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 0628

When I was younger I noticed that when people would tell me to smell certain flowers that I couldn't notice anything different about them. They just smelled like the air. I can only smell garlic, coffee, vinegar, and nail polish. Some things smell hot or cold but other than those four items everything smells the same and I describe it as it smells like air.

case 0629

I noticed that after taking medicine for high blood pressure I lost my sense of smell. I am no longer on the medication but my sense of smell has not return.

case 0630

I have this unusual chemical in my nose. At first I thought that I smelled my own body odor because the smell is more intense when I am sitting down and more body heat is rising up. I eliminated this theory by taking a thorough bath and using plenty of deodorant. Then I sat down and still had the strange smell in my nose. My nose is clear and there is no infection. Sometimes the smell is more intense than other times. The whole situation seems to be getting worse. As a photoengraver I worked with a lot of nitric acid fumes for 50 years.

case 0631

I have this terrible smell in my nose. Everything around me seems to stink. I also feel nauseous most of the time.

case 0632

During a cold I experienced the usual loss of smell and taste. When I started feeling better from the cold symptoms, I realized my taste and smell were gone. My ear nose throat doctor didn't find anything and concluded the loss was caused by the virus. For the first few months everything (food, toothpaste), if it had any taste, would taste like perfume. I also realized that the only thing I could detect was if something was sweet. I found myself eating more sweet things, just because I could at least sense something instead of nothing when I ate. The loss of taste greatly altered the taste of coffee, chocolate, and any kind of soda. In the past year I have been able to drink coffee without sensing a strange taste. I still do not taste the true flavor of the coffee, but it is bearable, most of the time. Whenever it starts tasting unpleasant I just quit drinking it for a few weeks. (The same thing has happened with eating anything with chocolate.) Sometimes I think I can sense something when eating or drinking, but it is never the real taste of the item. I wish I could find something that would bring back these two senses. I feel many times like not eating, or like when I am eating that my mouth may as well be full of sawdust for all the satisfaction I am getting.

case 0633

After I had a heart attack one year ago I have a continual problem with my sense of smell that also affects my sense of taste. Something as ordinary as water can cause a horrible smell.

case 0634

I have had a really bad cold. Initially I assumed I could not smell because I was blocked up but when my nose was unblocked I still could not smell anything.

case 0635

Most of the time I feel my sense of smell is gone. I use medications for allergies and asthma as needed. I also use a continuous positive airway pressure machine.

case 0636

I suffered from severe cold/flu symptoms resulting in respiratory congestion. As the symptoms subsided my regular olfactory sense never returned. For about a year or two thereafter I experienced "phantom" smells related to paints and solvents and could barely detect some of the more pungent food smells (onion, garlic and fruits such as peach and citrus). Some of the early phantom odors would persist for hours at a time. As time progressed, all of these sensations ceased to the point that there is no odor detection of any kind at this point.

case 0637

I don't remember ever being able to smell. I remember my mother having flowers in the house and she would smell them and say how nicely they smelled and I would put my nose all the way into the flower and try to smell them, but nothing happened. I didn't know why I couldn't smell. When I realized that I could not smell anything I tried to smell everything that I could, but nothing worked. I tried to smell scratch n' sniff stickers and I couldn't smell them. But, when I stuck my tongue out and touched it to the sticker I thought I tasted something. So, I've tried this with other things that aren't necessarily edible just to see what it smells like. I still can't smell anything. I burn food, I've eaten rotten chicken — a mouse died underneath a piece of furniture and I never knew it was there. The list goes on and on.

case 0638

One day I used perfumed body oil and noticed that I could smell it but it wasn't as strong as usual. I asked my wife to smell it and she said it was all right. About three months later my son was burning something in his room but I couldn't smell anything. Now I can't smell my younger son when I'm right over him changing his diaper.

case 0639

Over the last couple of months, it seems that 80% of the time when I breathe, I smell tobacco smoke (like a cigar or pipe) and it inhibits me in taking full breaths. It seemed to go away for a while right after I had a cold and my sinuses were very clear.

case 0640

After I contracted a sinus infection I lost my sense of smell.

case 0641

I'm not sure how this happened, but I lost my sense of smell at 14, or at least that's when I first noticed it. If the odor is strong, I can smell it, but that's about it. I used a nasal spray beforehand while sick.

case 0642

Since I had a work accident I developed a heightened sense of smell and taste. Sometimes it is more acute than other times and it is becoming problematic as I feel nauseous sometimes with particular smells.