Pregnancy.
It’s what most young girls dream about their whole lives. Then once we get married we’re primed for it. I’m ready, I’m ready, bring on those baby booties, baby bottles and those glorious 9 months. Then it happens; you’re pregnant! But wait, nobody ever told me about this…what is this awful taste in my mouth….ick!
You can pick up any book on pregnancy and find the typical symptoms referenced; ie. nausea, cravings, weight gain, ankle swelling, etc. However, one symptom that is rarely talked about and I’ve never seen in any of the pregnancy books I’ve purchased is having an awful, bitter, metallic taste in your mouth. For some unknown reason, this physical change is not often recognized by many caregivers. After doing a lot of digging, it seems that those few doctors who do recognize it believe the metallic taste could be a result of the body releasing toxins through the lymphatic system. Others believe it is the body’s reaction to being run down with stress or the result of more physical demands being placed on a woman’s body during pregnancy. Regardless of why it happens, rest assured, you are NOT imagining it.
With my first pregnancy, it happened only with certain foods. It almost seemed psychosomatic. I’d think about a particular food to see if it “sounded good” to my body, and while thinking about it, this bad taste would creep into my mouth. I knew right then to not eat that food! My second pregnancy was much worse. I had that same awful taste in my mouth from the moment my pregnancy hit 5 weeks, until 1 hour after I delivered my daughter (9 1/2 long months later). There’s no easy way to say it; the pregnancy was AWFUL. 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, I had this bitter, metallic taste in my mouth that I couldn’t get rid of. I chewed gum continuously and when I would tire of gum, I’d suck on creme savers or tootsie roll pops. I gained too much weight with this pregnancy, but none of it was due to cravings. I had to have something in my mouth all the time to keep the nasty taste at bay. I can remember back to around 5 months of being pregnant thinking, “I’m never gonna make it.” Well, of course I did make it, and I have a beautiful little girl to show for it. I just don’t understand why none of the hundreds of books on pregnancy seem to mention this side effect. It is very real, and from interviewing other pregnant women, I’ve discovered it’s more common than you might think.
After telling my OBGYN at every monthly visit that I was still experiencing this awful taste in my mouth, he finally acknowledged that it was a valid complaint and offered a few suggestions. He told me to try seasick bands that you wear on your wrist. Supposedly the pressure points that the bands press on should aid nausea. Great; but the only problem with that was, I wasn’t nauseous…I just had a bad taste in my mouth. The next thing he told me was to try low doses of sleeping pills. I was surprised by that, and asked him if it would affect me at work, but he said no. Regardless, I still wasn’t comfortable with it, so I only tried them on the weekend. Again, no success. I wish the ending of my story could be that hooray, I found a cure for this awful side effect, but unfortunately, the only cure I found was delivering the baby! While I can’t offer you a cure, I can offer you the support of knowing you are not alone if you suffer from this symptom. It is real, and don’t let anyone try to minimize it. I used to feel like a broken record and no one could or wanted to understand the words. I would keep telling my husband, “You just don’t get it…everything tastes awful. EVERYTHING!” Finally after the 7th month, I think it finally sunk in and he believed this wasn’t all in my head. Finally, validation from someone.
If this side effect happens to you, just try to do the best you can; suck on a lot of hard candy and pray the calendar moves quickly towards delivery. That little miracle waiting for you is well worth every side effect there is. Even the yucky tasting ones.
