Taste Hallucinations

[khaarina]

Almost every night I get a taste hallucinations--tasting something that isn't there. It lasts about 10 seconds or so and it is very specific, fruity pebbles, beef and noodles, metal, etc. I'm never thinking about food when it happens, it just hits me, and it is not a craving, just a sensation. Does anyone else here get these? Do you think I should be worried?

[gertie]

I have done this & it has always been at night. Maybe I just don't notice it in the daytime. I also have the odor hallucination. I've thought the house was on fire because I smelled smoke. I do have migraines & seizures but also thought it might be allergy. I can't tell you whether to be worried or not. I have had so many weird things happen that I've told my dr about & he usually looks at me as if I was an alien. It wouldn't hurt to be checked by your physician.

[Guest Hanice]

I have done this & it has always been at night. Maybe I just don't notice it in the daytime. I also have the odor hallucination. I've thought the house was on fire because I smelled smoke. I do have migraines & seizures but also thought it might be allergy. I can't tell you whether to be worried or not. I have had so many weird things happen that I've told my dr about & he usually looks at me as if I was an alien. It wouldn't hurt to be checked by your physician.

Alicia why do you get seizures?

[gertie]

I was told I have a brain injury. I'm not sure exactly how I got it but MRI shows temporal lobe injury. So far, I only

have partial seizures. Sometimes they are triggered by meds, chemicals etc. usually things I would not think would cause a seizure.

[bellgirl]

I've had metallic tastes in my mouth on occasion. At first I thought I had a brain tumor, because some times it can be associated with that, but not always. My MRI is normal. This is even before I was diagnosed with dysautonomia and on a lot of medications. Zicam also can cause this, though, too, which I've just discovered just lately. Remember it has zinc in it.

[khaarina]

"I have had so many weird things happen that I've told my dr about & he usually looks at me as if I was an alien."

LOL same here. After making this post I looked more into siezures because my grandmother was diagnosed with epilepsy as a young adult. I found some other symptoms that have me wondering if I might be having siezures while sleeping. I have a lot of sleep problems that I have just assumed was part of having POTS, but some of my symptoms are eerily similar to those of epilepsy patients. For example: I bite my tongue in my sleep, I wake up a lot in the night, and I when I wake up in the morning I feel like have been wrestling all night. I joke to my husband in the mornings that I have to recover from sleeping, which of course sounds rediculous but it is exactly what it feels like. Do you know if epilepsy has any connection to POTS? Any one else here have, or suspect you have siezures?

[bellgirl]

Khaarina...It sounds like you need a sleep study with an EEG. I bit my tongue on occasion and wrestled in my sleep with clonic type movements, and jerking, too, during sleep, but I don't have epilepsy, but I do have sleep apnea. I would have one of your doctor's refer you to a sleep clinic, where they will monitor your sleep overnight and maybe, two. It's amazing the difference it makes when you finally are able to sleep!! I'm a different person with my Cpap and Klonopin

[Psalm 23]

I also experience a strange metallic taste sometimes. In fact my husband has commented on my breath having a metallic odor to it at times. He mentioned it to one of the specialists I was referred to back in 2005 but nothing came of it. I also smell smoke sometimes when no one else does. I have no idea what any of it means. I guess I don't think about it much anymore. I don't mention it to any of the various doctors I see as they already have little understanding of my other problems.They see me as something of an oddity as it is Lol. I do not have sleep apnea or seizures.

Janet

[Hope]

Yes, but it's random. Not every night. It can happen day or night for me. Tasting usually in the day time. Smelling things that aren't there, day or night. I guess I thought it was a normal occurance that everybody has. I really don't know what's normal and what's not anymore.

[Guest Hanice]

I think thats called synesthesia

[Freaked]

I get this pretty bad at times. A metallic taste in my mouth is a warning sign for me that my body is behaving odd. I had it all day one day, and during that day I felt horribly weak, fainted for the only (touch wood) time, alternated bewtween poring sweat and being freezing, and had to call an ambulance for a scary heart episode. Two trips to the ER in one day. For me I think it's either a hypoperfusion issue or something to do with my heart (heart stuff can cause metallic taste. Maybe because of hypoperfusion; not sure.) Many people report metallic tastes during adrenaline rushes, and they can be commonly caused by stomach acid. I also have a largish cyst in my head, but don't think it's related.

I do get weird phantom smells at times too, particularly smoke, and I think it's important to remember that POTS can cause seizures. Probably as a consequence of hypoperfusion, possibly related to O2/CO2 balance and neurotransmitter levels. Actual seizures are rare (approx 3% I think) but other neurological disturbances such as blurred vision and twitching are common, so minor misfires such as phantom smells and tastes shouldn't be surprising.

[kayjay]

I rarely hallucinate tastes but I do imagine smells. It's often something such as cigarette smoke. I have I imagined sounds as well.

[bellgirl]

I am hypersensitive to smells, too! My husband can't smell, because he fell and hit his head, when he was just a toddler, so maybe it is to compensate for him...lol