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Staying hydrated is also especially important, not just for you and your baby, but to avoid dry mouth, which can also contribute to unpleasant taste sensations.
Sweets and saltine crackers may help reduce that metallic taste.
Generally, this problem is worse during the first trimester. Having a metallic taste in your mouth is one of them. Hormonal changes brought on by pregnancy can trigger many unusual symptoms. Rinsing your mouth with a mouthwash made of baking soda, salt, and water before eating may help make food taste better. Radiation therapy and chemotherapy treatment for cancer can bring on a metallic or bitter taste, as can certain kinds of cancer of the head and neck. Once you stop taking the medication, the metallic smell usually goes away. Multivitamin and mineral supplements can also trigger changes in smell and taste. fenoprofen (nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drug).MedicationsĬertain prescription medications can trigger many changes in smell and taste. Improving your dental hygiene and treating gum disease or any other dental health problem should make the metallic taste disappear. Periodontitis (gum disease), as well as gingivitis (a form periodontitis that causes gum inflammation) and an infected tooth all can cause a metallic smell on your breath. Some of the more common origins include the following. If you experience a metallic taste in your mouth or a metallic scent on your breath, it could be due to a wide range of causes. Metallic smelling breath or taste in your mouth If you’re on a high-protein, low-carb diet, you may experience this after a strenuous workout. However, ammonia levels can still build up, so the body removes the excess ammonia - which is toxic - through sweat.ĭepending on the individual, that ammonia-rich perspiration may smell more like ammonia or metal. When this happens, the body breaks down ammonia into urea, which is excreted in urine. When long-distance runners and other athletes notice a metallic odor during or after a workout, it may be because their bodies are burning protein rather than glucose for fuel. For example, your sweat may smell a little more pungent if you’ve recently been eating onions or spicy foods.īut if you notice a metallic or ammonia-like smell on your sweat, it may be due to what you’re not eating. When you sweat, clues about your diet may also be revealed in how your sweat smells. This can be due to hormonal changes, such as puberty, or other factors, including your: If you know you’ll be handling coins or other metal objects, wear gloves to keep the metal from activating oils glands in your skin.Ĭhanges in body odor occur throughout your life. If that doesn’t do the trick, try scrubbing your hands with a paste made of baking soda and vinegar and then washing them again with soap and water. Washing your hands with soap and water is often enough to make the metallic smell go away. People with a heightened sense of smell may also pick up a metallic scent from blood on the skin, as blood contains iron and other minerals.
However, a 2006 study published in a journal from the German Chemical Society found that the metallic smell is actually a type of body odor that emerges when certain oils in the skin break down after contact with metal objects or metallic chemicals. Your first instinct may be to assume that you’re smelling metal that rubbed off onto your hands. The same phenomenon can occur after touching a metal stair railing or other metallic surface. If you’ve ever wrapped stacks of coins or rummaged through a change jar or coin collection, you may have noticed that your fingers retained the smell of copper or other metal.