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

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-got-them-dang-ol-head-cold-cant-smell-or-taste-a-goddamned-thang-blues/283810>\
**Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\
**Created:** [January 9, 2005, 1:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-got-them-dang-ol-head-cold-cant-smell-or-taste-a-goddamned-thang-blues/283810 "2005-01-09T01:28:58Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 3\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![Ogre](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/ecb155/32.png) [@Ogre](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ogre)\
**Post date:** [January 9, 2005, 1:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-got-them-dang-ol-head-cold-cant-smell-or-taste-a-goddamned-thang-blues/283810/1 "2005-01-09T01:28:58Z")

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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.

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**Author:** ![TellMeI\_mNotCrazy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tellmei_mnotcrazy/32/3419_2.png) [@TellMeI\_mNotCrazy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TellMeI_mNotCrazy)\
**Post date:** [January 9, 2005, 4:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-got-them-dang-ol-head-cold-cant-smell-or-taste-a-goddamned-thang-blues/283810/2 "2005-01-09T04:13:43Z")

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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.

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**Author:** ![Misnomer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/misnomer/32/14897_2.png) [@Misnomer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Misnomer)\
**Post date:** [January 9, 2005, 6:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-got-them-dang-ol-head-cold-cant-smell-or-taste-a-goddamned-thang-blues/283810/3 "2005-01-09T06:04:26Z")

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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 . . . 😃

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