November blues

It's kind of weird how since being told that all my improvements in smelling were purely psychological, they've stopped. My life has completely reverted back to what it was before the surgery, only now I've just sort of stopped trying to worry about it. I don't want to say that I've given up, but probably more just that I'm pausing. I've given it one shot at trying to sort it out and that didn't work, so maybe now it's time to just rest a while with the knowledge that I am still completely anosmic. It was pretty emotionally draining and I don't really feel like going through it all again. Especially with Christmas coming up.

I was so looking forward to the possibility of being able to smell Christmas this year. I know it's still only November and too early to be thinking about that time of year but tough. As far as I'm concerned, Christmas is the only good thing about winter. The rest of it is cold and dark and miserable. I know there are much more important aspects to care about, but it's just one of those things that I was really looking forward to. But I suppose really I was just silly for getting my hopes up.

Mr Philpott is seeing me again in February to see if there continues to be little improvement after surgery. You never know, it could just be that it's a really slow recovery process! Which would be pretty weird, actually. Maybe I'll be learning to smell without actually realising it? Although having said that I've been surrounded by paint and wood stainer all weekend and haven't had a single whiff so maybe not. I must remember to keep up with my smell training, but I have to admit that I have lost heart somewhat.

On a much more positive note, the responses that I've had for my young people's anosmia project have been amazing. I've sent an email with all of them in earlier this weekend, so hopefully I'll get a reply soon with an update of when they'll be available on the Fifth Sense website. There have been so many messages telling you not to worry, to learn to embrace the weirdness and realise that you have something special and unique about you. I think sometimes I lose sight of that because I'm too busy feeling sorry for myself and thinking of anosmia only as a disability. But I suppose also it's a part of my identity, and there is a community that goes with that too. I just wish it was more easily accessible, that I had friends that I could turn to and talk about it too whenever I needed to. But I suppose really, that's actually what I'm trying to create. I really hope it works.

4 points, 100% anosmic

I went back to see Mr Philpott at the Spire hospital yesterday to have another smell test. This was exactly the same as the one that I had at my initial appointment with him to gauge the full extent of my anosmia; a number of 'sniffin' sticks' done blindfolded and a few with a visual stimulus to see if that could prompt any olfactory reaction. I thought I did rather well at this bit and there were many that I answered confidently. It was interesting to note that half of the images I was told the smell could be I have no memory of smelling, so a lot of it was done by me assuming that the smell would be similar to the taste. These images included various fruits, honey, wood, leather, smoke, wine etc.

I then had another nasal endoscopy to have a look at the inside of my nose to see if everything had healed well from the surgery; which it has done! Mr Philpott then discussed the results of my smell test with me. I had improved by four points since before the surgery. Which is nothing, basically. Especially as three of those were fluke; I had simply managed to match the smell to the right image accidentally. The only one I got right was peppermint. This means that I am still what they would call 100% anosmic. I needed eight more points in order to move into the next category which is 'diminished sense of smell'. 

Mr Philpott said that there was nothing more that they could do for me. He would be interested to see me in another three months from a purely academic point of view, to see why the surgery hadn't worked, which I think I will do. Because quite honestly, I would quite like to know too.

I don't really want to go into how obviously disappointing this is for me. I will keep at my smell training with the essential oils and I keep an eye on any medical advances that are made in the anosmia field in the future, just in case another alternative presents itself. I know I said before that I thought I could smell sometimes and even though that turns out to now be purely just psychological and not real, it's better than nothing at all.

FIFTH SENSE / UNDER 25 AND ANOSMIC

This one's kind of a big deal, so I wanted to give it a post all to itself. As I'm sure I've mentioned before, there is a website called Fifth Sense (link here), which is a site dedicated to anosmia and anosmic support.

