dysgeusia
Sign in to saveAlso known as parageusia, taste changes
Dysgeusia, also known as parageusia, is a distortion of the sense of taste. Dysgeusia is also often associated with ageusia, which is the complete lack of taste, and hypogeusia, which is a decrease in taste sensitivity. An alteration in taste or smell may be a secondary process in various disease states, or it may be the primary symptom. The distortion in the sense of taste is the only symptom, and diagnosis is usually complicated since the sense of taste is tied together with other sensory systems. Common causes of dysgeusia include chemotherapy, asthma treatment with albuterol, and zinc defi
Key facts
- Medical condition (new).name
- Dysgeusia
- Medical condition (new).synonyms
- Parageusia
- Medical condition (new).pronounce
- or
- Medical condition (new).specialty
- Neurology
via Wikipedia infobox
Research
2,424 papersvia PubMed
~24 min read
Encyclopedic overview
26 sectionsContents
- Signs and symptoms
- Causes
- Chemotherapy
- Taste buds
- Zinc deficiency
- Taste Modifiers
- Drugs
- Pregnancy
- Miscellaneous causes
- Normal function
- Diagnosis
- Gustatory testing
- Diagnostic tools
- Treatments
- Artificial saliva and pilocarpine
- Zinc deficiency
- Zinc supplementation
- Zinc infusion in chemotherapy
- Altering drug therapy
- Alpha lipoic acid
- Managing dysgeusia
- Psychological impacts
- Future research
- See also
- References
- External links
Dysgeusia, also known as parageusia, is a distortion of the sense of taste. Dysgeusia is also often associated with ageusia, which is the complete lack of taste, and hypogeusia, which is a decrease in taste sensitivity. An alteration in taste or smell may be a secondary process in various disease states, or it may be the primary symptom. The distortion in the sense of taste is the only symptom, and diagnosis is usually complicated since the sense of taste is tied together with other sensory systems. Common causes of dysgeusia include chemotherapy, asthma treatment with albuterol, and zinc deficiency. Liver disease, hypothyroidism, and rarely, certain types of seizures can also lead to dysgeusia. Different drugs can also be responsible for altering taste and resulting in dysgeusia. Due to the variety of causes of dysgeusia, there are many possible treatments that are effective in alleviating or terminating the symptoms. These include artificial saliva, pilocarpine, zinc supplementation, alterations in drug therapy, and alpha lipoic acid.
==Signs and symptoms== The alterations in the sense of taste, usually a metallic taste, and sometimes smell are the only symptoms.
Excerpted from Wikipedia’s “dysgeusia” article, available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 licence.