blood at 7.4 pH. This means the stomach is about one million times more acidic than the blood, according to Judy Lim, Berg Mcfarmland with Laura Gladys in their book AGING WITHOUT GROWING OLD. If stomach acidity level increases, it may burn itself through. Would it in such a situation have sent an S.O.S. for help, and the body is raising an alkaline “army” to the rescue? The conjecture is mine!
Bleeding gums and Gingivitis (inflammation of the gums) may cause sodium leaches into the mouth. The gums may bleed for many reasons. Hard brushing with a hard brush may cause wear and tear and bleeding. Vitamin C deficiency, backed by a deficiency of bioflavoniods, may be at work as well. This may be a condition of scurvy in which internal organs may have been bleeding before the gums. Sometimes, the bleeding may be caused by connective tissue weakness if the cells are not well held together. The connective tissue is like cement mortar which connects two blocks or bricks in housing construction. When germs such as fungi, bacteria and viruses are behind the blood leaks, damaging connective tissues, Gingivitis may have set in. In this case, it is easy to experience salty taste because sodium is present in large quantum in the fluid ( interstitial fluid) which surrounds the cells. If this is the scenario playing out, the toothpaste may be changed from the regular brand to plant medicine brands. Such brands factor into their formulas such herbal extracts as Tee Tree oil, Aloe Gel, Chlorophyll, Clove Oil, Garlic Oil, Pau d A’rco, Arnica, Propolis, Joyoba, Radish Oil, among others. This effort may be backed with fluid or extract oil herbs for mouth rinses.
Infections which cause gum problems do not stop with the gums alone. For some people who experience salty taste have no history of bleeding gums or Gingivitis. Their problems may be nose, sinus or throat infection. These parts of the body may need a check when one wakes up in the mornings with salty taste in the mouth. Such people may also experience foul breathe, thickened and stringy saliva, sore throat, hoarseness and dry mouth. Another important symptom is grooved tongue. In nasal and sinus infection, mucus which may have backed up or pooled up at the back of the throat may drop down and mix with saliva,causing salty taste.
It is important to immediately see the dentist and the Alternative medicine physician if bleeding gums are going out of hand. There may be a need to see the ear, nose, and throat doctor as well. A 2010 study by MAYO CLINIC which involved thousands of subjects showed that bacterial infection in the nose, throat, and sinuses which progressed for more than three months graduated into fungi infections, which are much more difficult to deal with, using regular pharmaceuticals. Delay may encourage these afflictions in the mouth to graduate into PERIODONTITIS, which may damage oral bones and teeth. In periodontitis, it is possible to experience not only bad breadth but, also, loose teeth, gum boils, gum abscess, pus, oral thrush (a yeast infection). Yeast infections in the mouth may reveal itself in white patches or a white carpet over the pinkish-red tongue, or in a burning sensation. While some sufferers complain of a salty taste in the mouth, others say they have lost the sensation of taste. As this infection progresses, it is possible for the challenged person to experience hoarseness of the voice, cough up blood or come up with Human Papilo Virus ( HPV).
Now, I wish to return to the case of that young woman who coughs up a thick greenish-yellow substance during her period which is always painful. I said earlier that the Chinese conception suggests liver energy not flowing ” downstream” but upstream”. In western medicine, this conception is associated, indeed, with back flows. A sour or salty taste may suggest, especially in the case of a sour taste, that acid from the stomach is refluxing or storming through the esophagus into the mouth, having broken through two muscle barriers (sphincter muscles) which had become weak and could not hold it back. A salty taste may arise from a bile reflux. Bile is produced in the liver to break fats in the diet into droplets which the enzymes will easily digest. In a bile reflux, the bile salts, rather than embark on a downward journey through the small intestine and from there to the colon (large intestine) reverse their journey upwards to the stomach, and from there through the esophagus to the mouth. This may be why she always experienced some tummy trouble and pain before vomiting the greenish-yellow substance or a clump of bile salts.
