Still no/little sense of smell/taste... advice?
July 23, 2024 2:27 PM Subscribe
YANMD. I emailed my doctor a few days ago, but didn't hear back; probably because of lingering impacts from CrowdStrike. I've been trying smelling items and have taken Flonase everyday for the last week+1/2, and Sudafed on/off when I feel congested, but nothing, nada. I'm getting worried. Have I permanently lost my sense of smell/taste, do you think?
I can taste/smell some specific food/items but faintly. I really hope I haven't lost my sense of taste forever; I'm a major foodie and love eating.
It's been slightly more than a month since I've been able to properly taste/smell.
Previous Ask for reference.
I can taste/smell some specific food/items but faintly. I really hope I haven't lost my sense of taste forever; I'm a major foodie and love eating.
It's been slightly more than a month since I've been able to properly taste/smell.
Previous Ask for reference.
There are also a lot of medications that can cause anosmia - worth talking to your doctor about that.
posted by mskyle at 3:00 PM on July 23 [2 favorites]
posted by mskyle at 3:00 PM on July 23 [2 favorites]
Can you get a referral to an ENT? That’s the specialty that knows the most about olfactory dysfunction/anosmia and will know what treatments might be helpful in your case. I’m sorry you’re still dealing with this!
posted by little mouth at 3:41 PM on July 23
posted by little mouth at 3:41 PM on July 23
Flonase can cause anosmia. If you're game, stop using that for a while and replace it with a neti pot saline rinse twice a day. Hope it comes back soon.
posted by Silvery Fish at 4:35 PM on July 23 [6 favorites]
posted by Silvery Fish at 4:35 PM on July 23 [6 favorites]
I would, as suggested above, quit the Flonase, do a lot of sense training and give it at least another month before getting worried. The COVID sense-loss sucks and I hope you feel better soon!
posted by meowmeowdream at 5:20 PM on July 23
posted by meowmeowdream at 5:20 PM on July 23
For what it's worth, it was about 6 weeks after I recovered from my first bout of COVID that my smell and taste came back. I sometimes feel like they never got quite back to normal but it's subtle, like it came back ~95% but not 100% (could be totally in my head, but I guess this whole thing is).
My routine was to stick my nose in a bag of coffee beans every morning. One morning I could smell it again.
From my experience and other anecdotes I think you're still within the spectrum of "typical experiences after a bad bout of COVID" but certainly there are other things that could be going on.
posted by telegraph at 5:49 PM on July 23 [1 favorite]
My routine was to stick my nose in a bag of coffee beans every morning. One morning I could smell it again.
From my experience and other anecdotes I think you're still within the spectrum of "typical experiences after a bad bout of COVID" but certainly there are other things that could be going on.
posted by telegraph at 5:49 PM on July 23 [1 favorite]
I am experiencing this right now, from a bout of RSV in January. My smell is not 100% gone, but it is severely diminished and what I can detect changes daily, offering me an assortment of weird smells and tastes which the ENT found encouraging, saying that my brain was actively trying to make connections. (AUGH, Coke has the vilest aftertaste, and nail polish is unendurable. I cannot smell skunk or natural gas odorant at all, and cleaning products, soap and candles are nasty, leading me to think I’m missing all the fragrance oils in them and am smelling the base product.)
I got in to an ENT in April and after sticking a camera up my nose through my sinuses to rule out a lingering sinus infection, she diagnosed anosmia due to damage to my olfactory cells and prescribed me a scent training protocol.
It involves Flonase once a day, saline nasal spray periodically, and smelling essential oils for 15 seconds at a time, then waiting 15 seconds before smelling the next. Specifically one-note essential oils, not blends. I am to get back to an ENT in six months if there is no change. I think it’s gotten better, but it’s so variable only time will tell. I’ll make that call in October.
I have done a bit of reading on my own and discovered that most people will get back most of all of their sense of smell within two years. Better results tend to occur to those who follow scent training, with those who smell more things for longer doing better.
Mind you, if an actual ENT shows up to correct this info, listen to them!
posted by telophase at 7:15 PM on July 23 [1 favorite]
I got in to an ENT in April and after sticking a camera up my nose through my sinuses to rule out a lingering sinus infection, she diagnosed anosmia due to damage to my olfactory cells and prescribed me a scent training protocol.