The one thing that I always felt was missing from it, was advice aimed specifically at young people. Even on the anosmia page on Facebook, the youngest person I have ever come across, apart from myself, was 34. This may not seem like much of a big deal, but the concerns that are shared are those to do with burning down their house, or what their spouse thinks of them, or their children. These are issues that are way above the head of someone under the age of 25 who is also suffering from anosmia. They are having to deal with the constant teasing from their friends, who cannot take it seriously or understand what a big deal it is. In a time where all you want to do is fit in, you are already feeling so completely isolated from the world around you that it just makes it really, really tough.

So I decided that I was going to change this, and I was going to create a support network for anosmics under the age of 25. I emailed Duncan Boak, the man that runs Fifth Sense for advise and after some discussion, he offered me a subsection of the Fifth Sense website itself to do this. This is better than I ever could have hoped for, especially as Fifth Sense itself is continuing to grow and aiming to become an internationally recognised charity, the groundwork has already been done for me. I am spearheading an international support group for young anosmics.

I have been posting on Facebook, on twitter, on tumblr... anywhere I can think of to ask young people with anosmia to come forward and tell me their stories and any advice they wish they had been given, or that they feel that they could give to other young anosmics. I have already had so many replies from all over the world, and it is incredible. We are not alone. There are people out there who are going through exactly the same thing as each other and I want them to know that, to know that they have the support of so many others just like themselves.

So please. If you, or anyone you know is under 25 and ansomic please get them to message me so I can include their stories on the Fifth Sense website where it can help so many others.

A very delayed post-surgery message

I am so sorry that it has taken me so long to post. I've been unbelievably busy, so I'll try and update you in everything that has happened and I will try and keep it short.

So... the plastic splints! They ended up looking something like this, and ended up reaching right to the back of my nose (as you can sort of see in the bottom left hand image) and were basically horrific.

There was no magic moment in regaining my smell, once they were out, more just relief that I could wiggle my nose again. I could then also stick a finger up it and prod around my septum so I could figure out exactly what the damage was. And basically, I had a massive chunk taken out of it. If you could see up my nose you would be able to see the most impressive scarring ever, but luckily you can't and so it's impossible to tell that I ever had surgery!

And now, 3 months later? Well, there has been some improvement! Which is pretty amazing actually. It will be a very gradual process, and I have an appointment next Thursday to go back and see Mr Philpott to have another smell test so we can gauge exactly what improvement there has been. Smell is weird, because I still have no idea how much of it is psychological. So I don't know if I am starting to smell things, or if I'm just thinking that I can because I know I should be. I'm doing smell training every day, which involves smelling different essential oils, and some days I can name them, and some days I can't. But most days I can actually detect when there is a smell under my nose, which I could never even dream of doing before.

I HAVE (had) GIANT PLASTIC THINGS SEWN INTO MY NOSE

Firstly, I would just like to say thank you to everyone for your kind messages of support and wishes of luck for my surgery last Friday. I was overwhelmed by the response from both friends and strangers and I am so grateful to you all. I would also like to extend my thanks to Spire Hospital and to Mr Carl Philpott for looking after me so well.

Although it is too early to tell if the surgery has been a success in terms if any anosmia improvement, there were no complications during theatre and I am making a great recovery. I am now able to take minimal painkillers and go without a lovely moustache-esque bandage under my nose. I am able to breathe through it, although I do have two large plastic splints inside each nostril holding my nose apart so I am not able to breathe quite as clearly as I would like to be able to. These are also proving quite annoying and I frequently wake up in the middle of the night wanting to tear them out, but I am seeing Mr Philpott on Friday where these will be removed.

NOTE: THIS POST WAS DATED IN JULY, BUT I AM POSTING IT NOW. SORRY.

Surgery!

So tomorrow, on July 26th, I will be having surgery that may hopefully cure my anosmia. The actual procedure is called 'endoscopic septoplasty and restoration of olfactory clefts'. I think it basically means that they make holes in the cartilage in my nose to allow air (and smells) to reach my olfactory nerve.

