Ever Heard of Anosmia? Here's My Story About Living With It

I’m writing this with a vanilla scented candle burning next to me.  How do I know its vanilla because it was written on the box when I bought it.  I know it’s sweet and pleasant because I can smell that a tiny bit, but I couldn’t have told you it was vanilla if I hadn’t read the box.

That’s because I have Anosmia, a little known condition which means that I can’t smell anything. Well no, I can smell a little bit now, after a year of smelling nothing at all because there’s been a bit of healing going on since then.

In February 2015, I fainted, hit my head against a wall very hard, and came round to a world with no smell. My nose had failed me because when I hit my head my brain was badly jolted and severed my nerve fibres attached to my olfactory bulb, which is the area in my brain that governs smell. These little fibres were there to tell me what I could smell….and that I could smell, with those gone my smell was gone too.

I don’t think I’ll ever forget that day because it changed my life forever, it broke my heart, my spirit, my whole being for a very long time. I was a wreck, and became a shell of my former self. I also stopped eating, this was because as well as my sense of smell, I lost my sense of taste too as they are both connected. Remember what it’s like when you have a cold and your nose is all bunged up, your sense of taste lessens too doesn’t it. That’s because as you eat you breathe in the smell of the food which sends signals to your brain about flavour, what you are experiencing as you eat. When you can’t smell very well your taste is dampened because those signals are fainter. So when you can’t smell at all…..yep you’ve guessed it, you can’t taste at all either.  There are some exceptions to this, I’m no expert so all I can tell you is from my own experience and research, but that’s often how it is for a lot of people with this condition.

Eating was no longer a pleasure, just a chore to endure and I was so unhappy and depressed I just gave up even trying.  That’s when my weight began to fall off and I became very ill, weak, wobbly, always tired and eventually I ended up in hospital with such low blood sugar that if it had been left any longer I could have fallen into a coma. So when I came out I decided that I must try and eat.  It may have worked too, if it wasn’t for the fact that my Anosmia changed to Parosmia.

Parosmia

This is a condition connected to Anosmia, and can happen when the nerve fibres are trying to knit back together. However sometimes the signals get muddled up and they don’t necessarily attach to the correct nerve endings, which is where the problem with Parosmia can occur. When this happens you don’t get true smells, they are known as phantom smells and can often be very unpleasant, which was the case for me.

It meant when I ate something it tasted distorted, disgusting even….like eating rotten egg, food that has gone off or worse in some cases. So it meant the hard work in trying to eat became even harder because I had that to contend with also. So the weight didn’t go back on after all. Well, can you imagine trying to put rotten egg into your mouth for goodness sake!

By this time things were getting very serious and I knew I had to do something, so when I read about the fact that you could be Parosmic in one nostril and Anosmic in the other, I decided to test that theory by closing one nostril and trying to eat, then the other way round. Wow, it turned out I was Parosmic in my left nostril and Anosmic in my right.

So my ridiculous way of eating began – finger over left nostril when putting food into my mouth and eating it – finger off left nostril so can cut food up – finger back over left nostril to eat. Yep you get the picture, but it worked because it meant when I covered over my left Parosmic nostril, I could taste nothing which is a lot better than tasting rotten egg I can assure you! It used to take me ages to eat a meal, I often gave up half way through and I never ate out socially. Can you imagine the looks I’d get and the remarks? “Have you seen the way she eats? Why has she got her finger over her nose?” I still eat this way now and I have to unless I want to starve. Even when I’m having a meal with family or friends it’s still awkward, but not as bad because they know the score and are very understanding and supportive.

If there is something I am thankful for on a daily basis it’s the love, care and support I’ve had from my wonderful husband, family and best friends who have been there for me all the way. Massive hugs and love to all of you.

Well life goes on, and I’m carrying on.  It’s a struggle but even though I’ve been on the brink, I’m still trying to stay strong. Who knows I may get better…it has been known to happen so I’ll never give up hope.

Thanks for reading this and to Katie for inviting me to share my story with you.  If you would like to know more please check out my blog at icantsmellathing.blogspot.com. Also, if you write or blog, or are creative in general, you would be welcome to join my chilled out little writing group on Facebook at www.facebook.com/groups/allwritedj. Maybe see you there.