Leaving a bitter
taste in the mouth!
A good friend
and frequent client of mine, Liz, often brings one of her many rescued
animals in to see me for healing. I had not seen her for some months
when she arrived missing a dog lead or cat basket. Looking at her
puzzled she exclaimed that it was herself in need of my healing on
this occasion.
As we settled
into our coffee and tea respectively Liz tried to explain her reason
for the visit: 'You know I can sometimes have trouble with acid stomach,
well it is like that but not like that. I have had one course of anti-biotics
from the Doctor which did absolutely nothing, so now I am on the last
dose of the strongest anti-biotic I can have and still the symptoms
are the same.' Liz was terribly worried, thinking of all the worst
things it could be. 'The Doctor is going to arrange a scan for me
if this lot doesn't work, I need your help Helen it's been going on
for weeks now!'
My Guide, dear Charles knows Liz well and I could feel him with us
as she spoke. The impression I was getting from both Liz's description
and Charles' help was quite confusing. At this point in a consultation
with a client, I usually have some indication to the root of the problem
but with this one, I didn't have a clue.
'Describe your
symptoms exactly to me Liz.' I asked. 'Well' Liz started, 'When I
eat or drink anything and sometimes when I have not eaten for some
time, I get what I can only describe as a strange, bitter metallic
taste in my mouth.'
It was at this point the penny dropped: I clasped my head into my
hands, shaking it in disbelief and muttering 'oh no, I don't believe
it!' 'What' Liz enquired, 'What it is?' Smiling as I brought my head
from my hands I looked at Liz, trying hard not to laugh; 'Have you
eaten any Pine Nut Kernels lately Liz?' Struggling to see the relevance
with her problem she thought for a short time and replied 'Why yes,
I have, it was a bag of mixed Goji berries and pine kernels, a present
from a friend…Why?'
I then related
my own story of the Pine nut kernels only two months before:
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As Pine
nut kernels are really quite expensive these days my cupboards
had been void of them for some time so when I spotted a small,
reasonably priced packet in the on-line-store of Holland and
Barrett, the large well known whole-food store, I treated
myself. Having roasted a small handful of them to accompany
my salad that evening, I could not resist nibbling a few ahead
of time and very tasty they were too. Later that day I experienced
a strange and VERY disgusting metallic, bitter taste in my
mouth. No amount of tooth-brushing or mouth-washing would
shift it. I soldiered on through the day believing it would
simply subside in time but it managed to get worse. I had
to have sugar in my coffee as it tasted disgusting, my dinner,
biscuits, even water could not escape this awful twang! My
husband was becoming irritated with the frequency of which
I would be smacking my lips together with a screwed-up face
exclaiming 'What is this horrible taste?' I even considered
that I was coming out in sympathy with a friend going through
chemotherapy. On the third day I had enough, I could not take
it any longer. I typed into the internet search bar 'Bitter
taste in mouth.' and found myself reading a blog of people
asking 'what is this bitter taste in my mouth?' the first
answer was relating to tooth implants going wrong.. well,
I'm certainly not rich enough to have any of those so I read
on: 'What is this bitter taste in my mouth and I have not
been eating pine nut kernels?' Pine nut kernels, what on earth
does he mean? I followed the link and up they all came: Dozens
of similar experiences dating as far back as 2008 and more
from just recently. It seems that many kernels, often small
ones from China have been contaminated with rancid oil that
affects some people by leaving a disgusting bitter, metallic
taste in their mouths for up to two months!
I rushed down stairs to my larder, grabbing at the small packet
and squinting at the tiny print on the back, with a shout
of 'NO!' I read 'Produce of China.'
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The bitter taste
in my mouth lasted six days before subsiding. The bitter experience
will last for ever. Four months on I cannot bring myself to eat another
pine nut kernel, from China or anywhere else.
It took some convincing to persuade Liz of this cause but once she
had seen the articles on the internet and tried the suggested remedies
of Charcoal tablets and Aloe Vera juice the dreadful taste began to
ease. Her Doctor is now fully armed with these facts for future patients.
I had only a small handful of the kernels but Liz had consumed the
whole packet over the course of a week, her symptoms lasted five weeks!
At least we averted any nasty hospital scans.
