Smell Loss – Get Your Sense of Smell Back

Did you know that a study in the American Journal of Otolaryngology in 2021 found that over a million people have suffered a loss of smell during these trying times (2020-2022). But the good news is that over 72% recover most or all of their sense of smell and 84% recover their sense of taste. Many may benefit from a simple technique for smell loss – Smell Retraining Therapy. This easy to do technique needs just a a few minutes of time – once in the morning and once in the evening for a few weeks. Over 95% of those who have experienced smell loss will recover most or all of their sense of smell. Another term for the loss of smell is anosmia. Ageusia is the term for loss of taste. Both can be considered to be a symptom of agnosia.

Loss of Smell and Loss of Taste are Linked

Another related factoid is that if you can’t smell then almost nothing tastes the same. A person with no sense of smell may not be able to taste the difference between an apple and an onion – wow!

Smell Retraining Therapy for You

Dr. Peter Papagiannopoulos of Rush University Medical Center recommends Smell Retraining Therapy. According to an article in the American Journal of Otolaryngology about 1.5 to 6 million people suffer from loss of smell or taste or both after contracting covid including the omicron strain. 72% recover smell within a month & 84% recover sense of taste.

Dr. Papagiannopoulos says that most foods won’t taste the same without the sense of smell and the sense of taste is closely linked to the sense of smell. This loss of smell is caused by some nerve damage so you need to retrain the nerve by recognizing familiar but strong aromas. He has used his technique called “Smell Retraining Therapy”.

Dr. P says that Smell Retraining Therapy should start within 2 weeks of noticing the symptoms. The smell retraining follows a simple regimen using 4 different Essential Oils. Dr. P’s program used Lemon, Rose, Clove & Eucalyptus. These 4 essential oils were chosen because of two factors:

1. each has a strong aroma
2. almost all people are familiar with the smell of each one.

The only difficulty with Dr. P’s choices is presented by Rose. While the aroma of rose is strong and familiar to most people, Rose Essential Oil is quite expensive – more than ten times the cost of the other three oils combined. So we at Artisan Aromatics have made a small change to Dr. P’s recommended oil for a practical reason – cost. We agree that Lemon, Clove and Eucalyptus are good choices but feel that Peppermint is a better choice than rose, mainly for economical reasons. Dr. P’s criteria of being both a familiar smell and a strong smell is met by Peppermint and as a bonus, peppermint is  many times less expensive than Rose.

How to Get Smell Back at Home

Smell Loss – Smell Retraining Therapy. In most cases the cause of the sudden loss of smell is nerve damage. Smell retraining therapy is used to reconnect an aroma to the memory of the aroma.  In other words, Dr. P is saying that you are familiar with these aromas so you want to reconnect to your memory of the aromas. You are trying to reconnect what you’re smelling to your memory of what it should smell like.

Dr. P’s Smell Retraining Therapy Steps:

1. Each Morning – hold the bottle of essential oil near the nose and inhale deeply for 15 seconds while visualizing what the aroma should smell like compared to what it actually smells like
2. Put the bottle down and continue down the line until you have done the same with all four essential oils
3. Repeat in the evening
4. Continue morning and evening regimens for 2 weeks to a month
5. If you experience no recovery after a few weeks, consult an otolaryngologist (ENT)

Simple isn’t it – just inhaling 4 different strong and familiar smelling aromas wafting up from the essential oil bottles and visualizing what they should actually smell like. Don’t forget to do it regularly – twice a day – once in the morning and once in the evening. Studies have shown that most people will experience partial to full recovery but 5% may suffer long-term effects and never recover their sense of smell and diminished taste.

CAUTION:

Once in the morning and once in the evening is sufficient. More repetitions probably won’t help and may give you a headache since the concentrated aromas of essential oils are quite strong even if you can’t smell them. Another word of caution is to never apply undiluted essential oils to the skin, especially clove (leaf or bud) which can be irritating to the skin. The oils in this kit are for smelling and should not be ingested or applied to the skin.

About Pure Essential Oils from Artisan Aromatics

All Artisan Aromatics Essential Oils are pure therapeutic quality. Artisan Aromatics is built on a foundation of Quality, Purity and Freshness. We use our 20+ years of experience to gather only the finest quality essential oils which we then bottle by hand only after each order is received. This ensures that our oils are as fresh and potent as possible. Our oils are not cheap “made in China” essential oils – we only provide the best therapeutic quality oils – bottled in USA.