I have also had funny smell for the past 6 months. My smell is somewhere between burnt popcorn and burnt molasses. I had a really bad cold last October. I had a brain MRI and there is no evidence of a tumour (which is good). But the sinus scan reveal some polyps and a cyst. Could these be the cause? Has anybody used the "flo sinus care starter kit"? I have used it a couple of times, but got no relief. Should I try to use it upside down?
Everything now turns into about three smells. Fish, fumes or a sweet excrement. The doctor doesn't take it seriously but these smells are unpleasant and I don't know if any are real or it is just my imagination. I clean myself more and brush my teeth a lot in case it is me but no one tells me I smell or smells what I do. I want my sense of smell back!
Yes, I have the same symptoms. Anything fried smells kind of scorched. An old oil burning car passing me smells the same. Funny thing, everything still tastes the same. Still looking for a cure. My general doctor laughed when I told him this.
Best comments and possible solutions I've seen yet. Thank you from the far ends of my sinus cavities!
I have exactly the same since a week ago. how to get rid of this?
i am or was not sick at all..
Did this ever go away for you? I am having the same issue now. It is driving me insane.
Hi, just read your post and I could have written it myself. I was wondering if you have cured the problem yet?
What is the cinnamon test?
Sorry to be annoying and post here again, but the reason I took the risk and did my first flip-turn flush was because my 5 years of sinusitis finally reached my olfactories, and I totally lost smell and taste for 2 months--at that point, what did I have to lose? After the worst of the infected mucus came out, it took about 2 weeks for my smell to recover, and after 2 months, I could smell things I hadn't smelled for 10 years.
Last winter I got a persistent virus and lost my smell again, and it didn't return even after 2 weeks of flushing, so I thought it was permanent. But talking to other parents at my kid's school, I learned they had been sick with the bug for up to 2 months. I did a flush every other day, and it took 3 weeks for my smell to fully recover.
I'm not advocating that you do a flush, but do know the olfactories can recover even sooner than the 8-12 months, but not necessarily so in everybody. There is also a possibility that a small pocket of infection is lodged in your upper sinuses, which takes a long time to clear on its own.
At any rate, keep a jar of cinnamon around to sniff--it's a good way to measure the progress of your recovery.
I have parosmia for 2 months. It developed after an upper respiratory infection in July that took away any sense of smell at that time. By December I started to get the sense of smell back but all smells were dramatically different (especially coffee and meat) in my right nasal and not so much in the left. Saw an ENT who said I had chronic sinusitis. Took Augmentin for 21 days and then a CT scan to check and see if anything significant was going on. Smells have softened somewhat but still have them and my docgtor told me it will just take time. From my research it appears that folks who develop this from Upper Respiratory Infections tend to resolve in 8 to 14 months because it is a secondary sympton to the original infection. Folks who develop unexpectedly with no previous problems tend to have it much longer.
Cannot wait to smell things normally again. Wish i could at least lose weight but find myself trying everything and anything to see if anything smells and tastes normal and gaining weight. I have noticed that fish is the only thing that tends to smell and taste normal so I am eating a lot of it. Also, anything salty or sugary can be tasted, however, my two favorite things, cole slaw and chocolate have a musty taste to it. Anybody else experiencing these symptoms? Anybody have a recovery story?
I can't stop smelling exhaust fumes. It is actually making me sick to my stomach. I can't stop smelling it!!!
My "bad taste" is really noticable when I smell coffee either ground, beans or perked. The smell outside of a coffee place like Starbucks is totally distorted and is like a burnt bad smell. Anyone experience this?
Yes, just take your time with the heads down thing. Like my friend told me when I turned 50, "You can do everything a teenager can, it just takes a lot longer."
As far as zinc, I just meant regular vitamin pills with zinc in them, I believe the RDA is 15 mg. Forget those 220mg monster zinc pills. Lot of people think vitamins and minerals are like money--a whole lot is much better than just enough--when in fact, too much can mess you up.
I was just reading today in Dr. Mark Levy's "Ultramind Solution" that in fact, olfactory receptor cells do regenerate. I can smell a lot better than I could ten years ago, even before my major sinus troubles.
Oh, by the way, you might try nettle leaf capsules, two of them 3 times a day, and you have about a 50% change of improving on your allergies. No side effects.
Thank you for taking the time to reply and for the great information. I have tried to use "Simply Saline" in the heads down position. I just don't have the flexability I did when I was younger, so it's really hard to do it "heads down". I did try to take a Zinc supplements, but it made me nauseated, so I had to stop.
I have been worried that my allergy problems have exacerbated my Parosmia and is not allowing the healing process in my "olfactory receptor cells". I guess I need to stop praying for a cure (after 11 months) and try the zinc and your the "Sinus Flush" process again. I'll keep you posted.
As you know, there are many causes of parosmia/phantosmia, but only 2 causes are treatable, that I know of.
The first is a zinc deficiency, which can be remedied with normal dose zinc supplements (NOT Zicam or any high-dose stuff).
The other is a chronic infection of the upper sinuses (sphenoid and frontal) by anaerobic bacteria, which can be opportunistic, usually following a bout of acute or chronic sinusitis. This is not widely known in the medical profession, yet. I've had the dogpoop/Parmesan smell and the gas smell, on separate occasions, and cured them both, before achieving total sinus health.
http://www.medhelp.org/user_journals/show/2322
The Flip-Turn Sinus Flush is mildly risky, because you have to bend over to do it, preferably in a shower, but you can also do it outside on soft ground. A regular sinus saline irrigation won't work, because takes effect before the saline reaches the upper sinuses..
If it works for you, continue to flush for 3 days after the smell goes away, or it can grow back, which it did 2 times to me before I figured it out.
Good luck.