So I'm not crazy. It's good to know.

My story. About a year ago, I had a terrible cold including such a stuffed up
head I
couldn't breathe. After about 5 days of being unable to pull any air through my
nose, I
went through 5-7 days of having absolutely no sense of smell or taste - nada -
zip. As the
senses came back, I noticed two things: Coffee smelled funny (and slight
difference in
taste) and my sugar-free, caffeine-free diet Coke tasted mildly of mold. I more
or less
lived with it and never really questioned it.

About 8-10 weeks ago, my symptoms started to compound. It started one day in the
work
cafeteria. I noticed a very unpleasant odor - never smelled it before - a
chemically smell
with a slight undertone of ammonia. Then I noticed all my t-shirts smelled
funny. Then I
noticed the dishwasher had the same odd aroma. Again I didn't really think much
about it.
I've always had a keen sense of smell which my husband does not have. I asked
him and
he didn't smell anything. Then I noticed that my bath wash smelled funny (a
different,
sweet but unpleasant smell). Then I noticed that my hand wash had that odd
cloying smell.

I started to complain more about it to my husband - asking him to smell things
for me.
But still didn't put it all together.

Then this week I had the "Oh &#*# - something is very wrong here". Stopped at
Starbucks,
my husband bought a donut and I took one bite and the taste of that bad smell
just filled
my mouth - I had to spit it out. A donut for crimeny sakes!! Then I tried the
tiniest crumb.
Same thing. Now I know something is very wrong. I googled "olfactory
halluncinations"
and here I am. Last night, at a Mexican restaurant, I found out that cilantro
tastes like
glazed donut!! Wow - what a new world this is ;-)

Spoke to my brother (an MD but not ENT specialist) last night and he suggested
that a
virus could have damaged my nerve. The increase in abnormal smells and tastes
might
suggest the nerves are trying to regenerate. But either way, I'm calling my
doctor today.

What scares me is whether this may be permanent. It's like a time bomb. What
will I put in
my mouth next that will taste so horrible I'll be spitting it out... in a
restaurant. Out last
night, as I passed various restaurants in an outdoor shopping mall, the smell
was
overwhelming. I felt like an idiot having to cover my nose with my hands.
Ordered my
dinner and ended up eating rice - everything else has "essence of cilantro" in
it. Cilantro -
one of my most favorite foods. No more Mexican for me.

All my clothes stink. Most of my soaps and shampoos either stink or don't smell
the way
they did. I'm a person who uses smell as one of my primary purchase drivers. I
buy things
that smell nice. Now I only smell this horrible stench. I have those lovely reed
diffusers in
almost every room. I now realize they've "turned" on me.

Anyway, glad to find I'm not crazy, but if this is permanent, I'm not sure I'll
be able to
survive it. Not sure if I'd rather have lost my sense of smell - but as my world
closes down,
it's very depressing.

Joining this group to get advice and look for similarities in cases - and
hopefully to read
about stories of recovery. I have to have something to hold on to.

Cheers,
anne