It involves Flonase once a day, saline nasal spray periodically, and smelling essential oils for 15 seconds at a time, then waiting 15 seconds before smelling the next. Specifically one-note essential oils, not blends. I am to get back to an ENT in six months if there is no change. I think it’s gotten better, but it’s so variable only time will tell. I’ll make that call in October.
I have done a bit of reading on my own and discovered that most people will get back most of all of their sense of smell within two years. Better results tend to occur to those who follow scent training, with those who smell more things for longer doing better.
Mind you, if an actual ENT shows up to correct this info, listen to them!
posted by telophase at 7:15 PM on July 23 [1 favorite]
If it helps, while I can’t taste things normally and it sucks and is depressing, concentrating on textures and the few things I can taste in meals helps me to deal. Trying to get creamy, crispy, crunchy, salty, tangy and hearty into one dish is a good challenge. Bacon added to things is a lifesaver, with crispy, smoky and salty being a fabulous trifecta.
posted by telophase at 7:19 PM on July 23 [1 favorite]
posted by telophase at 7:19 PM on July 23 [1 favorite]
Response by poster: I doubt I had COVID/RSV because I had tests for both in April and June, and they were negative. I'll ask for a referral to an ENT doctor.
It's interesting because on one hand, Flonase helps with regaining smell/taste senses; but on another hand, it can cause loss of smell/taste senses. Hmm. Which is right? I can also ask if any other medications are leading to a loss of smell/taste. I doubt it's my immunotherapy because my oncologist knows about the loss of senses and didn't say that immunotherapy would cause it.
posted by dubious_dude at 8:47 PM on July 23
It's interesting because on one hand, Flonase helps with regaining smell/taste senses; but on another hand, it can cause loss of smell/taste senses. Hmm. Which is right? I can also ask if any other medications are leading to a loss of smell/taste. I doubt it's my immunotherapy because my oncologist knows about the loss of senses and didn't say that immunotherapy would cause it.
posted by dubious_dude at 8:47 PM on July 23
I am not familiar with the organization but the Canada Cancer Society says that immunotherapy can lead to changes in taste perception.
posted by telophase at 10:02 PM on July 23
posted by telophase at 10:02 PM on July 23
For what it's worth, after COVID, my sense of smell was alright but my sense of taste became weird and erratic. Pork (possibly low-quality) tasted nasty. I could dislike a food, and like the same thing 8 hours later. I lost my tolerance for hot peppers.
It took two years or so, but my sense of taste is back to normal, with the hot pepper tolerance being the last to recover. I didn't do anything special.
I have no idea how generally applicable this is.
posted by Nancy Lebovitz at 6:08 AM on July 24
It took two years or so, but my sense of taste is back to normal, with the hot pepper tolerance being the last to recover. I didn't do anything special.
I have no idea how generally applicable this is.
posted by Nancy Lebovitz at 6:08 AM on July 24
After losing my smell a year ago following an unknown virus I went to an ENT.
Anatomically I was OK.
This was recommended for me and worked really well.
https://www.neilmed.com/usa/neilmed-smell-restore-training-kit/
posted by mockjovial at 12:07 PM on July 25
Anatomically I was OK.
This was recommended for me and worked really well.
https://www.neilmed.com/usa/neilmed-smell-restore-training-kit/
posted by mockjovial at 12:07 PM on July 25
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The elephant in the room of course is Covid. Here’s one paper suggesting that about a third of people with post-COVID anosmia recover completely, and most recover some function. Of course, that’s OG (wild type) virus with unvaccinated people. It’s hard to know what that means today. I looked for more recent articles, but didn’t see any in journals I immediately recognized (an actual otolaryngologist might know better).
I also looked for “post-infectious anosmia” but I don’t see anything that anyone’s written that wasn’t about COVID specifically. Could be that I just don’t know the right search terms here.
Neurodegenerative diseases can also be associated with anosmia, and I think I’d be less optimistic in that case — but let’s hope that’s not you; the risk of those is usually associated with age, and you’re young.
posted by eirias at 2:58 PM on July 23 [2 favorites]