I lost my sense of smell four years ago. The doctors told me that it is natural and that it is not a sickness

case 0659

I was born without a sense of smell. I can taste with my tongue, or at least it seems like I can. All air is the same to my nose.

case 0660

I use to love the smell of almost anything but recently everything I smell makes me get sick to the point where I want to throw up. I don't know what could have caused this, but I wish I still could smell things without getting sick. The smells are also much stronger than usual.

case 0661

I was having sinus problems and infections. I was taking medication for the infection. Now I cannot smell anything and have almost lost my sense of taste. I am really sad about this.

case 0662

At the age of twelve or maybe even before I told my mom that I can´t smell anything anymore. First she ignored my concerns but after a while she took me to a doctor who did a test which was negative. When I was ten years old I had infectious mononucleosis. The doctor told me it could be a consequence of this that I lost my olfactory sense. For many years I did not even think about this. I can´t remember ever smelling anything and I also don't remember when I actually realized that I can´t smell. In my early 20s I realized that I am really unable to smell and got sad about it. There is not much food in the world that I don´t like. But due to my loss I developed other possibilities of tasting food. I feel it. And if I don´t like the consistency, I don´t eat it. I can also "taste" the differences of cheese for example. Not by taste but by consistency.

case 0663

I developed a very severe upper respiratory infection after visiting somebody in the hospital. Later I noticed that my sense of smell had gone almost totally. My consultant is of the opinion that my anosmia was caused by the "neurotoxic" effect of the infection.

case 0664

I can remember smelling things when I was little, such as chocolate chip cookies baking in the oven. Then I stopped being able to smell most things. Now I can smell only one or two things. One of them is gasoline. I cannot smell other strong odors though — such as when a family member says that there is a strong smell from a skunk in the neighborhood — I can't smell anything at all. I cannot smell foods or cooking odors.

case 0665

I had problems with the smell of smoke/burning for some time. I was diagnosed with olfactory groove meningioma and had surgical resection of same. I have lost my sense of smell completely now.

case 0666

I had a poor sense of smell for many years. Currently I can smell almost nothing. I generally fake being able to smell because when I say that I can't smell something that everyone else can most people respond, "I can't believe that!" or "What? That's impossible, can't you smell it at least a little?". I use unscented products when at all possible, because I can't tell if something smells too strong. I worry about body odor, although not obsessively. I can't smell sour milk, or spoiled food, or skunks, or natural gas, or mown grass, or cat urine. I can't smell freshly baked goods or citrus fruits or steak grilling. The only break in this that I've had was when I took Topamax for prophylaxis of migraine headaches. I walked into a bodega and thought, "Wow, that bacon smells great!" and then realized that while I'd gone there every morning for years, I'd never noticed the scent. That day I opened a carton of orange juice and it smelled wonderful! My sense of smell never fully returned, though, and eventually I stopped taking Topamax because my headaches were controlled through other means. I was back on Topamax briefly a year or so ago, but I didn't have the same reaction as the first time. This has been unpleasant and hard to explain to people, and is generally dismissed as unimportant. But just recently one of our cats urinated on a piece of carpet, and it apparently reeked, and the smell was making my boyfriend nuts, and I couldn't smell it at all. His reaction to me was complete disbelief, as if I was faking that I couldn't smell something horrid. Oddly, I do still enjoy food, and can taste things reasonably well. I can't distinguish spices or herbs in a dish the way some people can, but when I cook, it seems that I don't make anything taste awful because of my lack of smelling. Occasionally I can smell extremely sharp chemical odors, but even that has become infrequent. It used to be that commercial hand soap would smell extremely strong to me, and that I would keep smelling it on my hands for hours. I can't remember the last time that happened, though.

case 0667

About two months ago I got body pain and coughing at night. I did, however, not have a runny nose. Since that time I lost my feeling of smell and food does not have any taste to me. I am so upset that I can't enjoy smelling and tasting the food. I have anxiety and do not sleep well.

case 0668

I had the flu for a month and when the flu was over I noticed that I lost my sense of smell.

case 0669

I had a head injury from an accident seven years ago. I had a fractured skull with multiple hemorrhages but recovered fully except that I lost my sense of smell.

case 0670

I sometimes feel that I smell a burnt odor that comes from inside my nose. I'm not sure if it really comes from my nose, but I can smell it and the people around me cannot. Sometimes the odor is a burnt odor and sometimes it is a foul smell. I fear it's coming from my brain.

case 0671

I think I lost the ability to smell subtle smells first and then the ability to smell strong odors like petrol. I used to have regular colds and especially in the months following monsoon and in the winter I used to have a terrible time with colds. Now I have stopped enjoying food and the aroma of particular dishes, the smell of flowers, and all other smells. I also find it dangerous that I can't smell a gas leak in the kitchen or something getting burnt.