My AVM was obliterated in 2009, however a few weeks later after my brain surgery, I lost my sweet taste buds. For four years now I have lived with the inability to taste sugar, which has dramatically changed the taste of ALL foods, sweet or not.
Recently I have noticed that I am eating MORE sugar than ever. My brain and body are chemically addicted even though I am unable to physically taste it. It has become a personal health concern.
My question: has anyone had a similar issue post surgery. I have googled that it may be related to the IV given after my surgery or while I was in a coma. My AVM bleed was cerebular and not located in the brain associated with taste so I have ruled that out as the "damager"
Is there a doctor that you know of that can help to rejuvinate my taste bud nerves?
I have been told that the nerves associated with the taste on my tongue have permenatly been damaged. I have been to an accupuncturist with no results. I have googled a neuroseurgon in the D.C. area that specializes in this type of thing but have not seen him yet. Do you know of anyone or anything else I should try?
The medical term for this is ageusia, Georgia, and I can imagine how frustrating it must be. I don't know if any leads here might help you, but at the very least, you can connect with others who are experiencing the same difficulty: http://www.steadyhealth.com/Taste_buds_cannot_taste_anything_sweet__t84325.html?page=8
The only thing I wonder about is: are you on or have you taken any medications that could be responsible for this loss of taste? Or it is possible that you developed a candida infection ("thrush")? What if the cause was not the AVM, but one of these?
I'll keep looking and see if I turn up any articles that might be helpful.
wow thanks. The medication thing is a possiblity. Thats why I feel like it may have been medication that I recieved in the hospital through an IV or something else. I googled this and remember reading about cancer patients experiencing something similar
Georgia, I notice that today dandelionwishes reported that she has lost her sense of taste after avm surgery. Also, I found this discussion about taste: http://www.avmsurvivors.org/profiles/blog/show?id=1543517%3ABlogPost%3A136752&commentId=1543517%3AComment%3A137045
Georgia,
I can't offer any soltions but I to suffer from this exact thing. I will be very interested to see what you find out.
Tim