Loss of smell & taste

Thank you for the article and HOORAY that your sense of smell has returned even bit by bit. I'd be happy if any of my symptoms were lessening v. new ones coming up.

To us all.
Joan

If you have had success in bringing back your sense of smell using ¨smell training¨ (use of specific essential oils in succession to relearn what the various smells are like) please post a comment to this post. The essential oil training has been mentioned but the oils are expensive. It will be worth the cost, if the training is effective. Please let me know of your experiences with the oils if you have tried them. Joan

I would say to be wary buying the scented oils. I bought a kit of about 7 oils. I was not impressed with most of them. I couldn’t tell what most of them were. I did like a couple of them. I used those and tossed the rest. If I did it again, I’d go somewhere I could sample each one.

I also used things to sniff like actual food…oranges, bananas, peanut butter, etc. I smelled deeply most everything before I ate it. Focusing on the food, smelling it….repeatedly.

Thank you. Excellent suggestion to use the natural products around me. Much appreciated.
Joan

I understand your frustration, believe me! I’m about where you are, going on 3 years in December with no taste or smell. I’ve had 7 Stellate Ganglion Block Injections, but didn’t bring back taste/smell, but it did help with my PTSD which is minimal now. Do you have any tastes on your tongue? I can detect salty, sweet, bitter only, no flavors whatsoever. I really do hope it comes back for you. I’m retirement age and it won’t be much of one without taste or smell, but I’ll make the best of each day. Good luck on your health journey!

I do have very limited sense of taste. I can tell things taste different but I wouldn't be able to label the tastes even though they may be fairly common foods. I know foods have different textures; that provides more sense of difference between foods than taste (or smell) does.

I use scented oils as well, but I only buy organic. Lavender helps with sleep. I enjoy cinnamon oil for daytime and occasionally lemon oil. Whatever you choose should be both organic and mixed with another oil (any cheap salad oil will do) and placed in a diffuser or a steamer. Because of brain fog I may have the wrong name. Whatever one uses when they have a cold and want steam and Vic's vapor rub to fill the room.

Thank you very much for taking the time to reply. Because my daughter is highly allergic to odors, all odors - they send her out of the house as fast as she can go - I have to keep the house as odor free as possible. So whatever I use I'll have to keep tightly contained and only open for brief moments when she is far from the house. (I use unscented DWer detergent, unscented laundry detergent, everything has to be unscented that comes into the house.)

5yrs no taste or smell. I can tell if sweet, salty, bitter, stingy hot spice. Occasionally can smell VicsVapoRub, and I whiff it on purpose in hopes it will stimulate senses. I cannot be a good cook anymore . I really miss smelling pretty with my favorite lotions &fragrances for personal care. Fresh laundry,too. But "Life it is".
I cope with the PEM(post-exertional-malaise) & my legs are uncoordinated( I was an aerobic exercise enthusiast). Double vision in peripheral field. Brain fog. Make math & spelling mistakes!.... always been a whiz. But in reading other posts from Mayo, I feel blessed!