Changes in Taste

[DarlaHS]

I have read many entrees that people have a metallic taste after surgery. My surgeon explained to me that the metallic taste is usually from bloody drainage in the back of throat. I get that and understand it completely as that is what happened to me. Even now after the drainage has stopped I occassionaly will get a metallic taste. This is not what I am referring to.

Since surgery my tastes have changed. I mean the foods I like and enjoy eating, I no longer like them. For instance, I have always eaten french fries with mayonnaise, never ketchup. I ate them like this since I was a child. Now, I very much dislike mayonnaise and will only eat fries with ketchup. This is just one of numerous changes that have been noticed.

I was just wondering if anyone else has had these type of changes that affects what they eat and dont eat. If you have, does it get better?  

 

[Mary Beth]

@DarlaHS

Temporary changes in taste are not uncommon after cochlear implant surgery.  For most people, this resolves itself in time.

check this out

http://www.cmj.org/article.asp?issn=0366-6999;year=2015;volume=128;issue=15;spage=2115;epage=2118;aulast=Wang

[DarlaHS]

Thank you. I now understand I am not going crazy. ?

[Valentin]

I had change in my Taste -DarlaHS, and it correct itself with time. Don't worry and be patient. 

[Daniel the Stranger]

My taste did not change much. A little bit of metalic and a buttery feeling, food felt like more oily than usual but my taste didn't change, still enjoy my burgers and pizzas from time to time  

[XaVi]

 It was around 2 weeks after surgery with strange taste, the worst case was when test with red wine....  ?

 

[Mary Featherston]

Well, that got real fast.  Wine?  This is serious.  ?

 

[Richard Foster]

Question about change in taste.

First implant in 2015 without issues. Second implant in early March of this year. Noticed loss of taste near end of March. This has continued with serious loss of almost all taste.

Has anyone else encountered this problem..?

Did taste return to normal.?

if taste did return how long before it returned to normal.?

Is it possible that taste never returns..?

Thanks

Richard

[Mary Beth]

@Richard Foster

Hi!  I am sorry you are experiencing loss of taste.  It seems to be a possible complication related to the chorda tympani being effected by the surgery.  I hope it resolves soon.  Have you asked your surgeon about it yet?

[Watersail]

I have a loss of taste following my surgery as well. My surgeon and I discussed some side effects prior to the surgery with loss of taste being one of them. For the most part I've been assured it's mainly temporary though it may take time. Post surgery, I brought it up with my audiologist and surgeon and they're keeping an eye on it and asking me about it on my follow up appointments.

I'm starting to taste fruits, some vegetables, dairy, and some sweet things again. Meat tastes like air. Soda and red wine taste downright awful right now. Chocolate covered almonds tastes like chocolate though, so that is a relief. On the plus side, I'm eating more fruits and vegetables.

[Paul Rosa]

Hi,

I have two cochlear implants that have been in place for over four years. For the first few months after each surgery everything tasted metallic and milk products tasted like wesson oil. 

Now, four years after the implant surgeries the electrical signals and wire pressure on taste nerves caused by the implants I have to say many tastes are still a little metallic. Things like potato chips have literally no taste, donuts very little taste, and most foods are very bland now. Fresh and canned fruits still taste pretty much the same, ice cream pretty much the same, chicken and soup products pretty much the same. Boxed chocolates are fine - but candy bars and anything with a plastic wrapper pretty much tastes like the wrapper.

Being able to understand spoken words again is worth the price of the taste loss... ...at least most the time. And be sure to keep in mind that Cochlear Implants are not the same a real ears or even hearing aids. With cochlear implants you will be COMPLETELY TONE DEAF. Period. Anyone on TV who pretends to be deaf and able to sign is lying. I had perfect pitch and was a concertert pianist,  vocalist and conductor. Now, processing the electrical signals from the pair of 12 transducers in my cochlear implants that replaced my ears makes the 88 notes on a piano "sound" like crazy wrong pitch metallic kettle drums that are out of tune and playing totally different notes in each ear.

If I play a triad chord all I here is a metallic percussive sound without a real "note" or "pitch". People with normal ears and normal hearing can hear toned from 20hz to 20,000hz and for most the tones are the same in each ear. People with two cochlear implants can detect the texture of the notes but really cannot distinguish the actual pitch or tone - with sounds "feelling" somewhere in the range of 300 hz to 4,000 hz. Again these cochlear produced electric signals that are sent into each cochlear nerve bypassing the eardrum completely reproduce the pitches differently in each ear. To put it another way, when I listen to the theme of "Jeopardy" play on television, I hear two different totally wrong and out-of-tune painful melodies in each ear. 

The average person has thousands of fluid-filled cochlear nerve-cells firing off the sounds of music and the world in each wonderful ear. A cochlear implant user has literally a grand total of twelve tiny microscopically small metal transducers spitting out over-modulated facsimile electrical pulses and rough frequency approximations in each ear. Trying to hear musical pitches with cochlear implants is the same as someone who can successfully read with corrected lenses taking their glasses and scratching up their lenses so densely that they cannot read the words anymore because the scratches block the word-shapes to the point of obscurity. 

