“I don’t even know what my cologne smells like, not a rose, not something unpleasant”

Most of us recognize that little smell when we arrive at our grandparents’ house, rustic and cozy, or when after a rainy afternoon we are visited by the breeze that brings a fresh aroma of wet earth. Even those unpleasant odors When you open the door to a public bathroom, a mix of a little bit of everything. If we are realistic we do not pay attention to our olfactory capacity.

Smell is one of the senses which was valued after Covid-19 taught us the importance of its function. The pandemic allowed many people to experience for the first time what loss of smell. The National Institute on Deafness and Other Communication Disorders highlights that “any loss in the sense of smell, even minimal, can have a negative effect in their quality of life.

Although there are people who lose their sense of smell naturally with age, there are also those who are born without this sense, an alteration called anosmiaand those who have lost it at a certain point in their life due to an illness.

“I I was born without smell. My paternal grandmother didn’t have it either. In the end, he could have been hereditary,” he comments Silvia Anguerawho since birth has suffered from congenital anosmia. However, he explains that for her “it is not something traumatic because I have never had this sense. “It causes trauma for many people to lose it, but I’m already used to living without a sense of smell.”

This system is linked to many parts of the brain: Odors can affect thinking, memory, behavior and emotions. Many people who suffer from smell problems also show difficulty in getting the sense of taste. “The senses of taste and smell are closely related. Most people who go to the doctor because they think they have lost their sense of taste are surprised to learn that what they have is a smell disorder“, according to data recorded by the National Institute of Deafness.

In an article published in horizonthrough the Directorate General of Research and Innovation of the European Commission, is collected as research that seeks a way to return the sense of smell to people who have completely lost it. The study that aims to find the way in which people preserve their ability to detect odorshighlights that “up to a fifth of the world’s population suffers from partial or total loss of smell“.

Silvia admits that her nose does detect strong odors like “the alcohol we use to disinfect a wound or enamel. I do notice that but because they are chemical products. Still, I don’t even know what my cologne smells like, not even a rose, or anything unpleasant.” She adds that “after all if it is a problem for the issue of clothing or food. “I live with my parents and luckily they are my nose for many things.”

“I always think like I’m getting losing a sensory dimension. It may seem silly to you, but there are people who say: “this person has been drinking”, and until this person talks strangely or does strange things, I don’t find out because perhaps what others first detected was that scent to alcohol”.

Claudio Fragolahead of the Otorhinolaryngology service at the Vithas Madrid Hospital, tells EL MUNDO that there are Several factors that contribute to the loss of smellsuch as “tobacco, patients who have rhinitisnasal involvement or polyposis. In general, any alteration of the nasal mucosa or pathologies that affect the nasal membrane, as they cause smell problems“.

On the other hand, a study carried out by PubMedCentral showed that the exposure to environmental pollution may be related to the deterioration of smell. “These toxins can directly damage the olfactory mucosa after inhalation, through cytotoxic effects and DNA damage, which often causes squamous metaplasia of this tissue.

People with these disorders may suffer from loss of ability to smell or suffer changes in how they perceive odors. Without the smell, the flavors of the food may seem bland due to the relationship between the sense of taste and smell.

Silvia remembers: “When I was a child, it was something hard to explain because if you don’t know what is smellHow do you explain that you don’t smell? Then you realize when others talk about this, it smells like that, or the other thing smells like that.” “I went to my father and they did some tests on me. They had this doctor with a little box of 20 vials with different aromas. They did some tests on me with my eyes covered and I had to recognize each smell. In the end I only recognized two, of which the doctor told me it could have been pure coincidence.”

This sense is linked to different Nerve endings that help detect irritating substances that make us cry. Furthermore, we must highlight the fundamental role that it plays in terms of the odor identification that represent a risk, such as a product in poor condition or a gas leak in the home.

“If you wear a T-shirt three times, depending on whether it is summer or winter, it may have a bad smell. In this case, I always turn to a family member to help me with the smell and if not, then what you have to do is be very aware of the smell. hygiene theme. Many people tell me what nonsense, but of course, I shower every day, I use a good deodorant because I’m afraid that I might smell and that people will feel uncomfortable,” says the woman with anosmia.

