Sweet Taste in Mouth and Blurry Vision?....On Paleo Diet and Iron Deficient

Hey all as always thanks for everything!

I come here today because I am not sure what to do with some annoying symptoms as of recently. Today, I am constantly getting a sweet taste in my mouth and also my vision is acting pretty blurry lately. I have been on the paleo diet for like 4 weeks now and the sweet taste in the mouth hasn't started till today. Before I'd get a metallic taste every once in awhile. I've also woken up with a sweet tongue that's rather annoying.

The vision issues started about the time I was diagnosed with Lyme 6 years ago and it's still a battle. Wondering if any of you have dealt with this? Also my ferritin is at 20 and so my doc is pretty certain on top of everything I'm iron deficient.

Any advice, similar stories, etc. be helpful!

As always, thanks for all!

With iron, absorption can be an issue for a lot of people. If you eat calcium-rice foods at the same time as iron-rich foods, then your body does not absorb the iron. If you do not have enough vitamin C or B12, then you do not absorb (or maybe use?) the iron properly.

Iron deficiency can cause altered sense of taste, sweet taste, and metallic taste in the mouth. Do you have other symptoms of iron deficiency - fatigue, easy bruising, etc.?

Low ferritin is something that every functional medicine doctor has been concerned about with me as well. I took a ferritin supplement once (one dose) and had terrible liver pain and headache from it. Every other type of doctor I've seen, however, looks at my platelets, hemoglobin, and other blood components, and insists that I am not anemic and therefore the low or low-ish ferritin is not a concern. It's odd to me that this is a controversy.

I like the MegaFood brand Blood Builder iron supplement, though I take it every other day, and just while menstruating, to avoid constipation. Other great options are Floridix or Florivital.

With vision stuff people tend to point to Bartonella, but Borrelia can mess with vision, too. Low cortisol can cause the pupils not to contract properly, which can mess with vision; this might be the case if you have noticed increased sensitivity to light. Is the blurriness constant, like maybe you just need a new prescription? Is it bilateral? Coincides with other symptoms, like headaches? Other vision symptoms?

The sensory symptoms can be so unsettling.

It could be your trigeminal nerve, it’s the largest cranial nerve and it affects taste, eyes, sinuses, etc. Google it and take a look at all the different branches.

Mine is inflamed or infected by Bartonella and I get weird taste sensations, I can occasionally feel the nerve pulsate, and my vision will go blurry for a few seconds.