National Anosmia Day

Health 4 Minutes

A partial or total loss of smell—called anosmia—can happen for many reasons—including having COVID-19. Loss of smell can also affect your sense of taste. In fact, the two senses are so closely connected that people who are losing their sense of smell often mistakenly believe they are losing their sense of taste.

A loss of smell is most often temporary, depending on the cause.

Anosmia Causes

Many conditions can temporarily or permanently cause anosmia. More rarely, a decreased sense of smell can signal the start of a serious condition such as Alzheimer’s disease or Parkinson’s disease. Some people are born with a diminished or heightened ability to smell as compared to others.  In general, our ability to smell may wax and wane over our lifetime, and most of us begin to lose our sense of smell after the age of 60. Studies also show that women tend to have a more accurate sense of smell than men.

In addition to a diminished sense of smell and taste, people who suffer from anosmia may also have other symptoms, depending on the cause of their anosmia. These symptoms vary widely. You should report any unusual symptoms to your healthcare provider, even if you don’t think they’re relevant, since they may indicate an underlying condition.

COVID-19 and Loss of Smell

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) says loss of smell—or anosmia—may be a sign of COVID-19 infection. If you suspect you or a loved one may be sick, contact your healthcare provider. Learn more about COVID-19, including how it’s diagnosed and answers to common questions you may have.

If you’re concerned that you may be losing your sense of smell, it’s likely you have a common and temporary condition. Keep in mind that each individual and case is different, so whether or not your diminished sense of smell persists will depend on your individual circumstances.

The following conditions can cause anosmia that is often temporary or reversible:

Allergies

Congestion from colds or upper respiratory infections

Dental problems or oral surgery

Deviated septum

Nasal polyps (often must be treated surgically)

Sinusitis

Temporary fluctuations in hormone levels

Vitamin deficiencies or malnutrition (rare)

The loss of smell due to some conditions or risk factors may be reversible, partially reversible, or permanent. For example, once a person quits smoking, their sense of smell usually improves—but how much the ability to smell returns is variable.

Medication side effects that cause loss of smell may be temporary or permanent, depending on the medication.

Nasal Sprays and Loss of Smell

Zinc nasal sprays are known to cause permanent anosmia. Breathing in chemicals or environmental pollutants has been known to cause permanent anosmia as well.

The use of cocaine or other drugs that are snorted up the nose can also cause anosmia. Like smoking, a person’s ability to smell may or may not return when the drug is stopped or may only partially return.

The list of medications that may alter a person’s ability to smell or taste is very long, but it includes many:

Antibiotics

Antidepressants

Blood pressure medications

Heart medications

Associated Conditions

Many conditions often cause a permanent loss of a person’s sense of smell. Again, keep in mind that each case is different, and some people may regain their sense of smell even with these conditions, though many do not. Brain injuries (head trauma) may cause anosmia, as can disorders that affect the nervous system, including:

Parkinson’s disease

Multiple sclerosis

Alzheimer’s disease

Radiation treatment to the head and neck may also cause anosmia.

Some other conditions that may cause anosmia include:

Adrenocortical insufficiency syndrome

Cerebral vascular accident (stroke)

Cushing’s syndrome

Diabetes

Epilepsy

Kallmann’s syndrome

Hypothyroidism

Psychiatric conditions

Sjögren’s disease

Systemic lupus erythematosus

Tumors of the brain, sinus cavities, or nose

Turner syndrome

Diagnosis

Your healthcare provider will review your medical history as well as any current symptoms you might be having. Your practitioner will probably also perform a physical exam.  If warranted, a healthcare provider will order blood tests to rule out risk factors, such as infections or hormonal disturbances, or a computerized tomography (CT) scan or magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) to diagnose nasal polyps or tumors.

The Scratch-and-Sniff Test

A healthcare provider may administer a scratch-and-sniff test where you will be asked to identify certain smells.

Treatment

As mentioned above, many conditions that can diminish your sense of smell are reversible, but it depends on the root cause of your condition. Nasal polyps or deviated septums can be treated surgically, sinusitis can sometimes be treated with antibiotics, and allergies can be treated with medications.  If the anosmia is a side effect of a medication you are taking, the medication should be stopped. There is no medication or treatment specifically designed to improve or bring back your sense of smell, but finding the cause of the anosmia and resolving the underlying issue is successful in many cases. In some cases, the sense of smell may return gradually.

When to See a Healthcare Provider

Any unexplained loss of smell that lasts longer than a cold virus probably should be checked out by a healthcare provider. Call your practitioner immediately if your inability to smell comes on suddenly and is accompanied by other worrisome or strange symptoms. Go to the emergency room if you lose your sense of smell and experience neurological symptoms such as dizziness, slurred speech, or muscle weakness.