I'm being really very good at not getting my hopes up that this will be the end of my anosmia and I will wake up able to miraculously smell again. I think that's mostly because I'm too busy being nervous about the procedure to actually give any serious thought as to what happens afterwards. I've been reading a lot about having to 'retrain my brain' as I haven't used that part of it for so long. It's all a bit bizarre, to be honest, but I'm not going to worry about it until tomorrow.

I think it's definitely fair to say that I'm having mixed feelings about the procedure. I've never had surgery or general anesthetic before in my life and I don't know if it's because it's do do with my face but I'm mostly feeling incredibly anxious. I don't think it's the procedure that's worrying me (although I have been very careful to not find out too much about what that actually involves) but more not knowing exactly what it is I'll be waking up to. I've been warned that I will be in a lot of pain, as well as feeling incredibly nauseous as it's obviously going to effect my sinuses. I'm expecting to have a couple of brilliant black eyes and a sore throat as well, as they have to stick a tube into my windpipe to ensure I can still breathe during surgery. I have moments where I panic and try to convince myself that it's not worth the discomfort and the money and this whole thing is really quite un-necessary, especially as I've now been anosmic for so long. But then I read how other people without a sense of smell also had surgery and it was 'the best decision' of their lives. What's a few weeks discomfort and 48 hours of nerves beforehand compared to getting my life back?

I don't want to go into how incredible it would be to be able to smell, just in case the surgery doesn't work, but after all, that is the reason for doing this. I won't be sad to see my anosmia go, although it has somehow (weirdly) actually become quite a big part of who I am. I've had to do more research on it than a lot of the doctors I've seen and I've had to cope with the massive frustrations that come with it. I've comes to terms with the fact that since I was at least 10 years old, I was and am always going to be completely alienated from my surroundings. Which is a pretty horrible thing to learn so young. I'm nearly 21 now and it's still an awful thing to deal with.

If I do get my sense of smell back I want to smell freshly baked bread and my mum's perfume and my boyfriend's shirt. I want to smell freshly mowed grass and petrol and how you know when it's going to rain. I want to travel back to all of the places I've been to in the last decade just to see what they smell like and form brilliant, vivid, actual memories that I can clearly hold on to. I want to smell my own shampoo.

Wish me luck!

The smell of success (almost)

Wow. I don't even know where to begin with this one. Today I finally had my consultation with Carl Philpott at Spire Hospital. I purposefully made an effort not to get my hopes up for anything to happen, or have any expectations really. In my mind, I had decided that I would turn up, agree that I was anosmic and then plans would be made for me to come back in a few weeks time for some more in depth tests to establish a course of action.

Instead, within an hour of me being there, I was told the cause of my anosmia and also what could be done to treat it.

I'm still struggling to absorb this information. 

Carl Philpott is a beacon of hope for all of those without a sense of smell. So many doctors have no idea about anosmia or the effects that it has on those suffering from it. Within minutes of me turning up for my appointment I was given a questionnaire that didn't just ask the basic questions like how long I had been unable to smell, but also how I felt I was coping with it and did I ever feel ostracized for it. I immediately felt such a sense of relief that here was a medical professional who completely understood what my life was and how serious this disability is.

I had the most intense blind smell test I think is possible to create; over 60 different smells were placed under my nose. By the about the 40th time I had said 'nothing' I have to admit that I began to give up hope. My anosmia was so blindingly apparent surely there was nothing that could be done about it. Next followed another nasal endoscopy (basically a camera stuck up my nose) which revealed that my left nasal cavity was considerably smaller and narrower than it should be, although this alone was not enough to explain why I don't have a sense of smell. After these tests, Mr Philpott recommended that I should be put forward for an MRI, bloodwork and possibly a CT scan. At this point I explain that I've already had a CT scan from Salisbury District Hospital. 

Within 30 seconds of looking at this image, he finds the cause of my anosmia.

