I got them Dang Ol' Head Cold Can't Smell or Taste a Goddamned Thang Blues

Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share
1

Or I did. It was the weirdest thing. I was sitting around today, sipping peppermint tea, snuffling, groaning, and playing a little America’s Army, when I got a sudden irresistible urge to puke.

I ran to the bathroom and heaved everything up at great length and with a certain amount of pain.

I staggered back into the study, picked up my tea, and noticed something strange…I could smell it! I haven’t been able smell anything I’ve cooked for the last week. We had a nice dinner party last weekend. Pork tenderloin with a raspberry and chili pepper glaze, creamy pumpkin soup, and carrot cake. Might as well have been cardboard for all I could tell. I made Calabrian mushroom soup this week. May as well have been ashes. Nothing. Nada. I could perceive sweet, salty, bitter, and sour, but nothing had flavor.

While it was a distinctly interesting experience to note the sense of taste divorced from the sense of smell, man I’m glad I can taste things again.

I wonder what happened, though. Why did puking extensively and suddenly (with no repeat bouts since) trigger my sense of smell? Weird.

2

Maybe the act of throwing up cleared out some lingering mucus that was blocking up your sinuses? I mean, I know my kids would sometimes throw up when they had particularly congesting colds and it always seemed to bring them some relief.

Just a WAG.

3

I’ve been single-handedly keeping Kleenex in business for the past 4 days (and counting), and now I’m wondering if I just need a good, old-fashioned upchuck . . . :smiley:

(I haven’t lost the ability to smell/taste, though, so it might not be worth it!)