Anosmia is the loss of a person's ability to smell. This condition can also eliminate the abilitysuffererits for taste the food.
Loss of the sense of smell or anosmia can affect a person's life. Apart from being unable to smell and taste food, this condition can lead to loss of appetite, weight loss, malnutrition, and depression.
In most cases, anosmia is caused by a cold or allergies and is temporary. However, there is also anosmia that occurs in the long term. Anosmia that occurs in the long term is a sign of a serious illness and needs to be checked by a doctor.
Anosmia is also often experienced by people with COVID-19. Therefore, if you have anosmia and require a COVID-19 screening, click on the link below so you can be directed to the nearest health facility:
- Rapid Test Antibodies
- Antigen Swab (Rapid Test Antigen)
- PCR
Causes of Anosmia
The olfactory process occurs when the smell that enters the nose is received by the olfactory nerve cells. These odorous nerve cells then send these signals to the brain to be processed and sent back so that the odor is identified.
Anosmia occurs when there is a disturbance in the olfactory process. These disorders can be:
Disorders of the inner wall of the nose
Disorders of the inner wall of the nose can be in the form of irritation or nasal congestion, which is caused by:
- Have a cold
- Flu
- Non-allergic rhinitis
- Allergic rhinitis
- Sinusitis
- Smoking habit
Blockage in the nasal cavity
A number of conditions that can cause nasal blockage are:
- Nasal bone abnormalities
- Nasal polyps
- Tumor
Damage to the brain and nervous system
This damage can occur in the nerves that function to send odor signals to the brain, or in the brain itself. The causes include:
- aging
- Diabetes
- Kalmann . syndrome
- Head injury
- Klinefelter syndrome
- brain surgery
- Brain aneurysm
- Brain tumor
- Alzheimer's disease
- Paget's disease
- Multiple sclerosis
- Parkinson's disease
- Sjogren's syndrome
- Schizophrenia
- Wernicke-Korsakoff syndrome
- Radiotherapy to the head and neck
- Huntington's disease
- Lack of nutrients, such as zinc
- Drug side effects
- Exposure to poisons or insecticides
Corona virus infection or COVID-19
Based on research, half of the number of positive patients for the Corona virus or COVID-19 experience symptoms of anosmia or loss of the ability to sense smell. However, the symptoms of anosmia in most COVID-19 patients are only temporary.
Symptoms of Anosmia
The symptom of anosmia is the loss of the ability to smell. For example, anosmia can make the sufferer unable to smell flowers or body odor. In fact, the smell of something pungent such as fire smoke or leaking gas can also not be smelled.
When to go to the doctor
Check with your doctor if you can't smell the smell, especially if you don't have a cold or flu and the complaint lasts a long time.
Immediately see a doctor if you suddenly can not smell, or if accompanied by symptoms of dizziness, muscle weakness and slurred speech.
Diagnosis of Anosmia
The doctor will ask the patient's symptoms and medical history, as well as when the symptoms began to appear. The doctor will also ask about any odors that the patient cannot smell and whether the patient also has impaired sense of taste or not.
After that, the doctor will perform an examination with a nasal endoscope to see if there is swelling, inflammation, pus, or polyps in the nose. The doctor will also perform a thorough neurological examination to assess the patient's mental and nervous condition.
Other tests that the doctor can do are:
- MRI, to detect diseases related to the brain, especially in anosmic patients who do not have problems with the nose and sinuses
- CT scan using contrast, to detect sinus disorders, tumors, or nasal fractures
Anosmia Treatment
Treatment of anosmia aims to address the underlying cause. If the cause of anosmia can be cured, automatically anosmia will also be cured. In fact, in cases of anosmia caused by allergies, treatment is not necessary, because this condition will resolve on its own.
Treatment methods for anosmia depend on the cause, including:
- Surgery to treat anosmia caused by nasal bone abnormalities, nasal tumors, or nasal polyps
- Discontinuation of drug consumption in anosmia caused by drug side effects
- Administration of decongestants for anosmia caused by nasal congestion
- Administration of antibiotics for anosmia caused by bacterial infections, including sinusitis
Please note, specifically for anosmia caused by birth defects, this condition cannot be cured.
Complications and Dangers of Anosmia
The inability to smell can lead to other complications and dangers, such as:
- Food poisoning is caused by not being able to smell the smell of rotten or stale food
- Eating too much or too little, due to loss of ability to taste food
- Loss of intimacy with a partner, due to not being able to smell perfume or pheromones
- Not liked by people around, because you can't smell your own body
- Fire hazard, due to not being able to smell burning objects or leaking gas
Anosmia Prevention
Not all cases of anosmia can be prevented, especially those that occur due to birth defects. But anosmia that is not caused by a birth defect can be prevented. The trick is to avoid factors that can trigger anosmia, for example by:
- Practice personal hygiene to prevent colds and flu
- Avoid exposure to allergens, which are substances that can trigger allergies
- Consult your doctor first before taking drugs that can trigger anosmia
- Stop smoking and as much as possible avoid exposure to secondhand smoke
To prevent harm due to loss of sense of smell, you can do the following:
- Install a smoke alarm at home as a reminder if there are objects that catch fire and have the potential to cause a fire
- Mark the expiration date of food clearly, because often expired food is marked with a bad smell
- Changing gas-fired stoves or water heaters to electric ones and installing gas leak alarms, to prevent danger from unwitting gas leaks