About | Parosmia Awareness

About Parosmia

Parosmia

That awful smell & taste that's always around.

It can cause nausea, vomiting, headaches

and it impacts every part of life.

About Me

I'm Linda, a

parosmia advocate and

Parosmia Awareness Day Founder.

I have been living with

smell & taste disorders

because of a virus

since May of 2019 (Pre-Covid).

Then, in April of 2021,

I tested positive for Covid-19.

Once again, I lost my sense of

smell and taste...

Read My Parosmia Story

Read My Covid Story

Understanding Parosmia

Parosmia is a distorted sense of smell disorder

that impacts a person's entire life

There hasn't been much professional help available.

It has always been around but not very well known

until 2020 when the Covid-19 virus made it more prevalent.

Parosmia is a very strange and confusing condition

Almost everything has the distorted bad smell.

food - raw food, cooked food and food cooking in any way
water - drinking water, boiling water, water in the shower...
soap - cleaning products (laundry detergent, dish soap...), personal care products (shampoo, deodorant...) even "fragrance free" products smell offensive
"hot" & "cold" have a smell
the outside air & the ground smell "bad"

Parosmia is always changing

Something might smell and/or taste bad one week

and then it could be normal the next week and then it changes again.

Sometimes the foul odors are compared to:

something burning
something rotten/spoiled
smells like garbage, sulfur, sewage, chemicals, smoke...
It has even been described as smelling like "decaying, dead bodies"

Currently, there is no known medical cure for parosmia

It could take months or years to recover. Sometimes a full recovery may not occur.

The wrong odors just become more tolerable over time -

"the new normal".

Health Concerns

A balanced diet is difficult to maintain and can lead to other health issues.
Weight loss and dehydration can occur when the distorted smells of parosmia cause nausea and vomiting.
Parosmia can cause weight gain because sugar and carbohydrates are some of the only tolerable foods.
Some chronic diseases that could arise are hypertension, hypothyroidism, obesity and diabetes.
Long term health problems resulting from smell dysfunction can include nutrition deficiencies and mental health issues.

Parosmia is socially isolating and depressing

A Few Definitions

Smell Disorders:

Anosmia is a complete loss of the sense of smell.
Parosmia is a distorted sense of smell.
Hyposmia is a reduced sense of smell.
Phantosmia is smelling an odor that isn't actually present. (A phantom smell)

Taste Disorders:

Ageusia is a complete loss of the sense of taste.
Dysgeusia/parageusia is a distorted sense of taste.
Hypogeusia is a reduced sense of taste.

Taste vs Flavor:

Basic taste refers to sweet, salty, sour, bitter and umami.
Chemesthesis involves the sensations of burning, cooling, tingling, irritating... (Example: spicy or minty)
Flavor is a combination of smell, taste and chemesthesis along with texture, color and temperature.

When you have anosmia, you lose the "smell" part of flavor and you can only detect basic tastes and chemesthesis. (Example: Apples are sweet, crunchy and juicy with no apple flavor.)

When you have parosmia , the "smell" part of flavor is present but WRONG. These odors are totally new, often indescribable and usually disgusting.

(Example: My Ivory bar soap smells like lemon. That's not bad but I know it's not right.)

Causes
of Anosmia & Parosmia

Anosmia can be the result from some of the following conditions:

Rhinovirus upper respiratory tract infections (common cold)
Other viral upper respiratory tract diseases (Covid-19...)
Allergies
Traumatic brain injury (TBI)
Growths (brain tumors, nasal polyps)
Surgery to remove growths
Cancer treatment (chemotherapy, radiation)
Neurological conditions (dementia, Alzheimer's disease, Parkinson's disease...)
Smoking
Chemical & pollution exposure
Congenital (born with it)
Genetics (inherited)
Idiopathic (unknown cause)

Parosmia is a side effect that may develop as the individual is recovering from anosmia. Occurring approximately four months after smell loss, it may take months to years to fully recover.

Sometimes a full recovery may never happen.