Dr. McDougall's Online Discussion Board

Fingers crossed it helps.
Good luck
f1jim

Wow! Good for you. I hope this works for you long-term and with the other three types of smell. Please update us on how it is going. If you begin to recognize other smells, I may try to do the same thing. For both of us and whoever else reads your reports, it can't hurt to try and it may help! This gives me hope too. Thanks for letting us know.

Another update: Yes, I think this is working. I can distinctly smell the eucalyptus and clove. The rose and orange are still faint, but I do smell something. I also picked up a bottle of lemon oil and that is a bit stronger than the orange. I'm not back to normal, but I am seeing progress!

So glad to hear that you are seeing progress here!! Great news!

Vanilla Orchid, that's great progress! Are you now enjoying eating and is your sense of taste improved?

YAY! I'm so happy for you. I'm going to try this too. Did you buy little bottles of essential oils from a health food store? Also, when I could smell I hated the scent of eucalyptus. Do you know what would be a good substitute for that?

I have not noticed much change in my taste yet, but last night, my husband had cooked something and as I approached the kitchen I could sense something that could vaguely have been called food. I could not identify the smell, but it's a start. I have not really noticed my sense of taste changing. I keep checking to see what I can smell. I chopped up some garlic, and could not smell it. So, I'm not there yet.

I bought the little bottles of essential oils at a grocery store in the neighborhood. Not a chain. I think they are sold in a number of places. I never noticed them in health food stores, but then I never had reason to look for them before.

You don't have to use eucalyptus. The instructions I received were to pick four: one flowery (example: rose), one fruity (example lemon), one aromatic (example eucalyptus), and one resinous (example clove). That is an exact quote from what the doctor wrote. I was not sure what would be classified as aromatic, or resinous, so I just picked the things in his example.

I Googled "aromatic" and learned that toluene and benzene are considered aromatic compounds. I don't suggest you start sniffing them.

The point is not to enjoy the smells, it's to get your sense of smell working again. You need to be able to smell things you don't necessarily like in order to protect yourself. (smoke? gas? a sewage leak?) So just get the eucalyptus. Right now you probably can't smell it anyway, but when you do, it's progress.

More information about how to re-train your sense of smell: Here are some tips that were not included in the instructions I received for use of essential oils. I suggest you watch this youtube video for more information.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6hQqd8Nq2-4

Thanks! I will get the suggested essential oils, even the eucalyptus, and watch the video. It's great that you can slightly smell food cooking now! That's a really good sign that what you are doing is slowly working. Hopefully, it will soon help with your taste too.

Let me know how it goes for you.

Another update:
I'm making progress. Most of the time I can smell the four different oils. Lemon is still very faint. I can also smell a few other things, like, for example basil--I have some growing in the kitchen. I also think it can depend on the weather. It seems that I can smell more when it's warmer.

Not back to normal, but I'm continuing to improve.

Another update. I'm continuing to improve. It's been 6 months. I contacted the ENT doctor and asked whether I should continue and whether there is a problem with long-term Flonase use. The answer is yes, I should continue for another 6 months, and then stop using the Flonase because there is an increased possibility of developing glaucoma if used longer than 12 months.

Just wanted to caution anyone in a similar situation.

I have been inhaling the four essential oils for a while now. I can smell the eucalyptus fairly well, the clove a little, the orange just faintly, and the rose not at all. At first, I could smell the eucalyptus just faintly, and the rest not at all. It's progress!

I am continuing to make progress. I can usually smell the eucalyptus, lemon, rose and clove, although the lemon and rose are the most difficult. I added Texas cedarwood, peppermint, and sweet orange. Peppermint is VERY strong, and sweet orange is pretty faint.

Recently I was making a dish using dried porcine mushrooms, that I had soaked in hot water. I used to love that fragrance, and this time I was able to detect it, although only faintly. So, the progress is continuing.

Don't give up!