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 0318

My mother, who is 83, is not well. Her sense of smell is so sharp that we can't even do the laundry. She won't eat because when she smells the food it upsets her stomach.

case 0319

Since I was in primary school I pretended to have a sense of smell. Until today I have never told anyone that I don't have a sense of smell. It is really bad because I sometime throw away food since I cannot tell if it is bad or not. I have never gone to a doctor because I am embarrassed.

case 0320

I lost my sense of smell in a car accident 56 years ago. I have not been able to taste or smell since then.

case 0321

My sense of smell changed. I now have three different smells: (1) normal (grass, lemon, etc.); (2) a harsh chemical smell (when I smell punch flavored Crystal light, all refrigerators smell like that, berries smell like that); (3) the smell of ashes from an ash tray. The last smell appears for some foods, when I smell the sewer, certain foods have the taste: some beef, popcorn, butter, egg whites. The change in my sense of smell has affected everything in my life.

case 0322

One day I experienced an unbearable rotten smell. I found that the smell is coming from wet rotten onion. From that day on I smell the same kind of smell all over the place. It is very difficult to define but perfumes, incense sticks, and fresh food all smell to me similar to that dirty onion smell. I am panicking over this unusual problem.

case 0323

Several weeks ago I started to smell cigarette smoke that was not present in my environment. This has progressed over time and I can wake up in the night and smell it in my own bedroom. No one has ever smoked in my house. I work in a smoke-free building and live in a state that does not permit smoking in public places. My family and friends do not smoke so I am very rarely ever exposed to cigarette smoke. Four months ago I had the worst upper respiratory infection that I have ever had and I remember thinking that the symptoms were very strange. I also gag up greenish yellow mucus several times daily.

case 0324

I had phantom smells about 20 years ago. First, I experienced the smell of spices burning which lasted a few days or a week, then the smell of books, then garbage, and a few other smells I don't remember. Several years ago, I noticed that my sense of smell was going away. Try as I might, I couldn't smell strong flower smells. Sometimes I could smell some roses and lavender and wisteria. Now there are very few things that I can still smell. Just recently I have noticed that I don't really taste much beyond salty or sweet or tart or spicy. I still enjoy eating though for some reason. I find it a bit depressing not to be able to smell — although among the things I can't smell are dead rodents, skunks, and baby poop.

case 0325

I suffered a short but bad cold a few months ago. I lost my sense of taste and smell and haven't regained it yet.

case 0326

Two years ago I had colitis and was put on medications. When I was released from the hospital everything smelled horrid....fresh towels, pizza, perfumes, smells in my friend's house, smells in the mall and I could go on and on. It wasn't that I lost my smell, my smell became extremely acute and it seemed that things that normally smelled nice to me became awful and the awful things (baby's poop, urine, fish, and garbage) became 100% worse and totally disgusting. This extreme sense of smell lasted almost six months and gradually became lessened. However, I still have a very acute sense of smell. I can smell things that other people cannot smell, both good and bad.

case 0327

I first noticed that my sense of smell wasn't as it should be after the birth of my first child. During the pregnancy I had an overactive sense of smell as many pregnant women do. After my baby was born, my sense of smell became impaired. The example that sticks in my mind the most is that people would tell me when he needed a diaper change, and I couldn't smell it unless I really tried. Over the next few years my sense of smell slowly started to fade away, and within about four years it was gone completely. On occasion I think that I may be able to smell something, but sometimes I wonder if it's the memory of that particular thing that I am "smelling"? I also get the phantom smells as many anosmics do, and sometimes this can be pretty terrible. At times I have had a very strong perfume smell stuck in my head for days, causing a constant headache. I have gained a substantial amount of weight and I am wondering if it is because I am never fully satisfied as a person with normal smell and taste is. I won't get into the difficulties and sadness anosmia has brought to my life (like not being able to smell my babies) because I could just go on forever about that. I got a clean bill of health from an ear nose throat doctor and an allergist. The ear nose throat doctor chalked my condition up to being caused by a virus, although I wonder about this since I don't recall having an infection prior to losing my smell, and from what I have read it seems that anosmia caused by a virus is usually a sudden loss, not gradual.

case 0328

13 years ago I had a terrible bout of depression and noticed I could not smell. After taking antidepressants and coming out of the depression, I noticed that my sense of smell was returning. However, my sense of smell is not as sharp as it was before.

case 0329

32 years ago I moved and realized that I couldn't smell the orange blossoms that other people said had an overpowering scent. I had smelled the blossoms in earlier visits. I started paying attention and realized my sense of smell was gone. My doctor speculated that a past sinus infection had destroyed my olfactory nerve. Early in my awareness of the problem I could smell a few things — jasmine, some perfumes and colognes, lemons — but not with any regularity. Now I essentially have no sense of smell left. Perhaps every three months I'll catch the merest whiff of something — like newly cut grass or something baking in the oven. I cannot smell natural gas or propane. Once, thirty or forty years ago I had a three day episode, not accompanied by a cold, of coffee and chocolate smelling just awful, and tasting worse. At the time I wasn't aware of any precipitating event. It would be wonderful to be able to smell again, although I feel that I get plenty of enjoyment out of eating. I smelled for long enough that I know I'm missing an important part of my life.