SOURCE: VERYWELLHEALTH.COM

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Published by pat frederick

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50 thoughts on “National Anosmia Day”

    1. Good morning, dear friend! I would be soooo totally lost without the 2 blogs and all of my friends thereon! And now more are coming to join us, including Scott and now Gina!!! Yeah!!! Wouldn’t it be nice to see all of the old negative feelings and hurts put behind us and the old crowd together again? Hmmm…..I guess I should take a look in the mirror and put some of my old hurts to bed…..😶😏😣😑 For now, I will just appreciate the progress.

      Another sunny, warm day in the high 60’s before the temps drop again for a couple of days – when I stopped at Michael’s to p/u more books to read, he told me he was planning on taking his M/C today when he goes to work. He has a crotch rocket, not a REAL “bike!” But don’t tell him I said that! LOL

      Temp was 36 when I got up and up to 39 now. I’m getting kind of concerned about Wheezer; no doubt he needs wormer again – his coat is really rough and ragged and he’s getting kinda skinny. I left tuna out with the dry food last night and he hasn’t touched a bit of it, which means he hasn’t been here at all since late yesterday afternoon.

      I have lost part of my sense of smell and taste thanks to nasal polyps but I never knew it had a name. You’ll probably recall that the Yankton Medical Group didn’t think it was bad enough to do the surgery several years ago. When I go in for my next visit in June, I’m going to ask if they can send me to the Omaha or Lincoln VA hospital and finally get it done. If I can taste things again, it would be worth paying to get dentures.

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      1. Good Morning Filly!
        We’ve currently got sunshine, so I’ll quit whining about the temp and be happy with that…LOL
        I didn’t know about anosmia either till i saw it on the national day list–and i was intrigued–and them i thought of you! I imagine if you could taste things, eating WOULD be more enjoyable.
        Hubby tells me the faces I make when i eat something delicious that I LOVE, make him jealous…LOLOLOL
        foodgasms…

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    1. OMG OMG OMG!!!

      remember (probably not) I told you I planted 6 acorns this year and low and behold 3 came up? And then I said i tried this once before and only one came up–I was still happy about that. And then earlier this past year A SECOND tree sprouted from the older acorns? NOW A THIRD TREE HAS SPROUTED FROM THE OLDER ACORNS!!!!

      it’s a little thing, but still makes me smile from ear to ear!!!

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  15. “The Most Protected Secret in American Power: They Built a Machine to Protect the Powerful and Silence the Victims”

    Michael T. Flynn LTG USA (RET), Feb 27, 2026

    ENTIRE ARTICLE: “The most powerful people in the world shared one secret and they will do anything to make sure you never find out what it is. A deliberate, organized, protected system designed to compromise politicians, financiers, intelligence figures, and media executives. Designed to keep them loyal, complicit, and controllable. This isn’t about one man.

    Jeffrey Epstein was a mechanism. Who built him, who funded him, and who made sure the investigations kept getting buried?

    For decades, the same interconnected class of elites has operated above the law. Moving between government, finance, media, and intelligence with full immunity, full cover, and full confidence that accountability would never reach them. They were right and they are still right. The Epstein network is the clearest window we have ever had into how that system actually functions, and the people inside it are still walking free, still influential, still protected by the same institutions that failed every single victim.

    The names in those sealed files are not just names. They are a map. A map of who owes favors to whom, who can be leveraged, who has been compromised, and who has been making decisions about this country’s future while carrying secrets that would end their careers and their freedom. These are the people shaping policy, controlling narratives, and deciding what the public is allowed to know. Trust me, they have spent years making sure you never find out.

    The American people deserve every name. Every flight log. Every document. Every communication. Unredacted. Unsealed. Public. No exceptions. No carve-outs. No more quiet settlements and sealed records that protect predators and their enablers while their victims are left with nothing.

    This is not a partisan issue. Children were victimized on an industrial scale. Justice was systematically obstructed. Powerful people were deliberately shielded. That is not a failure of the system. That is the system working exactly as the people at the top designed it to work. Every politician, every prosecutor, every media figure who has looked the other way, downplayed the story, or helped keep those files sealed is complicit.

    Say that word out loud. COMPLICIT

    If you believe in the rule of law, you demand full disclosure. If you believe no one is above justice, you demand prosecution. If you believe this country belongs to its people and not to a protected class of predators and their enablers, you demand that every stone gets turned over. No matter whose name is underneath it. No matter how many powerful friends they have. No matter how uncomfortable it makes the institutions that spent years covering for them.

