Doesn’t smell: the 3 main causes of smell loss

You might not usually notice it, but smell gives you a lot of information about the world around you – of course, not as much as sight or touch, but still a lot. And it’s not just the aroma of your favorite perfume or a blooming flowerbed, but also such trivial things as the freshness of the products from which you plan to cook your dinner, a message from a cat indignant on the carpet by the door, or a gas stove valve not turned all the way. Loss of smell is very unpleasant and sometimes dangerous, so you need to know what to do in this case and where to get help.

How does the sense of smell work? There are special receptors in the nose and upper throat that detect smells and send messages to the brain. The brain, in turn, deciphers these messages and gives the order to throw away the suspicious chicken breast or buy that wonderful eau de toilette. Any disturbance in this process – nasal congestion, blockage, inflammation, nerve damage or brain damage – can lead to complete or partial loss of the sense of smell (anosmia or hyposmia, respectively).

An absent or reduced sense of smell, among other things, causes problems with taste. You might think it’s not bad, because not a single bun or cake will tempt you, but, alas, all food seems to taste tasteless, and eating is just boring, celery differs from steak only by its texture. This results in nutritional deficiencies and, in extreme cases, even malnutrition. If the sense of smell is not completely lost, it may seem to you that the food simply needs to be salted or added other spices, which can be harmful for kidney disease or high blood pressure.

As a rule, this is a temporary phenomenon. This includes loss of smell due to:

The reason for loss of smell is congestion or irritation of the mucous membranes. Most often, the odors return as soon as the infection subsides. However, it also includes smoking, and the situation is a bit more complicated. In smokers, a decrease in sense of smell is a side effect of their bad habit, and if they don’t quit smoking, then their sensitivity to aromas doesn’t stay at the level it could be. Also, the sense of smell can be lost due to poisoning with toxins that are unrelated to smoking.

In this case, the odors simply do not reach the correct receptors due to obstacles. Such an obstacle can be:

In this case, nasal congestion and loss of smell are more than closely related, if you remove what interferes with breathing, odors will be felt.

This is perhaps the most difficult group of causes to stop, but they are much less common than the causes in the first two groups, with the exception of the very first. Among them:

The causes and treatment of loss of smell are, of course, closely related. If you suspect you’ve stopped smelling due to a virus or seasonal allergy, your sense of smell will most likely return as soon as the irritant is gone. The body will cope with the virus, trees or grass will wither – and there will be nothing left to interfere with the process of transmitting information about smells to the brain. If a cold or allergy has already passed, or it seems to you that it is not about them at all, you need to see a doctor.

The specialist, most likely, will specify whether there have been injuries, operations, whether there are chronic diseases, what acute conditions have recently been suffered. They will also examine your nose, check for sensitivity to smells using special tools, if that’s not enough, they’ll send you for a CT scan or magnetic resonance imaging. You may need to see a neurologist or otoneurologist.

If the nose does not smell due to the causes of the first group, it will go away on its own, the doctor can prescribe sprays or allergy medications, but keep in mind that in some cases these remedies themselves can cause nasal congestion, so you need to use these drugs under medical supervision.

The second group of reasons are indications for surgical treatment. The obstruction that prevents odors from entering the desired area is removed, after which the sense of smell is restored after some time. With problems with mucous membranes or obstruction of the nose, sensitivity to odors returns in more than 90% of cases.

If the odors disappeared due to the causes of the third group, then the forecast here will be much more conservative. In this case, there is no absolute probability of “fixing” the sense of smell. If he disappeared due to a serious disease that is only progressing, then the smells are unlikely to return completely, perhaps it will only be possible to alleviate the situation a little. Same with aging – it’s unfortunately irreversible (however, if you don’t feel at the age of 30-40-50, it’s unlikely to be, there’s most likely another reason, usually hyposmia develops after 60 years). With a tumor or aneurysm, surgery can help, if the tumor is malignant – appropriate treatment by an oncologist. Malnutrition and zinc deficiency are perhaps the easiest conditions to cure, if the right amount of vitamins and minerals are supplied to the body, the sense of smell will likely “repair” over time. Inflammatory processes can be stopped with appropriate medications. The third group of reasons, as we have already said, is the most difficult to treat, but these reasons are very rare compared to the reasons of the first two groups, so if you consider the “average temperature in the hospital” – odors can will most likely be returned.

What to do with the loss of smell other than a treatment? Until therapy helps, try to eat only foods that you know are fresh. Double check your stove, whether gas or electric. Periodically inspect outlets and other items that may cause a fire. This simple safety precaution should be followed until the odors return.