It's literally just the way my nose has grown. The inner cartilage has expanded to cut off the air from my nasal cavities reaching my brain; meaning that my olfactory nerve is getting no signals of smell to process. This also explains why I never really realised becoming anosmic, as it just sort of happened as I grew. And it can easily be solved by surgery to widen the gap, meaning that the air from my nose reaches my brain so it can recognise smells.

So now I'm just waiting to get a date for this surgery and that's hopefully it. Blimey.

Ben Cohen

I know I haven't posted anything here in a while, but I didn't want this to be a blog where I just moan about how rubbish being anosmic is, but a blog which actually has some useful information on not having a sense of smell, which was actually interesting to read. So here is a fun fact: Ben Cohen, the co-founder of Ben and Jerry's ice cream is also an anosmic. This is why their ice cream is known for being chunky, as in order to compensate for his lack of taste, he would add big pieces of fruit or chocolate to satisfy his need for texture in food.

I've already mentioned on here before how my sense of taste is heavily compromised from being ansomic and that texture is one thing I largely rely on in order to gather a sense of how food should taste. So this ice cream suddenly makes a lot of sense and I'm not just saying that to try and justify how much of it I eat. I've just gotten over a cold, which made me aware of the best description I could possibly try to give about how having anosmia effects your sense of taste; it's like eating with a blocked nose. Except you can actually breathe.

Still haven't heard anything regarding my referral, but I am going to chase them up about this week, if even to try and get some idea of where I am on the waiting list. I think the thing that still frustrates me the most is that I have no idea of the cause of my anosmia. I think knowing that would give me a lot of closure on the subject, rather than this endless frustration. Phantom smells are still playing a large part in my life, this time with the ghost of burning, which is the most common form phantosmia takes.

Masterchef

Yet again, I'm back on the subject of food and ansomia. I just started watching the new series of Masterchef, which like most people, I have to watch with a plate of food in front of me as it makes me so very hungry. Sadly, my student meals rarely match up to the gourmet affairs served on the programme, but it definitely got me thinking. I get hungry because I associate the visual of good looking food with the assumption that it should taste good, but the flavours of the ingredients that they're describing actually mean nothing to me. Do other people watching this programme get hungrier because they know what the dishes on Masterchef are actually supposed to taste like?

I know I haven't been updating this blog lately, but there hasn't really been any new developments in my life with ansomia and I don't want to bore you all or just use this as a place to rant about my disability.

I still haven't heard anything regarding my referral, which is a shame but I've almost sort of forgotten about it. It seems silly now, how excited I got about the medical centre sending it off to the hospital. Life just keeps going on as normal. My phantosmia is still very much apparent and I'm consistently getting the smell and taste of disinfectant and metal which has definitely taken any enjoyment out of eating lately.

On a plus side, I've realised that due to my lack of  sense of smell and not sharing a room with anyone, I can keep brie in my room and it doesn't bother anyone.

Anosmia Awareness Day

The Facebook group for people with anosmia, brought this video to my attention today. It's not massively scientific or full of fun ansomia facts, but it's real people sharing their experiences of living with ansomia which is pretty cool. I missed Anosmia Awareness Day last Thursday (yes, it's real day) because I was so busy, but I would really appreciate it if everyone who takes the time to read this blog would please watch this video - Anosmia Video.

By the way, we were supposed to wear red on the day because it would remind people that not everyone could smell roses. Because that would have been super clear to everyone, right?

Five hurried hang ups later...

So a month after I went to the university medical centre I thought I should probably chase up this whole referral thing with Spire Hospital. After five attempts I finally left a voicemail with Mr. Philpott's secretary. I dislike voicemails because I find it very easy to ramble on without anyone to interrupt me. Much like this blog I suppose. Anyway, she returned my phone call about an hour later with the news that yes, they have got my referral.

