Taste disorder is categorized into four major sessions: Hypogeusia (diminished or partial taste loss), ageusia (complete loss of taste), dysgeusia (alteration, or persistent abnormal taste) and hypergeusia (heightened taste). The partial taste disorder is common to notice in individuals when they are unwell. Taste disorder may also signify several neurological disorders and require a thorough clinical examination to find out the underlying cause. Individuals who develop loss of taste can psychologically distress and leads to depression. Also, taste disorder may bring individuals with additional health concerns like hypertension, diabetes, heart disease to name a few. Here, in this article, let’s learn and understand more about taste disorder: its causes, symptoms, and a few home remedies. Read on!
What causes taste disorder?
Taste abnormalities are caused due to various reasons and can interrupt the taste pathways in many ways. But, most of the individuals develop taste disorders after a sudden illness or an injury. A few common causes of taste disorder are below:
- Middle ear infections
- Sinus and viral infections
- Metabolic and endocrine disorder
- Nutritional deficiency mainly zinc and vitamin B12
- Upper respiratory tract infections like the common cold, flu etc.
- Use of certain drugs like antihistamines, antidepressants, antihypertensive, protease inhibitors, antifungal, and cytotoxic agents
- Head injuries and other systemic diseases
- Individuals who performed surgeries on ears, throat, nose or mouth
- Poor oral hygiene and gum disease
- Exposure to insecticides
- After radiation therapy
- Hormonal problems
- Smoking
- Nasal polyps
How common to notice a taste disorder in humans?
Are you experiencing any issues with the sense of taste? Yes, you are not alone in the loop. Many factors like ageing, illness can affect the taste buds. Lost sense of taste may be harmless but may require a doctor’s attention to treat the underlying medical cause.
What are the common symptoms noticed in individuals with taste disorder?
Taste bud cover throughout the tongue surface and each taste receptor recognize different taste like sweet, salt, sour, bitter, or savoury. Yes! Individuals may sometime feel the areas on the tongue with taste-related difficulties and the symptoms may range from a complete, partial, distorted or reduced taste loss.
How is the taste disorder diagnosed?
Taste related issues are diagnosed by the otolaryngologist. The doctor may calculate the extent of the taste disorder by making you taste different substances and comparing them. Also, he or she may increase the concentration of the different tasting substances to check how the intensity of the taste grows when altering the concentration. The diagnostic process usually depends on
- The examination of the oral cavity
- Complete understanding of the patient’s history
- Performing the Zinc blood test to know the levels
- Referral of patients to the specialist in case of any abnormalities
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A few common home remedies to treat taste disorder:
A temporary loss of taste due to common cold, flu, or even fever is an annoying thing to experience. Here are a few home remedies that help to fix the taste disorder, but if you are facing a prolonged issue, then you might require visiting the doctor to find the cause.
Include natural home remedies like:
- Boil a few cloves of garlic and drink the water when it is lukewarm
- Take lemon juice mixed with the honey
- Drink mint tea prepared by boiling water and mint leaves
- Having ginger tea will enhance the taste and activates the taste buds
In general, a few lifestyle modifications may help to improve the impaired taste and a few of them includes:
- Quitting smoking
- Maintaining proper dental hygiene
- Eliminating plaques by proper brushing and flossing of the teeth
- Chewing the food thoroughly
- Keeping a track of the medications you are take and check whether the medications hinder your taste
- Drinking a glass of water before your mealtime
Are taste disorders a serious condition?
Taste disorder can bring a serious health issue, if not treated at the early stage as lack of taste can make you add either more sweet or salt to enhance the taste. The extra addition may lead to weight gain, diabetes, blood pressure, depression, to name a few. So, get immediate medical help and identify the cause for the sensory loss as on-time diagnosis paves the way towards proper treatment. If medicines are prescribed, buy your prescription medicines from the best online medical store and avail amazing medicine discount on every order you choose.
