In 2021, I couldn't believe my eyes when the test showed up positive for COVID-19. A few days later I found myself googling how to get my sense of smell back. I remember standing in the shower holding the bottle of soap up to my nose just trying to pick up a sign of a smell. Anosmia is the partial or complete loss of smell which could be temporary or permanent. Experiencing this medical condition made me more miserable than being sick ever did. I could not taste or smell anything, which then began affecting my stomach. My stomach was telling me to eat food, but my nose was saying otherwise. My experience with anosmia was short lived, but it gave me sympathy for anyone that permanently has this medical condition. This can also be extremely dangerous when you are unable to smell danger such as smoke, gas, or anything else that could cause alarm. Karl Wuensch had this problem with his anosmia and continued burning through toasters. Karl lost many things that he enjoyed such as the scent of his loved ones and food. I found that it was difficult to enjoy life without the sense of smell and I can see how Karl found himself inside a deep depression after being diagnosed with anosmia.
Hey Nicole, great post! I also had my smell effected by covid 19, but not anosmia, I had parosmia. Which is the distortion of smell rather than the loss of it. For me this meant that all good smelling things smelled absolutely horrendous. This led to me panicking everyday as I thought my soap was rotten and my cologne expired. Luckily, my symptoms subsided, but its still crazy for me to think how much we take our sense of smell for granted.
ReplyDeleteYes! That is exactly what I felt about taking our sense of smell for granted. I am sure eating was a nightmare for you with parosmia.
DeleteNicole that is such a great example of anosmia! I had a loss of taste called Dysgeusia, which is that everything tasted weird from my COVID virus. It lasted for weeks and really bothered me. Even reading the book and listening to the lectures, I never thought about my personal experience and how it impacted my appetite, my interest in cooking, and even buying my food. I also began to feel a little depressed and anxious like you and John. Great post Nicole
ReplyDeleteHi Nicole! I went through the same thing back in 2021 during Christmas. It was the absolute worst experience for me and when I realized that I had lost my sense of smell it freaked me out. I didn’t realize how important it was for me to smell and be able to taste until I didn’t have it. When I was reading in the book about it, I didn’t realize this was a medical condition someone could live with on the daily. I would eat my favorite food and it would not have any taste. I now understand how much I take smelling for granted and I have never since then.
ReplyDelete