But no, I won't be getting an appointment anytime soon as they've got a very long waiting list and they like to priorities the patients that they know they can treat. With my unidentified cause of anosmia, I don't fit into this category.

I got a little bit upset about this, which seems ridiculous I know. I was always aware that I was never going to definitely be able to get an appointment. I think it's just that I managed to get so close and was so elatedly happy that I can't help but feel a little disappointed now. I suppose life just goes on for me as normal and I just need to come to terms with the fact that this is normal for me.

Sometimes I wish anosmia was something that was visibly wrong with a person. Perhaps then people would take it more seriously and appreciate how awful life is without a sense of smell. Since starting this blog I have been overwhelmed with sympathy and encouragement from my friends I do really appreciate that, but it to reach a wider audience. I mean, even the doctors draw a blank stare when I tell them.

I accept that there are going to be some things that I am never going to be able to smell; bread baking, the flowers at my wedding, frying bacon, a boyfriend's shirt... And I guess that's okay.

 Maybe one day I'll get my appointment and who knows where the medical world will be in ten years time? 

The Phantom Menace

The only reason I know that I used to be able to smell. I still have no idea when I actually lost it; I can only try to pinpoint from the things I remember smelling. The last distinct clear smell that I have was one of gone off cheese and onion sandwiches from a classroom in my first year at secondary school... so when I was about 11 years old.

 Phantosmia is is a form of olfactory hallucination. A condition where your brain realises that it should be able to smell something and so produces a corresponding memory to compensate for not actually being able to smell anything at that time; the perception of a smell in the absence of any actual physical odours. Phantosmia is not something you do consciously and it can be the smallest, weirdest thing that can cause it to occur. Sadly, it does not happen all the time so there is no way that it can be used as compensation for not being able to smell new things. It can also effect anosmics in lots of other ways; many complain of only ever smelling foul or disgusting odours.

I still haven't heard anything from Spire Hospital about my referral, but I'm expecting to get a letter in the post this week. If I don't then I will chase them up at the beginning of the week. I think I'm slowly coming to terms with the fact that they won't be able to do anything to treat it, seeing as though the cause of my anosmia is a complete mystery. But it would still be nice to be told that from someone who actually knows what they're talking about.

I was walking onto campus the other day and I saw sparks from someone's garden; they were having a bonfire. I know that bonfires have a very distinct smell of smoke and burning, but I literally had no idea that anything was on fire until I saw it. This kind of scared me a little bit as I've never been confronted with a large fire since being diagnosed as anosmic. It hammered home the point that if there's a fire in the house, the first thing that will wake you up is the smell of smoke. I won't have any idea until the flames are literally at my door and it's too late. When I have a house of my own I am literally covering the place in smoke detectors.

Referral / The Smell of Snow

I've decided to try and update this blog once a week, rather than just spasmodically when I remember to. I do really want this to sort of be a 'thing' and it feels really good for me to have somewhere to be self indulgent about my anosmia. People are choosing to read this, rather than forcibly being polite as I try to talk to them about it. I know some people have signed up for email updates of when I post a new blog, but this doesn't seem to be working. I don't know why. But from now on, I'm going to write a new post every Friday!

So, on with the self indulgence!

I'm going to start this entry off on an extreme positive note: I finally got my referral to Spire Hospital!

This has made me ridiculously happy. This means that I'm (hopefully) going to get to see the only doctor in the country that can restore me sense of smell. I know it's silly to get this emotional I don't even have an appointment, but it's a start. It's a start of finding out a cause and the possibility of treatment. I almost danced the corridor of the medical centre. The doctor said that it would take another couple of weeks before I hear about an appointment from Spire, but I don't even care. Now I just have to wait to here from Spire Hospital, which will hopefully be them telling me when my appointment is. I really needed this boost this week. I had a bit of a drunken melt down at the beginning of the week, where I decided that because I was anosmic I was going to live a rubbish life, never get married, never have children and die alone surrounded by cats that would probably die when I forgot to feed them and I wouldn't notice as I wouldn't be able to smell their decaying corpses.

