Sometimes we may experience bad breath or a bitter taste in our mouth, such as a bitter mouth. So, what causes a bitter mouth? How can we manage a bitter mouth? Let's take a look at the introduction in the following article.
After eating bitter foods, there will undoubtedly be a bitter taste in the mouth. However, some people feel a bitter taste in their mouth even without consuming bitter foods or when waking up at night. Why is this? How to manage a bitter mouth?
What causes bitterness in the mouth of elderly people?
Traditional Chinese Medicine believes that bitterness and bad breath are manifestations of internal heat or cold pathogens damaging fluids and entering the liver and gallbladder meridians. Specific causes can be seen in the following situations:
1. Cold pathogens
When cold pathogens damage fluids and enter the Shaoyang gallbladder meridian, it often causes symptoms such as bitterness in the mouth. As stated in the "Treatise on Cold Damage": "For diseases of the Shaoyang, bitterness in the mouth, dry throat, dizziness, restlessness, and a tendency to vomit" are common.
2. Diet
Improper diet or lack of necessary exercise after overeating can also cause bitterness in the mouth. This is because food stays too long in the stomach and intestines, easily causing damp-heat, resulting in a bitter taste in the mouth, bitter vomiting, often accompanied by yellow tongue coating, abdominal distension and pain, and dark yellow urine.
3. Damp-heat in the liver and gallbladder causing bitterness
This is caused by stagnant fire in the liver and gallbladder meridians or heat in the liver transferring to the gallbladder, causing bile qi to rise. Damp-heat in the liver and gallbladder causing bitterness is likely due to inflammation in the liver and gallbladder areas, especially in patients with cholecystitis or gallstones. Due to poor gallbladder function and abnormal bile secretion, it leads to a bitter sensation. People with liver and gallbladder diseases, besides experiencing a bitter sensation, also have symptoms such as headache, dizziness, red face and eyes, irritability, dry stools, and a reddish tongue.
4. Internal heat causing bitterness
This kind of bitterness is due to anxiety, irritability, excessive internal heat, or long-term staying up late causing indigestion and poor bile secretion, often accompanied by symptoms such as red face, headache, red eyes, and dark yellow urine. It is worth noting that nervous bitterness is also quite common. Some people, due to excessive work or academic pressure, often experience anger, restlessness, anxiety, fear, uneasiness, insomnia, etc., and are likely to develop bitterness in the mouth.
5. Diseases
Some chronic disease patients, such as diabetes and some cancer patients, often have a bitter taste in their mouth and should stay alert. People with irregular lifestyles and lack of sleep often feel a bitter taste upon waking up. Severe snoring and sleeping with the mouth open can also easily cause a bitter taste. Excessive smoking, heavy drinking, etc., can also lead to a bitter taste. People with oral inflammation may experience direct bitterness due to local diseases, such as gingivitis and other oral diseases.
