Lawrence Chow / ENT Doctor
An Overview of Anosmia due to inability to smell
A strange word for a sense taken for granted by many. The complete loss of smell is called anosmia and it may be temporary or permanent. There is also a condition where loss of smell may only be partial meaning you can smell but not quite called hyposmia.
There may be not much of a complaint for partial inability to smell but a total loss of smell is a matter to be really concerned with since it may put you in a very precarious situation. Making a mountain out of a mound?
You are alone at home having anosmia for a couple of days and the gas tank is leaking in the kitchen. Or, you are so hungry, you’d try anything out of the fridge and the salsa you picked had been sour for a day already.
Sense of Smell
Like the other senses, smelling is triggered by a process. A molecule from a hot soup enters your nose and excites the olfactory nerves that transmits a signal to the brain where the specific smell is identified.
Any disruption in the process may cause one to lose the ability to smell, be it partial or complete and may either be temporary or permanent. The loss of smell, in consequence, affects the sense of taste.
Without smelling, tasting is watered down or limited to a few flavors which, in turn, nips on the quality of your life.
Causes
Several factors cause the disruption of the process of smelling, but the most common ones are allergy, nasal congestion due to colds, or just plain poor air quality; forest fires and smog included. However, the list of causes may be longer than you think:
- medications for Alzheimer’s’ or Parkinson’s diseases, hormone imbalance;
- old age;
- polyps inside the nose;
- head trauma;
- chemical exposure;
- medicines such as antibiotics, anti-inflammatory, or antidepressants;
- radiation for head or neck cancer.
Symptom
There is just one and palpable sign in the inability to smell and that is the absence of smell. You begin to doubt that you may have anosmia when certain familiar things to you suddenly smell nothing.
Better yet, Pierre Cardin should have an effect on you; if not, then it is on you, indeed.
Treatment
Once you know you do have anosmia, know how it came to be is the next step. Starting from the bottom of the stairs, if anosmia is caused by nasal congestion due to cold or simple allergy, no fuss is needed but decongestants.
Other than the first two causes of anosmia, or you have had the lack of smell for a week or two, a necessary visit to a health care professional must be done. It may be infection or polyp growth.
Did you find the information useful? If so, continue reading our posts.
For details of the ENT services, diagnosis, and treatment, please consult our ENT specialist.
Source:
HK ENT Specialist Ltd.
Hong Kong based ENT clinic centre
For ENT Services, Audiology & Speech Therapy,
Sleep Disordered Breathing Management,
Hearing Aid Prescription & Medical Cosmetic Services
http://www.hkentspecialist.hk
4 Unlikely Diseases Linked to A Loss of Smell
Anosmia or the absence of the sense of smell became popular recently due to its inclusion on the list of symptoms for COVID19. But anosmia isn’t only limited to COVID19. There are other diseases that can cause you to lose your sense of smell. Here are some of them:
1．Sinusitis.
Sinuses are the little holes and spaces in your skull that contain pockets of air. They help lighten the weight of the skull and also act as ducts or drainage for mucus. When sinuses get clogged, bacteria may proliferate and cause an infection. The resulting sinusitis will cause fever and a feeling of heaviness in the head.
A loss of smell happens due to the pressure exerted by the enlarged sinuses near the nose, affecting your ability to breathe in and discern differences in scent. So the next time you think you have COVID because you can’t taste your guac toast, it’s probably just sinusitis.
2．Aneurysm.
Brain aneurysms are more fatal than COVID and a loss of smell may be indicative that one already has a brain aneurysm. Enlarged blood vessels near the brain may press on nerves that are responsible for detecting smell. These blood vessels can rupture and can cause increased intracranial pressure that may lead to a loss of consciousness and even death.
The good news is your risk for aneurysm decreases significantly if: a) you don’t smoke; b) maintaining a healthy blood pressure, c) limiting caffeine intake; and d) exercising. Currently, there is no guaranteed way to predict or completely prevent aneurysms, so we all have to make changes to our lifestyles.
3．Schizophrenia.
A study published in 2009 studies the specific relationship between anosmia and schizophrenia, and posits that the lack of sense of smell can be a warning sign or can indicate the early onset of the neurological disease.
