Candida or Parkinson’s

[NJCOL]

Hello,

Please could someone confirm if a fairly constant bitter taste in the mouth is a symptom of Parkinson’s?

My mum (who has Parkinson’s) has had a constant bitter taste in her mouth for about nine months. She took antibiotics for a leg ulcer last year so I suspected Candida. A dentist told her it wasn’t, a pharmacist told her it was. Nystatin was prescribed. She took it for about 5 days but it seemed to make it worse.

She sucks mints and chocolate to mask the awful taste, but this is likely to make Candida (if that is the cause?) worse in the long term, and it’s not a healthy option anyway, especially for someone with Parkinson’s.

Any feedback or suggestions will be most welcome, in order to help us work out the cause

Thank you so much.

Neil

[Esperanto]

Candida is a possibility. Attacks on your tongue, mouth fungus, (respiratory) infections, mouth burns, tonsil inflammation, digestive problems, reflux or hepatitis can be causes of a bitter taste. 

But it can be either Parkinson's. It is known that levodopa can have a bitter taste as a possible side effect. 

However, the most common cause of a bitter or foul taste in the mouth is poor oral hygiene. Research by Marjolijn van Stiphout e.o. show that this is the case especially in people with PD.

Https://hindawi.com/journals/pd/201...

Also saliva plays an important role in cleaning the mouth and removing bacteria. With dry mouth, which is common with PD, bacteria have more room to spread.

[NJCOL in reply to Esperanto]

Hello Esperanto,

Thank you for taking the time to provide this detailed response. It certainly outlines the possible causes which we’ll investigate further. Much appreciated.

Neil

[MBAnderson]

ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articl....

[NJCOL in reply to MBAnderson]

Hello, thanks for the link.

Neil

[kleighclark]

I have found that when I become dehydrated I have a bitter taste. Once I drink enough water on a consistent basis it goes away.

[NJCOL in reply to kleighclark]

Hello, thanks for the suggestion, I’ll definitely encourage my mum to increase her fluid intake.