I hear so many people say how alarming it is when they loose their sense of smell and taste. I've been there. I know how it feels. It's scary. It's such a strange feeling. It's difficult to explain to those who have never experienced it.
Anosmia is the loss of the sense of smell. This also causes the loss of flavor. Taste is sweet, salty, bitter, sour and umami. Many who have anosmia can still detect these basic tastes.
Parosmia is a distorted sense of smell and flavor. This sometimes develops after the anosmia starts to recover. Although, It is a much worse condition to tolerate than anosmia.
Basically, everything smells and tastes wrong, are totally new and often indescribable. There is no comparison to anything that has been experienced before.
For the almost 2 years that I had parosmia, I always said that not being able to smell anything (anosmia) is so much better than always having distorted smells (parosmia). At least you can eat whatever you want even though you can't taste or enjoy it. Texture is the key.
If you read the "my story" section of this website, you know that I had a virus in May of 2019. This was before Covid-19 started. Then I developed anosmia which turned into parosmia and never went away. Doctors didn't know how to help. Some doctors that I would talk to are even fascinated to hear what parosmia is like to live with.
With that said, I wanted to keep my readers updated on my condition.
So... here's my current situation...
I had a setback...
In April of 2021, I tested positive for Covid. I am back to anosmia with no parosmia. Frustrating, depressing, maddening...
During the who pandemic and quarantine of 2020, I was so careful. Now I get Covid when the rest of the world is ready to start living again. I had to quarantine myself from my household of three. The department of health kept calling for weeks to see if anyone else in my house got sick. The other two members in my house were told to quarantine after I was done. They both tested negative, (but that's another story).
I should just put the caution tape around me to keep everyone away. That's how I felt. I couldn't even go to the doctor's office for help while I was sick. It was a scary, sad couple of weeks.
Some of the symptoms I had were totally different then any other illness I've had. Hopefully, I'm out of the danger zone and I won't have any new long lasting health issues, except for the current anosmia.
I figure it could go a couple ways for me from here.
I could have anosmia forever
The anosmia could turn into parosmia again and who knows if that will ever go away
Maybe my system will "reboot" and I will be normal again? haha, one can hope
It will be interesting to see what happens in a few months.
The good news (optimistic thinking) is the board of health said I'm immune for at least three months without the vaccine. Even if I'm exposed to the virus again during the 3 months after my symptoms started, I can't get it again, I won't be a carrier and I don't have to quarantine at all.
More good news... I can eat whatever I want because I can't taste it. Isn't that great. I was able to eat a hamburger for the first time in a year and a half. It was under whelming without the natural aroma it should have. Now whenever someone asks me, "how is it?" I can say "it's food" or "it's nourishment" and hopefully it has good texture because that's all I got. And I can look forward to starting over with parosmia knowing that the beginning of parosmia is the worst part. (Sorry, but I'm a bit bitter about the whole situation.)
Needless to say...
I cannot add any new recipes to this blog until I see what happens with my condition. However, I've held onto a few parosmia recipes that I haven't published yet and I will share them in the future. Also, I will be adding to the "My Story" page of the website with a detailed diary of my current anosmia story soon.
Moral of the story...
Be optimistic
and then be realistic...
When you're having a bad anosmia day and you're wishing that you could smell or taste just a little, remember that parosmia is much worse than anosmia. And no matter how bad parosmia gets, remind yourself that this is the recovery stage. It may take a long time to recover but it will get better slowly with time. But don't go backwards by getting another virus.
If you got this far, thank you for reading. I think I'll go eat some chocolate now.
Hmm... I wonder if I will get anosmia every time I get a cold and then have to start over again? That would be awful. I'm just a living medical rarity. I get all the rare medical problems. (That's also another story.)
Read "My Covid Story" https://www.parosmia-awareness.com/my-covid-diary
Read "My Parosmia Story" https://www.parosmia-awareness.com/my-story
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