Saturday, March 31, 2007

Strange sense of smell

I'm not sure if this has anything to do with the fact that I've discontinued all alcohol intake for some time but a few days ago I had a strange sense that I'm smelling something. It's not any kind of definable odor or aroma nor is it unpleasant. It just seems that I'm getting something.

Now, this could be all in my mind or it could be what is known as "phantosmia". If I'm not mistaken, some people who suffer from anosmia also have this condition where they seem to smell scents that aren't actually there. Although unless I'm mistaken, those "smells" are usually very unpleasant if not repugnant. Again, it's hard to say what's going on here and in fact it only lasted a few days but it was interesting to note.

I've run out of my prescription of Nasonex and haven't used it for about a week so I imagine it would be an opportune time for me to call my ENT and get my prescription refilled. Maybe it will help!

Wednesday, March 28, 2007

Allergy Shots helped during the dry winter

Well, southern California has finally ended the driest winter in recent memory and my sinuses held up fairly well. I was figuring that with all the dry Santa Ana winds we had this year and very little rain, my sinuses and allergies would be at their worst but they actually held up.

I think the allergy shots are helping with reaction to allergens but I am somewhat disappointed that they have had no affect on my anosmia. I'm in a maintenance phase on the environmental part of my shots (dust mites, dander, etc) but am still working up with the grass and pollen shots.

I've also totally stopped drinking, mostly due to just getting lazy and happy sitting around watching tv but also because it really was having an effect on my sinuses. I tried stopping before to see if it would help my anosmia which it didn't but I can honestly say that my sinuses are much less congested in the morning. Who knows, maybe somewhere down the road my sense of smell will return. I still wake up every morning and get out of the shower thinking I might smell some coffee but it hasn't happened yet.