As many of you know, I was classically trained as a chef. Food was and still (to a lesser extent) is very much an important part of my life. Thought things take me significantly longer to plan and prepare, though my ancillary skills (such as my abilities with a knife or to stand at the range) are compromised, even though I cannot financially afford the ingredients I once lavished on dinner guests; I still love to cook and eat. This is, of course, why MS’s random attacks on my sense of taste have been so frustrating in the past. Around holiday times and “important” meals I’ve been lucky to dodge the MS bullet by just a few days… Until this past week. Starting with a roast duckling dinner that I tucked into at a local public house while Caryn was away giving a presentation last week, I began to notice unpleasant textural distortions on my tongue. I thought at first that maybe some of the fat of duck was causing the problem. It was as if a grainy, fatty coating was coating my mouth. It felt thick, sticky and, well… fuzzy. Since Wednesday the symptom has persisted and I’ve been able to more distinctively describe it. Everything is fine in my mouth until I put something in there. Something solid. Liquids do not seem to trigger the sensation while any food product does. I’ve also honed in on the fact that only the right side of my tongue is affected. Though, due to the unpleasant nature of the sensation, if really doesn’t matter. Chewing and trying to taste only on the left side of my mouth invariably leads to a little bit of food slipping over to the other side. Then the whole mouthful turns into a Crisco-coated blur. The oddity in this is that my actual sense of taste isn’t changed. I can taste everything but the tactile disturbance makes that extremely difficult. Each bite of our amazing Easter dinner was like trying to have a romantic conversation at a rock concert. I had to focus so hard on tasting through the fatty fuzz that it was like I was taking a test. I’m on no meds that would cause such a thing and as it’s coupled with some other MS stuff – more on that later in the week – so I’m pretty sure this is an MS “thing”. What Crap! MS, you’re a bastard and I’ll never think of you as anything but the thief that you are. I sure wish that this was an April Fools prank… How about you; any palate, taste, tongue symptoms you’d like to share? Wishing you and your family the best of health. Cheers Trevis You can also follow me via our Life With MS Facebook page, on Twitter, and in our group on MS Connection.org. Also, check out our bi-monthly MS blog for the United Kingdom, and don’t forget to check out TrevisLGleason.com.
