Loss of smell and taste

[Tinytune]

Hi, my husband was diagnosed with eosinophilic asthma a few weeks ago. He started with a cold on 27th December and has only had a few days since the without cold symptoms. He was in hospital for a week in hdu for 3 days. He lost his smell and taste about 3 weeks ago, had anyone else had this? He had a camera up his nose when he was in hospital and was told he has no nasal polyps. Thank you.

[Matman]

I suffer from loss of smell & taste to a high degree.

The only time I get it back is shortly after using Oral Steroid tabs. Longer I use them the longer I get smell and taste back.

When I stop using them I seem to get a window of around 21 Days during which my smell and taste gradually fade to near zero.

I too have Eosinophilic Asthma (plus nasal polyps). A Consultant said nasal examination indicated mine were small, but visible to nasal camera. As Eosinophilic Asthmatics (like certain other Asthmatics) are very prone to Nasal / Sinus Issues, especially rhinitis, undetected small polyps may be causing your husband issue. For more detailed detection, might want to ask about Imagng (e.g. CT / MRI) if the smell / taste loss continues.

Also Nasal Architecture (Mishaped / Bent Septum, for example) can contribute to loss of smell / taste.

Oral Steroids are brilliant (for me at least) at reinstating smell and taste. As far as I know, they are not licensed to be prescribe solely for this purpose as the benefit / risk ratio is not considered robust.

As you may know, Oral Steroids are prescribed for severe bouts of Eosinophilic Asthma, but their long term side effects can be serious / significant, and - among other things - can contribute to development of bone mineral density reduction, that may ultimately lead to osteopenia / osteoporosis. (Several other Major Health Risks too).

That said, when other asthma treatments don’t do enough to relieve symptoms, Oral Steroids are (to my mind) the best drug out there for my Asthma Type, superior even to the new asthma biologics, some of which it is hoped may, in time, help reduce Oral Steroid use / risk.

Maybe trying an Avamys (Prescription Only) Nasal Steroid Inhaler might help your husband.

My favourite Christmas / Summer Holliday Present these days is a short course of oral steroids. Lack of smell and taste are awful for most people, especially as food, dinning and social drinking play such an important part in the lives of many of us. (Even worse for older folk where those activities are practically the only ones they can engage in, ironically along with gardening where the pleasure of fragrance is such an important aspect).

Risks can be: not being able to smell if a fire starts in your home, likewise if a gas leak occurs, and if food you’re about to eat smells and has gone off. Cant even smell the natural scent of your spouse, or their perfume. (We really underrate smell and taste until denied it).

Hopefully, progress will be made in overcoming the affliction of no smell / taste. Some of the new biological asthma drugs are now being phase 3 tested for there potential in this regard. However only one biological has been in use long enough to provide a reassuring safety record, though even that is still a young drug by compassion to many of our long standing Meds. Unfortunately, it’s not the one with the most promise for Smell / Taste Improvement.

[Tinytune in reply to Matman]

Thank you very much for the reply, he was only diagnosed last month after being ill since 27th December. He visited the hospital 3 times in January and was sent home once saying the neb worked so he was OK and the other with anti bs for a sinus infection. He had had 5 courses of oral steroids from beginning of January to mid Feb, one was 6 tablets a day and the other 4 times 8 tablets, they really didn't seem to help, surely having so many in 6 weeks shows they didn't work. He was in hdu for a few days before the ward, that was 3 weeks ago and he has had no smell or taste at all since then. All of what you describe are really upsetting him, he is worried as we don't yet know his triggers so I have to notice any possible triggers, scents etc and let him know. He was in oxygen the whole time he was in hospital via tubes in his nose so we wondered if that could be a reason why his smell went. We are seeing the gp tomorrow so will mention it. We should have received an out patient appointment with ent but that hasn't arrived so we will ask for that to be chased up. I haven't read much online about asthma links with loss of smell, hopefully there are some treatments found soon.

[Matman in reply to Tinytune]

In the absence of obvious polyps it could be that the tubes you mention have caused some trauma which has not fully healed yet. If at present he’s having more trouble with nasal breathing than before the December Issue started, that may support this possibility.

If there’s still nasal congestion, that too could be contributing.

GP might suggest some nasal rinses for a few days with a warm saline solution, but best wait for what’s said at the visit.

Hope it goes well with the GP / ENT.

[Matman in reply to Tinytune]

Mean to add, If Polyps are found then they can be the cause of the loss of smell and taste. They can be surgically removed which often fixes the smell / taste issue, but ( after a couple / few years) grow back in ‘some’ cases.