    Refer a friend

    The cover-up is not in the past. It is ongoing. The protection racket is still running. The files are still sealed, the enablers are still free, and every single day that continues is a moral indictment of every person with the power to act who has chosen not to.

    The truth does not care how powerful you are. It does not care how many judges you own, how many prosecutors you have silenced, or how many records you have sealed. Truth is not impressed by titles, connections, or net worth. It moves slowly and quietly, yet with absolute certainty. It always finds its way to the top.”

    Subscribe to General Flynn’s Substack – Official – By Michael T. Flynn LTG USA (RET) · Thousands of paid subscribers

    “I fight for the freedom God gave us and the liberties guaranteed in our Constitution. The foundation of our freedom is the recognition that these rights are given to us by God, not granted by men.”

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  19. Finding good Newsom jokes today is like shooting fish in a barrel!

    The World’s a Stage and Newsom is Front and Center

    He doesn’t govern so much as he tours. Every microphone becomes a spotlight, every press appearance a carefully staged scene, while the state he’s supposed to manage simmers on the back burner. Wildfires flare, water systems creak, rolling blackouts hum — but those aren’t cues for him, just background noise to the next photo op. The problem with living under the lights is that they don’t just illuminate, they expose. When you build a career on visibility, every crack shows in high definition. The real work waits in the wings while the roadshow rolls on, polished optics and soundbites front and center. In a world where attention is currency, overexposure is the cost.

    He stands in the limelight while backstage, the theater is ablaze.

    • from: Worlds Amiss

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    1. liberals have definitely amped up the crazy, but to be fair–we’ve always been a bit hormonally unstable at times. i can remember in high school–when a girl got bitchy–it was that time of the month. NOW though? they’ve taken it to a new level, the month never ends!

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  22. Just The News: “The Justice Department sued five more states Thursday for access to its voter rolls after they failed to turn them over, including four states that are largely conservative and voted for President Donald Trump.

    The latest batch of lawsuits targeted secretaries of state in Kentucky, New Jersey, Oklahoma, Utah and West Virginia. The move comes as the DOJ pushes states to clean up their voter rolls ahead of the November midterms by removing inactive, non-citizen or duplicate records from their systems, and sued states that failed to turn over their respective rolls. 

    The DOJ has largely targeted blue states such as California, Oregon and Maryland, but Kentucky, Oklahoma, Utah and West Virginia are all predominantly Republican and the states voted for Trump in 2020 and 2024, Politico reported.

    “We will not be deterred, regardless of party affiliation, from carrying out critical election integrity legal duties,” Assistant Attorney General for Civil Rights Harmeet Dhillon said in a statement.

    Dhillon also said Thursday that the DOJ has appealed decisions related to voter rolls in California, Michigan and Oregon. The department has argued that it has the authority to review state voter rolls through the National Voter Registration Act, the Help America Vote Act, and the Civil Rights Act of 1960.”

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  23. I have to say…..I can definitely understand his reluctance and IDT I would want the government having that level of control…..it’s all good now but what about after Trump is out of the picture and power swings the other way???

    Just The News: “The tech firm Anthropic on Thursday rejected the Pentagon’s demands for full access to its AI model Claude, declaring that War Secretary Pete Hegseth’s “threats” will not sway them.

    Hegseth told Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei on Tuesday that he has until the end of this week to provide the military a signed document that would grant full access to Claude, sources told CBS News. Defense officials are considering invoking the Defense Production Act to make Anthropic fulfill the military’s request, the sources said.

    “I believe deeply in the existential importance of using AI to defend the United States and other democracies, and to defeat our autocratic adversaries,” Amodei said in a statement. “Anthropic understands that the Department of War, not private companies, makes military decisions. “We have never raised objections to particular military operations nor attempted to limit use of our technology in an ad hoc manner,” he continued. “However, in a narrow set of cases, we believe AI can undermine, rather than defend, democratic value.”

    Defense officials want full control of Anthropic’s AI technology for use in its military operations, Amodei indicated, but Anthropic does not want its AI technology used for mass domestic surveillance or to operate fully autonomous weapons, arguing that current AI systems are not reliable enough to power the weapons.

    DOD officials noted to CBS that surveillance of Americans is illegal and that the military is simply asking for a license to use the AI for strictly lawful activities.

    “It is the Department’s prerogative to select contractors most aligned with their vision,” Amodei said. “But given the substantial value that Anthropic’s technology provides to our armed forces, we hope they reconsider. Our strong preference is to continue to serve the Department and our warfighters—with our two requested safeguards in place.”

    Amodei noted that if the Pentagon does choose to end its relationship with his company, then he will work to “enable a smooth transition to another provider.”

    “We remain ready to continue our work to support the national security of the United States,” he added.”

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