Hi all, I had open heart surgery back in 93’, due to large blood loss I had to have a blood
transfusion, what did happen after the transfusion, was that my taste and smell was altered,
when I tasted familiar food it did not taste “right” and also for example the smell of my wife was
not the same. The food tasted somehow “metallic” and my wife smelled like “antiseptic”, this
phenomenon lasted for quite some time and got less with time passing, does this
make sense in anyway?
The reason I ask this question now, is, that a friend of mine is in Hospital with “Dengue”
(this is the Philippines) and I was talking with him about it because he maybe needs one too.
Thanks
It makes perfect sense to me. I had the same symptoms (antiseptic smells, metallic tastes, things being off) when I underwent lithotripsy for kidney stones, which does not involve a blood transfusion or anything like that. I wasn’t even cut open. They use shock waves to break up the stones, which they need to put you under when they do it, but it’s not surgery, at least not the cutting type.
The symptoms you experienced are an after-effect from the anesthesia and have nothing to do with the blood transfusion. As you noted, they goes away on their own after a while.
According to some medical web sites that I googled, some side effects of blood transfusions that you may get are headache, nausea, chills, fever, or shortness of breath. I’ve never had a blood transfusion so I can’t comment any further on that.
I have never heard of a blood transfusion causing alteration of the senses in the way you describe. However, many medications cause alterations in all sort of things.
For example, pyridium changes the color of urine to orange. Ampicillin/sulbactam causes a distinct odor in the urine and sometime alters taste. Many people report having a metallic, salty, or bitter tastes in the mouth following administration of various meds.
I would suppose your issues were cause more by meds than blood.
Look at it this way: if you didn’t have the blood transfusion, there’s a very good chance that you wouldn’t have been tasting anything.
My money would be on the anesthetic or other drugs. There is no conceivable mechanism by which a blood transfusion could affect taste and smell.
Thanks, that makes more sense now after you have pointed it out that way.