Again, such symptoms may not be “toy” symptoms. They may be evidence of brewing dangerous digestive system problems. For when stomach acid or bile invades the esophagus, it may cause damage to the tissue known as Gastro Esophagus Reflux Disease (GERD) and a precancerous disease known as Barrett’s esophagus or esophageal cancer, which is becoming common nowadays. When one imagines that a heartburn conditions may lead to this life-taking disease if left untreated, it makes one feel so sorry for challenged people who treat it ignorantly or with kid gloves. For many cases, the resort of most challenged people is antacid, which, really, is always not the solution. Many peoples lack enough stomach hydrochloric acid( Hcl) which makes them produce digestive enzymes for protein digestion. They do not know they can support their stomachs with foods supplements. Also, they do not know over acidity in their stomachs comes from food staying too long in the stomach, because they did not produce enough hydrochloric acid to digest it. With not enough acid for digestion, food stays longer than it should, ferment or get rotten or decays, producing acid radicals. Ignorantly, such people literally send the anti-acid workforce into the stomach to remove a tree which had fallen upon another. But while they can clear the top tree, they cannot remove the one below. What can remove that tree is what will increase the organic acid contents, not what will further reduce it.
The solution which works, therefore, is not the antacid, which, actually, may worsen the condition and explain why abnormally-high dosages of antacids do not work in critical conditions. While acid reflux may be resolved by
- strengthening the lower sphincter muscles of the esophagus, gatekeeper of the esophagus,
- eating to fill no more than half of the stomach space
- raising the head of the bed by at least six inches to make gravity prevent reflux
- supporting the stomach with such food supplements as Digestion support, Betaine Hcl, papain tablets, Acidic stomach and Alkaline Balance, bile reflux may be helped by supplement such as Chamomile, CBD oils and by resolving emotional issues. The story of the young woman in reference is that of encounters in her young life with ” heartless” men who exploited her loving and sincere nature.
Metallic taste
A taste of metal in the mouth may be far more serious than many people imagine. Some doctors link it to the thyroid gland and to the adrenal glands which are located on top of each kidney. Some other doctors include the kidneys as one of the possible causes. It may, therefore, not be out of place to include the pituitary gland in the brain.
As already stated, Gingivitis and periodontitis play their roles in it. So do pharmaceutical drugs such as anti-histamine, anti-depressants, anti-hypertensives, ant-diabetics and beta blockers, among many others. They close up the taste buds. Some vitamins and minerals food supplements are not left out, and this is why organic foods supplement brands are preferred. Among the culprit brands are those with heavy copper, zinc and chromium presence. Among the cold medicines likely to forment this trouble are zinc lozenges, prenatal vitamins and calcium and iron supplements, especially from” blood” tonics. Small dosages may pose no problems. High dosages may. When nerves which control the taste buds are disoriented or damaged as in diabetes and dementia situations, the taste system may be disoriented and disordered. Exposure to chemicals is a serious question. About two years ago, for example, this column featured an article titled LAGOS ABAITTOIR, CESSPOOL OF DISEASE AND DEATH, to highlight the inhalation for toxic metal such as lead, mercury, arsenic and cadmium by residents around the Lagos abattoir. Lead, cadmium, mercury and arsenic were emitted from tyres burnt for roasting cow skin, a meat delicacy. These metals are seriously suspected to cause cancer. Chemotherapy and radiation patients are exposed to toxic metals to kill their cancer cells but often die of the toxicity of these metals and not their threatening cancers. The lucky ones are those who can get the metals out of their bodies fast enough before these toxins kill them. The taste gets into the mouth. We cannot forget the mercury amalgam tooth filling which does vapourise. Those who keep them must learn to get rid of mercury poisoning with chelated minerals made for this purpose, and with herbs, such as chlorella, spirulina and cilantro.
There are too many sources of exposure to talk about. I do not wish to forget scaleless fish we all love to eat, such as TITUS fish, caught in the deep Atlantic for their rich Omega-3 fatty acids. It is believed that industrial nations have poisoned the Atlantic with mercury waste from their factories and that fish from the Atlantic bring mercury to the dining table. Fish eaters must, therefore, learn to regularly detoxify themselves of heavy metal and run hair analysis tests to determine how much excess baggage of heavy metals their bodies are carrying. Organic coffee enema are well recommended for detoxification.