What Should I Do When Everything Tastes Salty?
Who doesn’t love scrumptious meals? But what if you aren’t able to relish in lip-smacking food and everything tastes salty? If your toothpaste, water, chocolates, or coffee taste salty, it may greatly annoy you. There can be many reasons for that salty taste in your mouth.
Thankfully, it means nothing dangerous, and there is nothing to worry about. But since a salty taste in your mouth is irritating you might want to know why does everything taste salty? Some might also complain of a strange metallic taste instead of salty.
Let’s see common causes of salty taste in mouth and how to treat this condition.
15 Common Reasons Why Everything Tastes Salty
Here we have compiled a list of most common causes for your salty taste buds.
1. Poor Oral Hygiene
Most of the time it’s the poor oral health that frequently brings salty taste in your mouth, especially in the morning. While we are asleep during the night, our salivary glands become inactive. It gives bacteria a chance to grow and cause bad breath and salty taste.
2. Dehydration
The concentration of salt is high in saliva which is why everything might taste salty. When your body experiences lack of water it is called dehydration.
Depending upon your geographic location, climate, temperature and other factors there can be many reasons for dehydration. Strenuous exercise can be one of the factors for salty taste in your mouth as sweating during workouts leads to loss of water.
Related Reading: Common Causes and Treatments for Orange Tongue
3. Nasal Drops or Eye Drops
Common cold or sinus infections cause a lot of post nasal drip. Nasolacrimal duct connects your eyes, nose and food pipe through which your nasal drips or eye drops may find a path to your mouth. This can make your food taste salty.
4. Bleeding
Oozing blood can be the reason for that salty taste in the mouth. Bleeding gums in most cases or some other injuries activate the salty taste buds almost instantly.
5. Nutritional Deficiencies
A sore or beefy red tongue can probably be due to low levels of vitamin B12 in your body. Having a salty taste in mouth in such conditions is obvious. Deficiency of zinc in your body can be another such source of salty or metallic taste.
6. Medications
Certain medicines, like chemotherapy drugs, anti-hyperthyroid drugs, medicines used to treat high blood pressure, antihistamines, decongestants, antidepressants can have many side effects and change in taste is one of them.
7. Hypogeusia
Once in a while, you may have experienced lack of sensations or reduced the ability to taste. This condition is known as hypogeusia in medical science. Certain medicines or acute viral fever may be responsible for it, and it has commonly been reported by women or older adults.
Related Reading: What Causes Wavy, Scalloped Tongue and How to Treat It?
8. Acid Reflux
After vomiting, you may have experienced a strange salty aftertaste in your mouth. Acid reflux has the same effect as vomit. It is a consequence of a digestive disorder known as Gastro Esophageal Reflux Disease (GERD). In this ailment, the contents of your stomach take a reverse course to your upper throat or mouth.
9. Pregnancy and Menopause
Why does everything tastes salty during pregnancy or menopause? Every woman goes through an individual experience in their lives in the form of hormonal imbalance, especially during pregnancy and menopause.
If you are in one of those phases and everything tastes salty, don’t worry. As these phases pass and hormones settle down things will get better.
10. Caffeinated Drinks
Caffeine is a fix for dizziness and keeps you awake, energetic and focused. But an excess of caffeine may cause dry mouth, insomnia, and nausea. The caffeinated drinks such as coffee, alcohol, coke, and tea can make everything taste salty due to lack of saliva.
11. Smoking
Smoking causes dryness and other infections in salivary glands which can be the culprit behind that salty taste in your mouth.
12. Surgery
There can be leakage of cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) during surgery or due to injury, which causes everything taste salty.
13. Brain Tumor or Stroke
A stroke or a tumor may cause the part of the brain which controls sensations to be affected. So, you might experience a change in taste or smell.
14. Sjogren’s Syndrome
Sjogren’s syndrome is an autoimmune medical condition that occurs rarely. This medical condition may show signs of dry mouth and ocular manifestations. The salivary glands are attacked which leads to dry mouth and give bacteria a chance to multiply.
15. Paraneoplastic Syndrome
Patients who been through the treatment for cancer may show signs of the paraneoplastic syndrome. There can also be ataxia, hypotonia, encephalitis, short-term memory loss or even irritability along with salty taste.
What To Do When Everything Tastes Salty?
In most of the cases, salty taste buds are a temporary phenomenon. It goes away as soon as its underlying causes are fixed. But as long as it stays, it causes loss of appetite leading to weakness. So if this situation persists, you might experiment few of the below-listed remedies.
- Oral Hygiene: You must ensure to brush your teeth twice a day, once before going to bed and in the morning.
- Water: Drink lots of water throughout the day to make up for the water lost by your body.
- Gargle with Water: You just need to gargle with warm saline water for a few times to make your mouth clean of these secretions.
- Avoid Triggers: Avoid having foods that contain the high level of sodium or the ones that are spicy and acidic.
- Supplements: Take supplements to meet nutritional deficiencies as prescribed by your physician.
If it has been days and yet everything tastes salty or rather differently for that matter, consider paying a visit to your doctor for gustatory investigations. Complete and accurate diagnosis will help you from anything serious.
If everything tastes salty despite consulting the doctor you can take help from a chemosensory center which carries out different tests by placing chemicals on your tongue and testing your sense of smell.
If you want to get relief from the salty taste in your mouth try chewing a sugar-free gum containing xylitol.
Keep yourself hydrated and use a moisturizing spray to keep your mouth hydrated and prevent salty taste buds.
Read Next:
- How to Treat Cracked Corners of the Mouth (Angular Cheilitis)?
- How to Treat Blood Blisters in Mouth?
- Common Causes & Effective Natural Treatments for Lie Bumps
Sources:
“Everything Tastes Salty”; http://www.newhealthadvisor.com/Everything-Tastes-Salty.html
“Why does every Food and Drink Taste Salty?” https://www.enkiverywell.com/everything-tastes-salty.html
Mortimer Lorber, DMD, MD; “Salty Taste in the Mouth,” JAMA. 1985;253(6):778. doi:10.1001/jama.1985.03350300064016
