I have a secret to share. After a bout of Covid, my olfactory senses were completely gone.
At first, I didn’t put too much thought into it since I believed I would regain my sense of smell quickly. But as the months passed, I realized I needed to make a few adjustments. I read about Smell Retraining Therapy and how you can retrain your brain by smelling 4 specific essential oils. Choose a scent and smell it for 15 seconds while asking yourself to remember what it smells like.
Well, that lasted all for one week. I’d go back to it sometimes, but it wasn’t a routine. And at the end of the page I was researching, it read, “be patient.”
Before losing my sense of smell, I never realized how much aromas play into other senses, like touch and taste. I had to relearn how to cook, as I no longer could rely on my nose to tell me when food was done or if something smelled off.
Technology
I started using technology to aid in cooking. One beneficial tool is the timer on my phone.
This has been especially useful with baking; having a timer helps ensure that baked goods don’t go from perfectly done to burned in seconds flat! It’s saved me plenty of times. Who hasn’t burned something in their oven before?
The other day, I left the house and forgot to throw out the garbage. During the day, my son came to the house and immediately thought I had left the gas on. Oh…I may need a timer for this too. LOL
Heightened Awareness
I have become more sensitive to energy too. I noticed my other senses– hearing, sight, and touch have intensified. I have no better way to explain what happened the other day with my sweatshirt. When I held it close to my face, I still felt its softness and the cozy feeling in my hands. It brought an unmistakable sigh of pleasure from me.
When I go to the beach, I am aware of how my whole body tingles with the cool ocean hitting me. I can almost taste the saltiness on my lips. It brings such a wonderful feeling.
I did notice that chemicals or overpowering scents still bring a discomforting feeling in my temples and nostrils.
Australian Shephard
Having an Australian Shephard in the office is an amusing irony. Despite her owner being around, she never wants anyone to take her for a walk–except for me. When we venture out, she stops at every bush and every little oddity on the ground and gives it a nice little sniff. No matter how much I urge her to keep going, she stares at me as if sending the message, “I know what your secret is – let me enjoy smelling this”! She’ll make an excellent drug or bomb-sniffing dog.
Conclusion
My story is just one example of many proving that life without your sense of smell doesn’t have to be limiting – instead, finding unique ways to use your other senses until you get some sense of smell back.
Anyone out there who’s experiencing a loss of smell too? How are you handling it?
A very interesting story young lady. My allergic reaction to the cortico steroid I use for my emphysema has blocked so many things in my life. I have no sense of smell or taste. And it does indeed make such a huge difference to life, we certainly don’t realize just how important they are to so much we do on a day to day basis. For me especially, the no taste truly takes a prospect of life that we all really appreciate. To sit with family or others to meet and appreciate that connection over a meal is a very beautiful thing, a lovely environment to share. But to have such a huge part of that connection removed is like eating cardboard, it just removes such a large part of something we enjoy, even if we don’t realize it. I also have my vision distorted, a permanent tinnitus, numbness in many parts of my body and a arthritis leaving my body on fire most times. The last is important, it actually distracts you so much from what is happening around you. Your sensitivity to many things blunt…but…and as you said, your body compensates in other ways. I can hear a heart from around the world, feel a pregnant woman from a thousand paces, and more importantly, it helped me to appreciate and love myself. Only now, because of all that, can I truly love another, from where I now am. Thank you for sharing dear lady, and yes, they may in the beginning be a huge discomfort, physically as well as in our hearts, but what they leave behind is a much more enhanced, sensitive and loving one 🤣❤️🙏🏽
You have to have a sense of humor and appreciation as time passes. I find it incredible that despite your own difficulties—assisting with healing/prayer for others—you are still pushing forward. Others may have fewer challenges compared to you, but you always maintain an aura of positivity and perseverance. After taking the jab, a good friend of mine has a consistent fire-burning sensation in her mouth/tongue, and some days, she just wants to scream at the top of her lungs (which I think she does on some days). She’s seen numerous doctors and has no remedy to date. Last week, she removed dairy and gluten and fasted for a few days to reset her immune system. She’s going to continue with this plan for a few months.
Do you detox?
I’ve seen and understood love (not all of it). When you truly touch it in that understanding you cannot but smile, inside and out. You are ever changed by something so profound that you could be in any situation and they no longer matter. And I don’t mean as in ignoring it, but still do my healing with the world falling about around me, which in my healing it usually is, and still always smile within.
Now interesting you should say that about the tongue. I’ve had that same burning in the last third of the tongue and keep rubbing it against my teeth it is that disturbing. There may be a common thing in that, I must check it out. When I got covid-19 all my saliva glands in my mouth stopped, dried my tongue and mouth out until my tongue cracked down the center and continuously bled. Along with about 10 large scabs around my mouth on the outside like what we call a cold sore but much larger and not on the lips but further back in the face. From what I ‘felt’ the cortico steroid has trashed my adrenal glands and its production of cortisol hormones used in so many things is turning me into a hormonal Frankenstein…but…that is changing me…spiritually…within. It’s like I needed a heavy hit of hormones to make these changes and this is the direct route to where I need to go.
And this is also creating a detox, my allergic reaction was so bad I cannot touch gluten, lactose and especially any preservatives, especially sulfur. I have become so bad I cannot take ‘any’ medication even if my life depended on it. An antibiotic makes me so violently ill, my body so ‘wrong’ that I feel like I am dying. And I am not kidding in that. If I go into any big grocery place, I automatically cross off over 95% of the food, so I’m almost organic. So my diet is almost salad, with a side serving of salad and on a good day I can have salad for dessert 🤣
I have found a few bits beside that but my life is in a permanent detox, I’m having to remove the 21st century in all its forms and surprisingly it does take a while AND is having a play with ‘what’ I am. And yes, Spirit is in amongst this, it involves that spiritual change that we all go through in different parts of our lives but for some reason it is asking me to ‘see’ something within myself which is almost unbelievable in what it is asking…and which I have yet to fully understand I might add. And almost reaching a post 😀❤️🙏🏽
You had me at salad. 😆 Seriously, we will have to connect again on this subject at a later date when more details are revealed. It’s something that touched every one globally. Nite. Big hugs.
❤️🩹♥️❤️🩹
Big hugs to you also kind lady and thank you. May you sleep well, dream beautifully with no nightmares of salad 🤣❤️🙏🏽