A possible cause for having a metallic taste in your mouth (CKD)

By Alvin Alexander. Last updated: June 4, 2016

I’ll write about all of my recent experiences as soon as time permits, for today I just want to note that if you have a metallic taste in your mouth — possibly accompanied by a severe headache — one possible cause is having chronic kidney disease, or CKD.

Metallic mouth taste and CKD

Last year my creatinine level went up to 1.4, then settled down at about 1.3. With these numbers the medical paperwork showed that I have “stage 2 chronic kidney disease.” Then something happened last week where my creatinine level jumped up to 1.76. This put me at “stage 3 chronic kidney disease.” At this time I began having problems with severe light-headedness and started to pass out several times over 36 hours. I ended up in the ER, where I learned that my creatinine level had spiked up to 1.76.

At various times over the last two years I have been suffering with severe headaches (or, more accurately, severe head pain) and an occasional metallic taste in my mouth. I originally described the taste as tasting like I was bleeding in my mouth, but there was no blood. Another way to describe the taste is to imagine what you might taste if you put a coin or a piece of iron in your mouth.

Unfortunately no doctors associated the metallic mouth taste with the chronic kidney disease (which pisses me off to no end), but I took matters into my own hands and googled until I stumbled onto links like these that show that the metallic taste is a symptom of CKD:

Other CKD symptoms

Other primary CKD symptoms I have had include being light-headed, extremely tired/fatigued, and having difficulty concentrating, but for the moment I just want to note that if you have a metallic taste in your mouth, I can speak from experience that chronic kidney disease is one possible cause. (See the links below for more information on CKD symptoms.)

At the moment it appears that my CKD may be caused by “polycystic kidney disease,” but the doctors may need to perform a biopsy to make sure that there are no tumors. (A recent CT Scan showed, and I quote, “cysts and probable cysts.”)