Although Silvia lacks one of the five senses, she points out that she has learned to develop the rest. “I have lived alone and what I have done is enhance my perception through others. I observe, I touch it and I have to try. For example, a cooked ham that when you notice that it is slimy when you touch it with your fingers, you already think “I don’t know if it will be good.” Opening the package like the rest of you do we cannot detect it“.

Fragola points out that “it is a very important organ, it has been shown that smell is what first to be lost in many neurodegenerative diseases. People who have problems with loss of smell, as is sometimes associated with taste, have less desire to eat because things do not smell or taste like anything.”

But can you lose your sense of smell and get it back?

There are undoubtedly different cases. Ten years ago, Ruben Ruiz lost his olfactory system due to trauma and you can’t get it back. Because of this, and because of the scarce information at that time, with the help of more people he managed to create the Spanish Anosmia Associationhe being one of those affected and the president of the organization where he helps people who go through the same circumstances as him.

“My loss of smell was not (and is not) considered a disability, I had no way to show it. Very little was known and the information was scarce,” Ruiz highlights. “Growing up having something is not the same as having lost it from a specific moment. I myself entered a time where I suffered from depression. It greatly affects the ability to remember. “Smell and memory are super linked.”

He ENT explains that there are two main ways of loss of smell. The first, “imagine: you put a plug in your nose and you don’t smell, because all that plug does in your nose is that you don’t smell, but it lasts as long as it’s on. Normally when you remove it, your sense of smell recovers.” This is due to a mechanical problem which can develop through sinusitis, catarrhal rhinitis, etc.

However, when it comes to an origin derived from “certain viruseslike the flu that we already knew about before, or the Covid, those cause a pure nerve involvementthis generates a deeper alteration in the nerve and that is why the sense of smell is lost for a longer period of time, but it has nothing to do with the condition of a blocked nose.” However, Fragola clarifies that olfactory nerve “is the only one in the organization that recovers its function“.

SMELL TRAINING AND TREATMENT

In the same way, Franklin Marinospecialist in the Rhinology Unit of the Otorhinolaryngology Service of the Ramón y Cajal Hospital (Madrid), states that “many times it can be improve loss of smell with the surgery, occasionally improves. In those cases they are constructive problems. But when it comes to a neurological cause how can it be a viral anosmia in which both the receptors in the nose and the entire olfactory route at a neurological and central level, in those cases it is recommended to do olfactory training“.

There are different treatments and training that help recover your sense of smell. For unclog the nose You can perform nasal washes or use a spray. He Dr. Fragola advises avoiding “exposure to substances from smoke, to chemicals, avoid tobacco, and nasal congestion, which is difficult, but if it happens, do nasal washes; It is the only protection that can be done. For improve smell, simply training and improving their olfactory memory,” emphasizes the ENT specialist.

He olfactory training consists of the person “subjecting themselves to an odorous substance several times a day trying to remember what it smelled like before having the loss of smell, this causes the central neurological system, related to memory and smell, to regenerate very slowly. It is a process that lasts a minimum of six months and in some cases it does achieve a improvement of smellwhether partial or complete,” emphasizes Mariño.

Why is it not a disability?

Just like the other senses, touch, taste and vision, smell is one whose role is important for human beings. We know that the loss of vision and hearing are part of the sensory disabilities. Anguera comments on the concern of his friends when they do not consider whether his loss of smell is a disability because “at the end of the five senses you’re missing one,” say his colleagues.

The president of the Spanish Anosmia Association states that “it is very difficult to prove that you do not smell, it is not recognized”, furthermore “very expensive devices and tests are needed that make the process to obtain a disability certificate impossible.”

On the other hand, from the General Directorate of Disability of the Community of Madrid, partial deficiency or distortion of taste and smell “are not evaluated if they do not affect the Activities of Daily Life (AVC).”