Hope this is helpful. Sorry if I wrote too much.  paulrosa1701@gmail.com 

[Mary Beth]

Hi @Paul Rosa!  Welcome to HearPeers.

I am sorry that your sense of taste is still not normal.  My understanding is any taste disturbances are due to the actual surgery itself rather than electrical stimulation from a CI.  Have you discussed your taste disturbances with your surgeon?  It is a risk factor for the surgery but fortunately most people who experience it only have to deal with it for a short time before taste returns to normal.  I’m sorry it is lasting so very long for you.

 

Everyone’s experience with CIs is unique.  For me, what started out as all musical notes sounding similar transformed into beautiful music.  I enjoy listening to all types of music and playing the piano.  I can hear when I play a wrong note.  Training musical pitch with the Auralia Pitch Comparison app helped me.

 

It must be very frustrating to not experience music the way you did before.  Have you considered volunteering for one of the image guided MAPping studies? I participated in a study on image guided MAPping at Vanderbilt.  Charles Limb’s lab has image guided music studies going on in California.  Lots of exciting research being done on music and CIs.

 

There is a biennial music and CI conference.  It may be happening again in 2020.  @MallaRuth attended the conference in Montreal in 2018. She plays clarinet (and sax).

 

Have you seen the Beats of Cochlea videos on YouTube?  @VeroNika participated several years ago.  She is an amazing pianist.

 

I hope you get your normal taste back and I hope you find a pleasurable way back to music.

[Mary Beth]

@Paul Rosa

Here is what helped me return to music with my CIs.  Wishing you the best.

 

https://blog.medel.com/3-steps-to-rediscovering-music-with-a-cochlear-implant/

[MallaRuth]

I don't really know what to say to this post. I find it - especially the analogy of the scratched glasses - quite off-putting. Cochlear implants are so much more than the sum of their parts.

[Mary Featherston]

On 11/13/2019 at 6:19 AM, MallaRuth said:

I don't really know what to say to this post. I find it - especially the analogy of the scratched glasses - quite off-putting. Cochlear implants are so much more than the sum of their parts.

I think it's important to point out, which Mary Beth did in a nice way, that it's not valid to extrapolate from a single data point.  I'm sorry that Paul is having trouble hearing  music and discerning pitch, but the conclusion that that will be the universal experience just isn't so.  I can tell when I'm out of tune.

[Darlene Mac]

After my CI surgery, I did lose my sense of taste temporarily. Before my implant I couldn't hear half the sound at the theater, but I loved the popcorn.  Honestly, the popcorn was the best part of going to the theater.  For a couple of months after my surgery, I could hear all the movie, but couldn't taste the popcorn.  Thankfully, that resolved itself, and now I can enjoy the movie and the popcorn.  Just a little thing, but it's wonderful to enjoy the whole experience. 

[Mary Beth]

Movie + popcorn is best!

[Arnaud]

Hello 

Is there fewer risks this happens with new robotic (more precise) surgery? 

The hospital where I will be implanted uses this technic 

[Mary Beth]

@Arnaud

Is that the HEARO robot?  I saw a video of that.  Really cool.

[Arnaud]

@Mary Beth

It's not HEARO (wich was developped by MED-EL) but ROBOTOL, developped by French hospitals and which has been used for the wold first robotized IC surgery. 

There's also ROSA, used for neurosurgery for years and that can now be used for IC.  

[Mary Beth]

And this one too

https://uihc.org/news/ui-surgeon-performs-first-robot-assisted-cochlear-implant-surgery

It definitely seems like the future of CI surgeries involves robots.

I have complicated cochleas and round window insertions we’re not possible in either of my ears.  So far it seems like these robots are designed for round window insertions.

[Arnaud]

Future would also be "light" CI, then DNA therapy to help ear cells regenerate (already in test phase on 200 recipients). 

[Mary Beth]

@Arnaud

yes I have been reading about both of those future possibilities.

Is your surgery out patient?  In the US, almost all CI surgeries are out patient (no over night at the hospital).

[Arnaud]

Yes it's the same here. 

Does anyone knows if there's fever risks about taste? 

[Lsmart]

On 9/22/2018 at 7:24 PM, DarlaHS said:

I have read many entrees that people have a metallic taste after surgery. My surgeon explained to me that the metallic taste is usually from bloody drainage in the back of throat. I get that and understand it completely as that is what happened to me. Even now after the drainage has stopped I occassionaly will get a metallic taste. This is not what I am referring to.

Since surgery my tastes have changed. I mean the foods I like and enjoy eating, I no longer like them. For instance, I have always eaten french fries with mayonnaise, never ketchup. I ate them like this since I was a child. Now, I very much dislike mayonnaise and will only eat fries with ketchup. This is just one of numerous changes that have been noticed.

I was just wondering if anyone else has had these type of changes that affects what they eat and dont eat. If you have, does it get better?  

 

I had my implant done 2 months ago and still have the metal taste. I read online that it can be cashed by the implant being close to the taste nerve?  Anyway, it’s weird. My taste in food has also changed , like DarlaHS. I never had a sweet tooth but now I love honey. Salt doesn’t taste of anything. Some weird likes and dislikes.