Tasting blood....Can this be true?

Nurses General Nursing

Published

I have been telling people that I actually experience this but no one believes me. Can someone please shed some light on this. I work in a blood lab and when I open alot of Tiger top serum tubes to pour/aliquot off, though I'm wearing my face shield, I'm getting a blood-like taste in my mouth that I believe is coming from all of the serum that I'm pouring off. I swear I can taste the blood only subtle though. What chemistry could be causing this phenomenon?

Up Vote Up Vote ×
Specializes in ER/ICU/Flight.

Who knows?? just be glad you're not emptying bedpans....that would taste worse.

Up Vote Up Vote ×
Who knows?? just be glad you're not emptying bedpans....that would taste worse.

Too Funny...:lol2:

Up Vote Up Vote ×

LOL

Up Vote Up Vote ×
Specializes in Pulmonary, MICU.

The sense of smell and the sense of taste are very well connected. Likely you are smelling some of the plasma during transfer, and by proxy tasting it.

Up Vote Up Vote ×
The sense of smell and the sense of taste are very well connected. Likely you are smelling some of the plasma during transfer, and by proxy tasting it.

I agree. I would also like to add that, like me, you probably have a highly developed sense of smell, which allows you to smell things completely differently (and more strongly) than other people. I know exactly what you're experiencing, as it happens to me quite frequently. (The post about the bedpan brought back some pretty unpleasant memories!)

Up Vote Up Vote ×
Specializes in Cardiothoracic.

I've been a lab assistant in a hospital lab for the last 2 years. I pour off serum, plasma and urine all day and I have to say, I've NEVER experienced this. I've never particularly felt like serum or plasma has a smell. Urine on the other hand... WOW! Some people have some smelly pee!! Maybe you just have a very acute sense of smell to the point where your brain THINKS you are tasting it also.

*shrug*

Up Vote Up Vote ×
The sense of smell and the sense of taste are very well connected. Likely you are smelling some of the plasma during transfer, and by proxy tasting it.

Exactly right.

Up Vote Up Vote ×
Specializes in critical care: trauma/oncology/burns.
Who knows?? just be glad you're not emptying bedpans....that would taste worse.

:nuke: HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAhahahhahahahaahahah You made my day!

Up Vote Up Vote ×
Specializes in Med/Surg.
Who knows?? just be glad you're not emptying bedpans....that would taste worse.

Wow you took the words right out of my mouth!!!!

Up Vote Up Vote ×
Who knows?? just be glad you're not emptying bedpans....that would taste worse.

That would never happen with bedpans. First, pouring serum and changing bedpans are two totally different things. Blood and Feces are totally different with different chemical makeups. They are also handled totally different from each other in labs. Pouring serum is much closer to your face than actually changing a bedpan or handling feces. And I pour off tons of blood on my job as much as 4 or 5 hundred tubes a night! I haven't come across too many people who pour serum with outstretched arms like you would with a bedpan. I agree with the other poster that the senses of smell and taste are so connected that this could be possible. This also reminds me of Ionized calciums that we get. We can't open the tubes for fear of compromising the specimens, so there is some chemical reaction going on with the air we breathe (O2) and exposed blood hence my acute sense of smell coupled with the "taste" factor. It is too bad that people are so quick to make fun of and dismiss things that other people experience. It reminds me of 50 yrs ago when male doctors used to think female problems were all in their heads only to find that these women were actually experiencing these things. Just because you haven't experienced this doesn't mean that it is not possible.

Up Vote Up Vote ×
Specializes in ER, PACU, Med-Surg, Hospice, LTC.
That would never happen with bedpans. First, pouring serum and changing bedpans are two totally different things. Blood and Feces are totally different with different chemical makeups. They are also handled totally different from each other in labs. Pouring serum is much closer to your face than actually changing a bedpan or handling feces. And I pour off tons of blood on my job as much as 4 or 5 hundred tubes a night! I haven't come across too many people who pour serum with outstretched arms like you would with a bedpan.

Great response.

I was wondering how cozy some people were getting w/ those bedpans. LOL! :bugeyes:

The only thing I could think of was this: The iron atoms in blood do give fresh blood a smell and can even give off a kind of metallic odor. Like others stated, smell and taste are very closely connected and therefor smelling the blood gives the sensation that you are 'tasting' blood?

I really don't know.

Up Vote Up Vote ×
+ Add a Comment