On another note, it's been ridiculously snowy in Norwich at the moment. On the day that it first started snowing, someone said to me "It smells like snow". I find that really weird. I can understand that food and people and things that are designed to smell can have a distinctive smell, or that the scent of something can be associated with a particular weather (for example suntan lotion), but does snow actually smell?! I'd greatly appreciate it if someone got back to me on this.

I've been much better at eating properly this week as well, as we've eaten a lot of meals together as a house, at proper times at a proper table. This means that I'm not just snacking when I feel hungry, but I'm actually giving my body what it needs before it has to tell me, which is much healthier!

All in all, this hasn't been a bad week for anosmia. Lots of people have colds at the moment and I know it makes me a terrible person, but I can't help but be a little gleeful that they're getting a vague experience of how awful it is to not be able to smell or taste properly... Please still be my friend?

Further Reading... For The Doctor

This has actually been a really hard blog entry to write and I've deleted it entirely about three times. As some of you may remember from my first post, I mentioned that I had an appointment at my university medical centre on Wednesday 10th; for a referral to the only clinic in the UK that has the resources to treat anosmia. There's two parts as to why this turned out to be one the worst doctor's appointments I've ever had. One is that I won't get the referral for at least another 4 weeks as they've lost all my medical records before I came to university. The other is more sad. I'm used to having to explain to doctors before just what having ansomia means, but never to one who then tells me that her 15 year old son also doesn't have a sense of smell. I thought that would have been one doctor who would at least know a bit more about it; not ask me to bring in some reading on it for her.

I guess that just proves how so many people just write anosmia off because it isn't something that's obviously physically wrong with someone.

Since this appointment, after having made a number of phone calls it's transpired that the medical centre actually does have my previous medical records and a new appointment has been made for this upcoming Wednesday. Although they could have made the referral to the specialist anosmic clinic without another appointment, I felt that it was important to see the doctor again. She'd asked to see some of the reading that I'd found on ansomia at my last appointment. This includes the newspaper article on the anosmia clinic, the BBC article, some information that the NHS provides and various other bits and pieces. She might never actually read it she might just have been trying to be polite. But if we don't take opportunities like this, then nothing is ever going to change in the recognition of the severity of this disability. This doctor seems like a good place to start, especially as her own child possibly is anosmic.

So angry and disappointed it's not even true. 

The Hunger Games

The most common question that I get asked after I tell someone that I don't have a sense of smell is always "Does that mean you can't taste either?". Your sense of smell and taste are closely linked, but it's not always so simple as that when you lose one, the other goes as well. In this post I want to try and explain this a bit better and that this doesn't mean that I have inhuman resistance to curry powder.

80% of flavour comes from our sense of smell, so obviously an anosmic's experience of food is greatly reduced. Anosmics retain a normal sense of taste however, so we can still distinguish between sweet, sour, salt, bitter and savoury like everyone else that can smell. But due to the fact that we can barely distinguish between flavours we have to rely more heavily on other things such as the texture, acidity and dryness of food to compensate.

Personally, this is enough for me. My anosmia effects my relationship with food in another  way; I repeatedly forget to eat. Most people become hungry from smelling something tasty, or simply something that reminds them of food. As I don't get this, I just don't get hungry until the point where my stomach starts grumbling painfully, which usually happens when I'm stuck in a 3 hour lecture. 

Now that I'm a 'grown up' snf cooking all my own food means that I have to be especially aware of use-by dates and raw meat and fish. As soon as milk goes past it's best-before date I throw it out, even if it's still good. If I cook something that requires the use of an oven, I make camp in the kitchen just in case something sets fire, as I would be unaware of the smoke until it's too late. Luckily, I've never been unfortunate to suffer from food that has gone off despite being within it's use-by dates.

