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Nothing tastes good. Nothing has flavor. I can barely taste spicy, salty, sour, and sweet.
Welcome to the eighth day of my cold. My sinuses shut down early on and my voice took flight a few days ago. Luckily, I can still type!
Last night when I was trying to fall asleep despite the persistent coughing, I was seized with a panic. What if I could never taste anything ever again?! What if I was doomed to a life without taste or smell?! Everything would be bland, boring, and lifeless and I’m not just talking about the food.
When I mentioned my fear of anosmia to Liz Strauss this morning, she said,
I have no sense of smell from birth. I can taste what you taste with your tongue. So my favorite food is bittersweet chocolate 73%. One of my brothers is smell blind too.
Once she mentioned her brother, my interest was piqued. Family history, heredity, genetics, genes,….
In 2004, Dr. Linda Buck of the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center shared the 2004 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine with Richard Axel. Their work helped identify the genes and proteins involved in our olfactory system. Varying combinations of the approximately 1,000 different genes that code for olfactory receptors in our nose make it possible for us to sense 10,000 different odors.
Liz went on to tell me what it’s like to not have a sense of smell:
I can’t tell roast beef from roast pork, or chicken salad from tuna salad. Because of the tongue as my main discriminator — sour, sweet, bitter, salty — I basically have the tastes of a five year old.
I love good white wine and very simple food. Don’t mix my chocolate with fruit. Most of my meat needs gravy or sauce to have a taste to it — I’m less adventurous with food, because I find it boring. I also stop eating the second, the very bite that I am full.
I, on the other hand, keep eating in the hopes that the next bit of food I try will actually taste like something. This morning’s coffee had no flavor, my lunch of cottage pie and chicken soup was one bland mess, and even the salt and vinegar Hula Hoops was a wash.
The Anosmia Foundation says that approximately two to five million American adults have disorders of taste and smell, which is a serious problem because they’re not able to smell burning fires, poisonous fumes, leaking gas, or spoiled food. Not being able to taste or smell anything can lead to weight loss (especially in the elderly) and even depression.
Liz has lived all her life not being able to smell, one of the crucial five senses. Despite that, she wears lavender aromatherapy spray that she can’t smell because other people tell her she smells good (thankfully, because she wouldn’t be able to smell her own body odor either!). Besides, she has her sense of sight and can still appreciate the color of lavender. Purple is her favorite color.
Photo: LHOON
Tags: anosmia, genetics, genes, dna, five senses, smell, sense of smell, olfactory, diseases, illness, health, colds
1933 days ago
[...] In case anyone was worried about Liz missing the genes for sense of smell, Jessica Duquette was kind enough to give her a new nose! Unfortunately, it doesn’t do much except sharpen pencils. Maybe we can get Liz a sniffer dog for her birthday. [...]
Liz: I also have had no sense of smell from birth. And interestingly, I too think chocolate is best, the darker the better! I participated in a clinical study for smell, and learned (thru an MRI) that it’s because I lack olfactory bulbs. However despite that, I did “better than chance” on their test of scent identification, which they said points to my anosmia being congenital (this was before the MRI) and that I had likely adapted some other pathways and was sensing “something”. Luckily for me, my two children have excellent senses of smell, in fact my oldest is quite helpful in alerting me when the younger one needs a diaper change!
Thanks for the note of optimism. Oh, one other thing: She owns three dogs and I’m the one who has to remind her that her house needs clean(er)dogs, especially when they have come in from the rain!
Ed: Thanks for the comment! I’m sorry to hear about your partner. It is real hell not being able to taste anything. Here’s a quote from the Anosmia Foundation that may answer your question:
My partner, a 63 year old female, was involved in a road accident two years ago and sustained sever head injuries. One of the problems which resulted from this accident was that she lost her sense of smell. She can identify sweet, sour, salt (I guess that’s linked into her taste buds, which still seem to function to a certain extent), but can’t ‘taste’ food or drink. There doesn’t seem to be any improvement over time. As experts in this area, do you hold out much promise that her sense of taste and smell will ever improve?
Hi, Larry: Thank you for sharing those links with us! I’m sorry I missed those posts last week. Will read up now.
Liz: My friend tells me it could be hyposmia instead of anosmia. I think I can still smell a little something if i shove it up my nose. How about you?
Last week, I posted a short article about the Nobel Prize winners [ Nobel Laureates: Richard Axel and Linda B. Buck] and two articles about the olfactory receptor genes [Olfactory Receptor Genes, The Evolution of Gene Families].
That’s so funny what you said about body odor. I always tell my husband, “Can’t be me. I don’t smell.” :)