Taste buds

[LilStep]

Anyone ever lost their taste buds because of MS?

Is this even possible?

[MSer102]

You don't actually lose taste buds from MS but you can lose your sense of taste if there's a lesion in a part of the brain that processes taste signals.

[aspen]

I lost my complete sense of taste from some time in February through April 24-26 this year, so yes it's possible. I have to tell you, the days it started coming back were incredibly exciting :-). I could differentiate salty, sweet and bitter during this time, but chocolate tasted like chicken tasted like blueberries tasted like cinnamon -- it was a real drag.

I am in limbo, so I guess that means I can't say it's because of ms which I imagine is what you are asking, but yes, my sense of taste was broken.

[LilStep]

Thanks for clarification.

[MSLorrieL]

I had one time after my TM episode where for some reason

Everything tasted A bit hot, like hot sauce. Regular things like coca cola would sting my tongue as if I were biting into a hot pepper. It did go away as my body healed (partially) from the Transverse Myelitis attack.

I sure hope your sense of taste returns soon!

[misslux]

I haven't lost my sense of taste thankfully. I am a total (vegan) foodie* and that would just suck all the joy out of my day!

*Yes, I know it sounds like an oxymoron.

[cali1892]

I have lost sense of taste a couple of times. The first time was worse than the last. Eventually it comes back, or it has for me. Food just had no taste. You would think that it would help you loose weight. But not me, I just kept searching for something that had taste.

[rdmc]

Tastebuds on one side of my mouth don't work. The neuro test where they put a substance on a swab then touch your tongue, works on one side. I can taste salt, sweet, etc...on the other side "nada."

I had known it for quite awhile because if I put my toothbrush with toothpaste on one side of my tongue I don't taste it...other side I do taste it.

I seem to taste fine when I'm eating, but they say that's because the tastebuds in the rest of my mouth work fine, evidently there are tastebuds not only on your tongue but on your palate too.

(I have quite a few cranial nerve problems with that side of my face, jaw, and tongue, due to a lesion...so it makes sense that the tastebuds would be affected too.) And to answer your question...yes it can be MS that causes this.

Cranial nerve involvement in MS would be the reason you'd have trouble with taste because there are several cranial nerves that give us our sense of taste.

[LilStep]

Thanks for your responses.

@ Rdmc, well I know all my lesions are near cerebellum. My recent MRI showed no new or enhancing lesions. So this is strange.

[rdmc]

Thanks for your responses.

@ Rdmc, well I know all my lesions are near cerebellum. My recent MRI showed no new or enhancing lesions. So this is strange.

Well the neuro has always blamed all my facial/tongue problems on the lesion in my brainstem (it's pretty large and in the right place to affect the cranial nerves.) Taste issues caused by cranial nerves are usually caused by trouble with the facial nerve or the glossopharyngeal nerve.

But I just read something someone posted and it talks about different parts of the brain and what they control/process. I'll post a link to the list, but basically the sense of taste is also linked to the Cerebellum.

Here's a quote from the list:

"CEREBRUM - cognitive area; includes:
Parietal Lobe - receives and evaluates sensory information. It processes information about touch, taste,"

and here's the link:
http://neurotalk.psychcentral.com/thread3436.html



Have you called your neuro?

[MSer102]

WARNING Will Robinson!

That list on Neurotalk contains SO MANY ERRORS that it should never be used by anyone for anything!

The brainstem, NOT the cerebellum, handles taste information.

Try this instead from a professor of bioengineering at the University of Washington http://faculty.washington.edu/chudler/tasty.html

There are two cranial nerves that innervate the tongue and are used for taste: the facial nerve (cranial nerve VII) and the glossopharyngeal nerve (cranial nerve IX). The facial nerve innervates the anterior (front) two-thirds of the tongue and the glossopharyngeal nerve innervates that posterior (back) one-third part of the tongue. Another cranial nerve (the vagus nerve, X) carries taste information from the back part of the mouth. The cranial nerves carry taste information into the brain to a part of the brain stem called the nucleus of the solitary tract. From the nucleus of the solitary tract, taste information goes to the thalamus and then to the cerebral cortex. Like information for smell, taste information also goes to the limbic system (hypothalamus and amygdala).

[rdmc]

WARNING Will Robinson!

That list on Neurotalk contains SO MANY ERRORS that it should never be used by anyone for anything!

The brainstem, NOT the cerebellum, handles taste information.

Try this instead from a professor of bioengineering at the University of Washington http://faculty.washington.edu/chudler/tasty.html

There are two cranial nerves that innervate the tongue and are used for taste: the facial nerve (cranial nerve VII) and the glossopharyngeal nerve (cranial nerve IX). The facial nerve innervates the anterior (front) two-thirds of the tongue and the glossopharyngeal nerve innervates that posterior (back) one-third part of the tongue. Another cranial nerve (the vagus nerve, X) carries taste information from the back part of the mouth. The cranial nerves carry taste information into the brain to a part of the brain stem called the nucleus of the solitary tract. From the nucleus of the solitary tract, taste information goes to the thalamus and then to the cerebral cortex. Like information for smell, taste information also goes to the limbic system (hypothalamus and amygdala).

I think the misunderstanding was my fault for putting cerebellum, in the body of my post, the link said cerebrum. As for me, I know my trouble comes from the medulla.

But that quote you posted says that taste info does eventually go to the cerebral cortex so does involve other parts of the brain (other than the brainstem) to process taste?