It seems so trivial and minor – loss of smell. It is without question not the most important sense as a survey (2019 – Evaluating Whether Sight Is the Most Valued Sense of which the picture below is one of the exhibits) of 8 senses concluded that smell was number 6 behind Sight, Hearing, Balance (one of my major issues), Touch, and Taste (also impacted by smell) and ahead of Pain and Temperature. By the way – it seems “Common Sense” is not one of them and, yes, I also thought there were five.
Actually, it seems small because of the enormity of the other symptoms…it is actually a really big deal if it wasn’t for everything else. It is a bit like being on a sinking ship and being upset that the Wi-Fi isn’t working. It isstill really annoying!
According to Parkinson’s UK, loss or reduction of smell (anosmia) is common in Parkinson’s, with up to 95% of people experiencing it to some degree. Loss of smell can affect people in different ways. We rely on our sense of smell to taste food, so reduced smell can lead to weight loss or weight gain. It can also affect your mood, relationships, and overall quality of life. In addition, loss of smell can affect your safety. For example, being unable to smell food burning. It does not respond to Parkinson’s medication, so is unlikely to get better even with this treatment.
I have virtually no smell… a few amusing and a little dangerous example:
The toast – Sitting in the kitchen minding my own business and my wife and daughter run in – “what’s burning?” – I looked behind me and sure enough the toaster was on fire (the smoke alarm battery got replaced immediately).
The terrible smell – Because my taste is reduced, I cook everything with huge amounts of chili, garlic, and onion. I whip it all up and the kids come running out of their bedrooms to open the windows shouting “Daddy’s cooking again.”
The friend – A good friend of mine made me a delicious dinner recently in his smoker…apparently beautiful. and to me it was so so much appreciated. He referred to the “true clean smoke” he had up and running. At that moment I told him I have basically zero smell and that my taste was reduced. I could imagine his inner voice screaming – “why did I do all that work 🙁 “. He was good enough not to say anything but it must have been annoying – I owe him a smell extravaganza in return.
Wine tasting and Whisky – I found myself being asked to ‘taste’ the wine at a dinner recently. Of course, it involves smelling the wine – well that was a bit of a waste and luckily the wine was ok but it could have been truly anything. Sadly, my favorite drink – Ardbeg – a smokey peaty whisky (my wife calls it antiseptic mouthwash) …. I can no longer smell. It is a genuine loss of a real pleasure in life.
So, from a pleasure side, it is a real downer – I used to love food, wine, and whisky…it is all basically just fuel now (my only enjoyment is texture and temperature). Not fun!!!
On the good side – I am the designated cleaner up of all dog do-do, any vomit, and anything unpleasant because it doesn’t harm me…so there are benefits.
Seriously Loss of Smell – There are major issues with the loss of smell in the most basic functions of life – appreciating nicer things like food, scents, the impact on taste and appetite (eating for fuel harms this significantly). It is important in the ability to sense danger such as fire, toxic chemicals, and gas.
It also changes basic functions – I hate to be personal, but it is important. Not being able to smell yourself and your body odor, nor urine or when you break wind does matter to your sense of dignity. It may seem amusing, and granted it does have the occasional upside, but it is annoying.
Any smell at all? I occasionally have the sense of the sense of smell – if we drive through a truly terrible smelling area e.g. near a sewage plant, I can sense something has changed but can’t smell it. In a test I did for smell two years ago I was given 12 sniff cards to smell. Each had 4 options, and I had to smell and guess. It was things like menthol, various foods/drinks like liquorice, whisky, various odors, etc.
7 of them I smelt nothing at all. 4 I had the sense of smell – 2 I guessed right and 2 I guessed wrong…1 I smelt strongly…. want to guess…it was pineapple (I know how strange that seems). 2 years later I can’t smell pineapple.
Loss of Smell – Why do I raise it? We always overlook the minor things such as the relentless focus on the big-ticket items – for me sleep, balance, freezing, shuffling, rigidity. These small things matter though.
One little example to round off…in Jewish tradition, we have a ceremony at the end of the Sabbath called Havdalah where one of the parts is to smell spices and it is a beautiful thing. This is something I haven’t done for 5 years.
I would love science to find a way to get smell back…as I said it is like the Wi-Fi going out on a sinking ship. Wi-Fi is still important to us and if the ship was a long while sinking I guarantee that most people today would be asking for the Wi-Fi code. So am I.
P.s. Please feel free to pass this on and comment. Also the picture is used from the survey on the basis of ‘Fair Use’ laws.
