Goodbye Smell, Hello Misery

You lose more than the ability to sniff roses without this key sense
By Kate Rockwood,  Newser Staff
Posted Jul 10, 2008 9:25 PM CDT
Goodbye Smell, Hello Misery
Losing her sense of smell made one Slate author feel like she was watching a movie of her life, rather than living in it.   (Getty Images)

When ranking physical attributes we’d hate to lose, most people put sense of smell at the bottom, on par with losing a big toe. But when Elizabeth Zierah lost hers—and thus her sense of taste—3 years ago after catching a cold, the ensuing string of scentless and flavorless days transformed her into "an observer watching the character of me," she writes in Slate.

For an estimated 2 million Americans, loss of appetite joins diminished sex drive, anxiety, depression, and fears of secretly stinking in the list of miserable side effects. For Zierah, apples turned into a crunchy pleasure, while past favorites like coconut curry registered as mushy and off-putting. Still searching for a cure, Zierah notes one upside: The ability to painlessly do "those things loved ones dread, like changing cat litter." (More anosmia stories.)

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