One of the most powerful memory triggers is smell, and a schizophrenic patient will have trouble remembering things. The part of the brain affected relative to the occurrence of schizophrenia is also responsible for helping us distinguish scents. Anosmia can also be linked to other neurological diseases like Parkinson’s and Alzheimer’s disease.
There have been reports of COVID causing people to be forgetful so the distinction between COVID19 and early onset of schizophrenia becomes smaller, if basing on anosmia alone.
4．Paget’s disease of bones.
Paget’s disease makes bones brittle and causes bone formation to be irregular. This means individuals affected by Paget’s disease can experience a fracture, only to find the healed bone to be misaligned, or worse, deformed.
How does this affect loss of smell? In the same way sinusitis does. In rare cases, Paget’s disease will involve facial bones that grow in abnormal shapes. If these bones press on nerves in the brain or face, the loss of smell goes away. Nerve blockage is common in Paget’s disease and most complaints are due to pinched spinal nerves.
Did you find the information useful? If so, continue reading our posts.
For details of the ENT services, diagnosis, and treatment, please consult our ENT specialist.
Source:
HK ENT Specialist Ltd.
Hong Kong based ENT clinic centre
For ENT Services, Audiology & Speech Therapy,
Sleep Disordered Breathing Management,
Hearing Aid Prescription & Medical Cosmetic Services
http://www.hkentspecialist.hk
Everything You Need to Know about Losing Your Sense of Smell
Among doctors, the loss of the sense of smell is called anosmia. This can be a temporary condition, when you’re suffering from a cold or allergies that irritate the lining of the nose. But a permanent loss of smell is also possible, especially when you suffer a serious medical condition that affects the nerves or the brain. Even old age can lead to loss of smell for some people.
Consequences of Anosmia
Losing your sense of smell may not seem all that serious, as in itself it’s not really a fatal condition. But the sense of smell is an important factor for your appetite. If you’re unable to smell, food may not seem as appetizing as before and you may no longer be as interested in eating as much as you should. This lack of appetite can lead to malnutrition.
It’s also possible that you can get depressed when you lose your sense of smell. Plenty of people comfort themselves with food when they feel bad, and you may feel depressed when you realize that food that were once your favorites are no longer as tasty as you remember them.
Several Potential Causes of the Loss of Smell
While the loss of smell can be attributed to several potential causes, here are the main possible reasons:
Irritation of the Nose Lining If the mucus membranes lining the nose have been irritated, a loss of smell is possible. Such an irritation can be caused by the common cold or by sinus infections, allergies, or the flu. Some chronic congestion not related to allergies can also be the cause, and this irritation can also happen if you’re a smoker. Most cases of temporary or partial loss of smell are usually due to colds. Once you’re over your cold, the problem tends to go away as well.
Physical Blockage of Nasal Passages
If something’s blocking the passage of air through your nose, then your sense of smell will certainly be affected. This blockage can be due to nasal polyps or to tumors. It may also be caused by bone deformities inside the nose.
Nerve or Brain Damage
Inside your nose, you have receptors that send sensory information through the nerves into your brain. If something goes wrong regarding this system, such as there’s something wrong with the nerves or with your brain, then you may lose your sense of smell. Many possible conditions can lead to this kind of damage. Potential suspects include brain tumors, Huntington’s disease, Alzheimer’s disease, Parkinson’s disease, epilepsy, schizophrenia, and stroke. It can be caused by long-term alcoholism, diabetes, or malnutrition. This kind of damage can be an accident caused by brain surgery, head injury, or as a side effect of certain medications.
Conclusion
The potential treatment of the loss of smell depends greatly on what caused it. It’s normal to lose your sense of smell when your nose is stuffed when you have a cold or allergies. But once you’re over your colds and you still can’t smell anything, then you should consult your ENT doctor. Since ENT problem is quite different from case to case, it is suggested to consult an ENT doctor for the appropriate ENT services.
Source:
HK ENT Specialist Ltd.
Hong Kong based ENT clinic centre
For ENT Services, Audiology & Speech Therapy,
Sleep Disordered Breathing Management,
Hearing Aid Prescription & Medical Cosmetic Services
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另所有文章內使用的人名均為化名。
另所有文章內使用的人名均為化名。