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  • How to treat a taste and Smelling disorder


    Are you experiencing a strange issue of everything tasting or smelling the same with no difference in the products? Some helpful suggestions given here may be useful to deal with this problem.

    I have been having weird (common) tastes in foods, perfumes, and oils for more than 2 months now. It started as a distorted smell at first for about a month, and then the weird taste came later. I sought medical attention for the first month but the doctor said I had no illness to be treated.

    Weeks later, I started having weird tastes and sometimes a common smell and taste in most things. I find bananas and pineapples to have the strongest weird smell. At first, I assumed the fruits were going bad or they had come in contact with fish or an object that had handled fish.

    It is not a constant thing. At times, I can smell the original scent of my perfumes or some foods and fruits but never bananas and pineapples.

    I have tried changing my cooking oil, avoiding perfumes and scented soaps but it doesn't work. Is this something I should be worried about? Kindly advice.
  • Answers

    6 Answers found.
  • This seems to be a very simple thing called as disorder of taste and smell which can normally be over with time but in many cases it stays and then it is a big problem. Even the good doctors may not be able to diagnose it because there are so many reasons and underlying conditions which can create these problems in our body.
    These disorders manifest in a variety of ways like partial or full loss of sense of smell, partial or full loss of sense of taste, getting a bad odor or taste from something that is normally tastes or smells good.
    Doctors believe that these type of disorders are generally related to the conditions like Diabetes, Obesity, BP, Nervous system, Poor nutrition, Parkinson, Alzheimer, Multiple sclerosis, cold or flu, sinus infection, allergies, Head injury, Hormone changes, Dental or mouth problems, Nasal polyps, Exposure to certain chemicals, Certain medicines, Exposure to radiation therapy, Cocaine addiction, and Cigarette smoking. The list is very long and that is what I told in the beginning that diagnosing the problem is the main challenge for the doctor.

    A doctor will go through the medical history of the patient and prescribe some tests to ascertain the status of the smell and taste. Some of these tests are comparing tastes and smells of different chemicals, measuring the lowest strength of a chemical that a person can sense, "Scratch and Sniff" tests, "Sip, spit, and rinse" tests etc.

    Finally doctors will try to treat it using the standard procedures including the option of surgery if there is blockage somewhere creating the problem.

    Consulting an expert ENT doctor can throw more light on the issue and treatment options.

    Knowledge is power.

  • There are many types of smell and taste disorders. Some of them are
    1. Anosmia: In this case, the individual will have a loss of sense of smell.
    2, Ageusia: Here the individual will have a loss of sense of taste.
    3. Hyposmia: In this case, the individual will have a reduced ability to smell.
    4. Hypogeusia: Here the individual will have a reduced ability to taste.
    5. Phantom: In this case, the individual will feel the smell of an odour that is not present.

    The above disorders may cause the individual to get a bad odour or taste from something that is normally pleasant to smell or taste. In some cases, these disorders may also be a sign of a disease that is there in our bodies.

    Generally, when you approach an ENT specialist he will try to understand the problem and he may conduct some diagnostic tests like
    1. Measuring the lowest recognizable strength of a chemical of the patient,
    2. Scratch and sniff test.
    3. Sip, spit and rinse test.
    Based on the results the doctor will suggest you a treatment.

    I suggest you wait for another one or two months and see if there is any reduction. If still, the problem continues go to an ENT doctor and get his advice.

    drrao
    always confident

  • The Ear-Nose-Throat are interconnected. So if there is some problem in any of these areas the entire functionality gets affected.
    But as you had shown to doctor and he has said there is no serious problem, then it may be so. Alternatively you can consult another experienced ENT doctor.
    In the meantime to assess yourselves the severity or simplicity of the problem, I suggest you test with different strong smelling materials-like Agarbathi, curry masala mild smells of flowers etc. If you get the correct smell of the strong smelling materials, then the issue is superficial and may be soon back to normal. But if you do not get any smell at all and only continue to get the same weird smell, then there can be some kind of inflammation, infection et. in the internal parts of nose-mouth-throat system. Sometimes infection under tongue or insid teeth can also give rise to weird smells , Sinus infections also can b reason.

    At present in the times of Covid, loss of taste and smell are taken to be one of the symptoms of Covid. But this is reportedly not there for Omicron. However you need not assume anything from this general info.

    If the second Doctor also says no issue, and still you feel the problem, I suggest you may visit an experienced Ayurvedic Doctor. There are various treatments like medicated oils and nasal drips and nasal powders to treat the ENT issues.

  • There could be partial loss of our taste and even there could be drop of smell due the various reasons. The following could be one of the reasons as indicated below -
    1) Obesity
    2) Diabetes
    3) High Blood Pressure
    4) Suffering from COVID - 19 or its after effects
    5) Nervous System Disease as indicated below-
    Parkinson's Disease, Alzheimer's Disease, Multiple Sclerosis
    Smell and taste are also reduced temporarily due to certain medications, Dental and Mouth problems, Allergies, Cold and Flues etc.
    The list could be exhaustive if we take pain to enlist the same. However, to analyse the root cause, we need to consult ENT specialist or a physician to analyse the root cause.
    The physician/ ENT specialist might recommend the following tests -
    1) Sip, spit or rinse test
    2) Scratch and sniff test
    3) Presence of chemicals by way of taking any medication aggravating the bad smell or affecting the taste.
    Treatment will follow in the following lines -
    1) The attending physician or ENT Specialist would ensure stopping such medicines aggravating such disorders.
    2) If necessary, Surgery is to be followed to remove the blockage causing disorder.
    3) Counselling
    4) Discontinuation of smoking, if habituated.
    If the symptoms don't subside with the steps as suggested indicated above, the homeopathic doctor might select an appropriate medicine suiting to the patient. No particular homeopathic medicine can be suggested from our end unless the homeopathic doctor ascertain the nature and temperament of the patient with a lot of investigations relating to the food habit of the patient, his sleeping pattern, his behavioural pattern and other related queries which the doctor thinks fit and finally medication is prescribed to alleviate his disorders.

  • Such symptom came to many after COVID wave 1 or wave 2. The smell or taste senses become abnormal to many for few days or weeks or months etc. This is depend on individual overall health parameters.

    Few main reasons are, losing stamina recently (may be due to COVID or other health issues) that affected physical muscles and tissues, sinus issue or allergy issue for time being. Other than this, age and other health parameters like BP or Sugar level etc.

    It takes time to become normal and it is depend on past and current health condition overall. Make sure no cold or sinus or allergy issue for you. Intake healthy food and avoid unhealthy or fat foods etc.

  • There may be various reason for losing taste and smell. But, nowadays covid is one of the main reason for taste and smell disorder. Covid 19 has affected large number of people due to which not only smell and taste disorder happens but different body parts is affecting like heart, lungs, bone etc. I think this problem is there due to covid. So, at first you should go for complete medical check-up. Take necessary medicine prescribed by doctor. If this problem is because of covid then It will take time. Besides, you should do exercise daily and take healthy food.


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