Bitter Taste in the Mouth

You haven't eaten anything bitter. No black coffee, no radicchio, no medication. And yet that taste is there — bitter, metallic, unpleasant. It seems to come out of nowhere, clings stubbornly, and no glass of water washes it away. Medicine looks for causes in the liver, the stomach, the saliva flow, the oral microbiome. And sometimes it finds something there.

But when everything is physically unremarkable and the bitter taste still remains — then a different question arises: What in your life tastes bitter? What leaves an aftertaste that won't go away, even though the thing itself is long over?

Your mouth is the place where you take in the world — food, words, kisses. It is the gateway between inside and outside. When it tastes bitter without an external cause, it's not your palate speaking. It's your story.