Does anyone else have Anosmia?

[finsgirl]

Anosmia is the absence of the sense of smell. I've had it for as long as I can remember. And yes, I can taste food! I know it's not that common, but I can't be the only one!

Here's more about it: http://www.maxuk.net/nose.html


Angie

 

[materialsgirl]

I don't have it, but I have definitely heard of this condition and I know you are certainly not the only one. Most of the cases I've read about were caused by something - e.g., inhaling a certain chemical by accident, an infection in the nasal cavities, etc. But you were apparently born without a sense of smell? Or did something happen to you when you were very young that destroyed your sense of smell?

Do you get a lot of people asking you if you can taste food? Surprising, since people should remember from grade school that the sense of taste is a separate sense from smell. Smell greatly enhances the way we taste foods, but the tastebuds do a lot of the grunt work too! Believe me, sometimes not being able to smell is a good thing! (Like when I clean out my kitties' litter boxes)

I am always intrigued by medical anomolies and unusual conditions. I wonder if you'll find any others with anosmia on this board...

 

[Dani53]

How sad! I love my sense of smell...not smilling pine trees warming up in the sun would make me so sad.

I just read an article about this in Readers Digest. The person could not taste either, so you are fortunate. The thing that struck me was the safety issue. She could not smell something burning in the kitchen and a fire occurred because of it.

 

[finsgirl]

I'm not sure when or how it happened. The doctors suggested a couple things. It could have been the mild concussion I had in grade school. I also had a time in the hospital when I was younger and I received gobs of antibiotics that could have killed the olfactory nerve. The last thing I remembered smelling was a bottle of ammonia that my mom was using to clean. So maybe I took to big of a whiff of that!! Sometimes I can smell things, but I have to be pretty close to it. And I can usually smell strong cigarette smoke - YUCK.

People ALWAYS ask me if I can taste anything! I'm sure my taste is not as discriminate as others are but I'm not a professional food critic so that's OK!

I get the kitty litter box job, too. And the dog waste pickup job. And I was ALWAYS the one to change poopy diapers. In college, I was always nominated to "clean-up" after a hard night of drinking and someone got sick cuz it never bothered me. But I also didn't smell gas the night I was babysitting and scared the parents half to death when they came home. Luckily, my kids have an excellent sense of smell.

Anosmics Unite!!

Angie

 

[allwildgirl]

So, Angie, can you taste things?

That would be so awfully strange, not being able to smell. Good in some situations though!

 

[finsgirl]

Yeah, like when I see people's faces after the dog "lets one", I'm pretty happy without it!

Angie

 

[kathryn]

I seem to have the opposite: supernosmia!? I have a very sensitive sense of smell--great when the lilies of the valley are in bloom, not so great when somebody cuts one!

 

[67firecracker]

I didn't know the name for it but my SIL has it. Like you, from birth or as far back as she can remember. She remembers her mom suspecting she couldn't smell when she was around 6 and holding all sorts of things under her nose to test her out - onions, garlic, cleaners etc. She always thought the 'smell' thing was just a joke people played.

It has caused some problems with her babies/toddlers because, although she checked them often, everyone always knew when one of them had done a real lulu in the diaper and to outsiders looking in, it looks like she was just ignoring it. She got labelled as a bad mom more than once.

Trish

 

[purple_magada]

Angie, I believe my brother has a very mild version of this (if that is possible). I remember him telling me all the time that he has no sense of smell. He is a chemist so maybe working around all the chemicals caused it?

You should also consider yourself lucky that you don't have to deal with smelling other's bad breath. There is nothing worse then having someone talk right in your face and their breath smells like they just ate a turd sandwich. Gross!

 

[finsgirl]

I bet his sense of smell is affected by the chemicals. I wonder if it would come back if he stayed away from the chemicals for awhile, like on vacation?

Turd sandwich?!? Euuuwwww!!!!! I don't know what "dog breath" or even "wet dog" smells like, either. But it would be nice to smell flowers.

Angie