You may notice a bad taste in your mouth if you are a patient of kidney failure. Some patients call the taste metabolic taste and describe it as drinking iron. With a bad taste in mouth, kidney failure patients usually do not feel like eating anything, because of which they may become waste away. Well then, how does kidney failure cause bad taste in mouth at all? What can we do to remit it?
How does kidney failure cause bad taste in mouth?
Kidney failure is a medical condition in which kidneys can not function properly. Kidneys help us discharge wastes from our body and one of the wastes is urea nitrogen, the end produce of protein metabolism. Once kidney failure is formed, urea nitrogen can not be discharged timely and fully. They build up in the blood, leading to high blood urea nitrogen (BUN). This is the reason why people with kidney failure usually have high BUN.
Bacterium in intestines and stomach break down and therefore produce ammonia. Ammonia stimulate intestinal mucosa and make patients have a strange taste in their mouth. Therefore, bad taste in mouth has close relationship with blood urea nitrogen level.
What to do with bad taste in mouth?
Bad taste in mouth can make food taste different and cause bad breath. In serious cases, the bad taste may make patients throw up. Therefore, taking some measures to remit this symptom is very helpful for kidney failure patients.
Firstly, with bad taste in mouth, kidney failure patients need to pay attention to their oral hygiene. Remember to brush their teeth and scrap their tongue regularly.
Secondly, try to limit protein intake. Since urea nitrogen is the end product of protein, limiting protein intake will help to reduce urea nitrogen concentration in the blood. However, although this method is helpful to some extend, it is not a real solution and can not work in serious cases.
Bad taste in mouth is just one of the clinical manifestation of kidney failure and it occurs because of high blood urea nitrogen, so reducing BUN level is the best and most effective solution.
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