question: My taste buds appear to very red, tongue almost feels swollen. Mouth tastes very bitter. Seems like the same thing that happened when I was using tissue paper a lot during a job, and putting my finger to my mouth to moisten it. Althougt since realizing this, have obviously stopped. It seems to only happen at work when I'm in the back room lately. I work at a shoe store. After being home for a few hours, it goes away but returns when I'm at work.