The Time When I Almost Drank Nail Varnish Remover

Drinking nail varnish remover smells. And it can kill you to drink it.

One of my modules at university is called 'Political Theatre' and for our first class we had to do a 'political act'. This could be whatever you wanted; there were no rules. I literally spent weeks trying to think of something to do. I've not got a lot of knowledge about politics and struggled to think of something original. Eventually I decided that politics related to something that someone believes strongly enough in. Strongly enough to put their life on the line for the beliefs. 

I got three plastic cups and filled one with water, one with straight vodka and the last with nail varnish remover. I put red food colouring in each so that they all looked the same; the only way to tell them apart was to smell them. You see where this is going?

When it came to my turn to perform my political act, I put the three cups on a chair in the middle of the room and asked for three volunteers. Specifically ones that could smell. I told them that one cup contained water and was safe to drink. The others had vodka and nail varnish remover in. I then announced that I would drink whichever one they told me to.

The reaction from the rest of the class at this was better than anything I could ever have hoped for. There was an audible gasp, with one American student distinctly saying "Oh my God". My point was that as an anosmic, I cannot smell the difference between these three liquids. I won't know what it is until it's actually on my tongue and too late. I purposefully picked nail varnish remover and vodka for this demonstration as I know that both of them have an extremely strong smell; they're also both extremely bad for you, to the extent where consuming one of them would most likely kill you. I wanted to shock my peers and tell them just how dangerous living with ansomia can be, which I think I did. 

(Luckily, they did pick the cup with the water in)

Anosmia!

If you had to lose any of your five senses I would agree that your sense of smell is probably the best one to go. I lost mine when I was about three years old and so I never really had the awareness to appreciate it. Despite it being the 'best' one to miss, I can tell you now that you are already taking it for granted. We appreciate being able to see and being able to hear, without a second thought really being given to our sense of smell and indeed our sense of taste. I wanted to start this blog to raise awareness of being anosmic - not having a sense of smell. You can see and hear the world, but you can never really interact with it. It really is like living through a pane of glass.

It is estimated that 200,000 Britons are ansomic, with another 5,000 being born with the disability. This may sound like a lot to you, until you realise that there are only two doctors in the whole of Europe who are able to treat it; one here in the UK and one in Germany. This treatment has also only occured in the last year and already the only hospital in the UK is turning away patients. Going privately will cost £500 for the first consultation and even that has a 3 month waiting list.

For many people without anosmia they see it as either something unbelievable or a blessing. I have frequently been met with cries of "But surely you must be able to smell this?!" or told how lucky I am in cases of festival toilets. But your sense of smell is your strongest link to memory, relationships and food. Over 50% of people with anosmia suffer from depression. We are unable to form emotional links with important moments in our life simply because we are lacking the strongest subconscious relation to them. Primitive instinct dictates that the way a person smells to us plays a huge part in forming lasting intimate relationships, whether in a partner or close friends, again because of this emotional link. Our desire to eat comes from smelling food; as an anosmic I simply know it's time to eat when my stomach becomes a gnawing inner pain. I frequently drink more alcohol than my body can handle as I cannot smell how strong the drink is before it's too late.

In many cases, ansomics know more about their condition than many medical professionals. I've had blind smells tests, my inner nose examined with an endoscope, a CT scan and have tried many nasal sprays. After being told that there was nothing that could be done medically to retrieve my sense of smell I tried alternatives such as craniosacral therapy and accupuncture all to no avail. I have since also had surgery at the Spire Hospital Norwich, which has also proved unsuccessful.

More information on anosmia can be found on the Fifth Sense organisation here, with links to the BBC article on it here, which even if you read nothing else on this blog, please read that.

I appreciate that this post has been rather long and dull, but I plan to update this blog with more light hearted anecdotes about living an odourless life. I hope that you'll follow it and appreciate it and wish me luck in my journey to getting all five senses back!