Lost Sense of smell

[violetdragon]

I have gradually lost my sense of smell over the past several years until I have nothing at all now. How do I cope with this? I'm now losing my sense of taste as well it's making me nuts because it is in a small sense affecting my job. I would also like some help with stopping smoking as I just watched my Dad pass away from a major stroke after 3 heart attacks need some encouragement.

[violetdragon]

Thanks that could a number of those things, I have epilepsy and anemia and b vitamin deficency . Hopefully it isn't some of the other causes although I am tryong to quit smoking too.

[Red_Star]

My reasons for impaired smell and taste: vitamin B12 deficiency (due to autoimmune pernicious anaemia), zinc deficiency, and hypothyroidism (Hashimoto's thyroiditis). I had to diagnose all three conditions myself. Thankfully we have google eh? :)

Excerpt from "Smell and Taste Disorders: A Primary Care Approach" - American Academy of Family Physicians:

Selected Possible Causes of Smell Disturbance

Common causes:

Nasal and sinus disease (e.g., allergic or vasomotor rhinitis, chronic sinusitis, nasal polyps, adenoid hypertrophy)
Upper respiratory infection
Head trauma (e.g., frontal skull fracture, occipital injury, nasal fracture)
Cigarette smoking
Neurodegenerative disease (e.g., Alzheimer's disease, Parkinson's disease, multiple sclerosis)
Age

Less common causes:

Medications (see Table 2)
Cocaine abuse (intranasal)
Toxic chemical exposure (e.g., benzene, benzol, butyl acetate, carbon disulfide, chlorine, ethyl acetate, formaldehyde, hydrogen selenide, paint solvents, sulfuric acid, thrichloroethylene)
Industrial agent exposure (e.g., ashes, cadmium, chalk, chromium, iron carboxyl, lead, nickel, silicone dioxide)
Nutritional factors (e.g., vitamin deficiency [A, B6, B12], trace metal deficiency [zinc, copper], malnutrition, chronic renal failure, liver disease [including cirrhosis], cancer, acquired immunodeficiency syndrome)
Radiation treatment of head and neck
Congenital conditions (e.g., congenital anosmia, Kallmann's syndrome)

Uncommon causes:

Neoplasm or brain tumor (e.g., osteoma, olfactory groove or cribiform plate meningioma, frontal lobe tumor, temporal lobe tumor, pituitary tumor, aneurysm, esthesioneuroblastoma, melanoma, squamous cell carcinoma)
Psychiatric conditions (e.g., malingering, schizophrenia, depression, olfactory reference syndrome)
Endocrine disorders (e.g., adrenocortical insufficiency, Cushing's syndrome, diabetes mellitus, hypothyroidism, primary amenorrhea, pseudohypoparathyroidism, Kallmann's syndrome, Turner's syndrome, pregnancy)
Epilepsy (olfactory aura)
Migraine headache (olfactory aura)
Cerebrovascular accident
Sjögren's syndrome
Systemic lupus erythematosus"

***

As for heart attacks, check your homocysteine levels. High levels are bad news!  A good article on this is "Homocysteine the Silent Killer" - Squidoo. And there is an excellent book entitled: The H Factor Solution: Homocysteine, the Best Single Indicator of Whether You Are Likely to Live Long or Die Young by James Braly MD and Patrick Holford.

A good article on the many reasons why the cholesterol causes heart disease theory is extremely flawed (and backed up by clinical trials):  5 reasons not to worry about your cholesterol numbers - Chris Kresser.  And another great article The Hidden Truth About "Reducing Your Cholesterol" by Mike Geary.

For those who do take statins, the newest black box warning on statin drugs: memory loss, confusion, high blood sugar and type 2 diabetes risk.  Statins also lower CoQ10. Depletion of CoQ10 can cause any number of symptoms including nausea, headaches, dizziness, sleep disturbances, sexual dysfunction, fatigue, shortness of breath, memory loss, liver problems, muscle weakness, muscle pain, peripheral neuropathy, congestive heart failure.

Try electronic cigarettes. They look like a cigarette and even have nicotine (that's the reason you can't give up smoking - more addictive than heroin!) but it doesn't contain the cancer causing agents. So you can lower the nicotine cartridges over time until you quit. You can smoke e-cigs indoors as it is a water vapour not toxic second hand smoke. Johnny Depp was smoking an e-cig in the movie The Tourist. A bit of trivia. :)