Why have I got a metallic taste in my mouth?

Symptoms:

Your mouth tastes like old pennies, you’ve been depressed recently and are taking an antidepressant, which has given you a dry mouth.

You have a metallic taste in your mouth and you pop multivitamins every day because your diet isn’t very healthy. You eat a lot of junk food.

You’ve just had a positive pregnancy test and you can’t get rid of an unpleasant metallic taste in your mouth, no matter what you eat or drink.

It could be: The antidepressant.a

metallic taste in the mouth, dysgeusia, can be a side effect of antidepressants. Other drugs causing a metallic taste are antibiotics, gout medicines, blood pressure medicines and drugs to treat glaucoma because they come out in saliva.

The multivitamins,

some of which contain metals like copper, chromium and zinc, come out in the saliva and can cause a metallic taste in your mouth.

Pregnancy hormones.

Dysgeusia is especially common in early pregnancy. In fact it’s a first sign of pregnancy and accounts for expectant mums’ craving for pickled, vinegary food.

Stop it:

A metallic taste happens often because a drug closes down your taste buds which affects your sense of taste. Speak to your doctor about changing your medication.

Ditch the multivitamins (they aren’t that effective anyway) and concentrate on eating a well-balanced diet with plenty of fruit, vegetables and fibre.

Dysgeusia is usually worst in the first trimester (the first three months of pregnancy) so as your pregnancy progresses and your hormones settle down, the metallic taste should fade.