In the past two days I’ve gotten over a head cold. While I was sick, I could not breathe through my nose. Also, I couldn’t smell anything, and nothing tasted like it had much flavor at all.
The cold is gone. I still have some residual stuff to blow out of my nose every now and then, but for the most part, my breathing is free and clear. But I still can’t smell anything.
So I have two questions.
What is the reason you can’t smell anything when you have a cold? I assumed it was because the relevant part of your nostril is stuffed with junk that blocks the air out, preventing you from breathing and preventing you from being able to smell. But now I can breathe, but I still can’t smell. Why not?
The answer to that may answer my second question. When am I going to be able to taste things again?
Honestly that sounds kind of weird/serious. If it doesn’t get better fast I’d get to a doc. Being able to breath freely and still not smelling is unusual. If you were just kinda able to breathe freely I could understand as mucus could still be blocking the receptors which are well back into the nasal; passage, but your scenario is worrisome.
It is pretty typical to be anosmic (without a sense of smell) after a viral infection. The virus knocked off the terminal sensory segments of the olfactory nerve, and it takes a while for them to regenerate. Sometimes they never do.
A bit TMI but a few minutes ago I sniffed a giant snort of a sniff and felt something quite chunky go down the esophagus, and then for one brief instant I could smell again. It went away. But I’m happy to report the potential for olfactory sense is there. Otherwise, this:
It’s taken a while for me to get my sense of smell back after a cold, too, I’ve noticed. The older you get, the longer it takes!
I hope you didn’t use Zicam swabs. I have no cite at hand, but I’ve read somewhere that though they’re supposed to nip a cold in the bud:dubious: the ingredients can affect your sense of smell - perhaps permanently!
Eeks. I haven’t been able to smell much for over a month now, (I looked it up the scientific term is “hyposmia”) but I haven’t gotten around to seeing a doc.
Salinqmind, how long did it take for you to get your smell back?
Wikipedia’s article on olfaction used to list an alternate theory by Luca Turin, in which the odor of a molecule is determined not by its shape but by its vibrational theory. The theory required that the olfactory nerve use a metallic element, and Turin found that a gene for scent encoded the use of zinc.
There’s no evidence for this, not even any educated speculation, but I wonder if one of the reasons zinc cold remedies are perceived as having cured a cold is because the person had a zinc deficiency, and taking a dose restored their sense of smell.
I’ve had that problem before; mine seemed to be related to allergies and inflamed nasal passageways. Regular neti pot coupled with steroid nasal spray helped it pretty quickly.
