Talk:Anosmia

message: People with congenital anosmia DO NOT find life less appealing than those with a sense of smell. (anon)
*I removed this: " (makes) life less appealing. This often leads to depression." It sounds like that is an assumption. I've never had a sense of smell so I don't know what I am missing. "often leads to depression" sounds like guessing. But if you know of studies to prove any of that please add them. CDA 22:38, 30 August 2005 (UTC)
replies: text: I never had a sense of smell either and I certainly don't feel depressed or saddened by this lack. It's surely an inconvenience at times - but at other times it's very useful. However, much like becoming blind I assume becoming anosmic may induce depression shortly after the event - but this is a general observation of loosing any previous ability in general. Gardar Rurak 08:57, 22 April 2006 (UTC)
replies: text: It is a very dubious claim to suggest that life is "less appealing" to those with congenital anosmia. However a greater predisposition to depression is recorded, and it is most likely due to the aggregate neurological effects of missing sensory stimuli.
Hey there.  Found this BBC article detailing rates of depression among those afflicted with anosmia, it also mentions the libido thing.  No idea how to go about sourcing it, but I figured you guys might appreciate the ability to get rid of a few "needs source" brackets.  Waylon.88.7.185.147 17:33, 27 December 2006 (UTC)

text: Traumatic loss of smell (e.g., brain injury from blow to the head) may be associated with depression, but the loss of smell is possibly just a sign of the brain injury; depression is associated with brain injuries, and/or loss of abilities. I will look for some references to add. This is quite complicated I think, because the symptom label 'anosmia' does not tell about the cause and whether acquired or born with. Fremte 22:04, 10 August 2007 (UTC)
replies: text:  the article does state that certain events leading to depression, such as no longer being able to smell grass, are not applicable to cases of congenital anosmia. Re the case of libido, this is not to say that sexual ability (i.e. testosterone) disappears, but rather logically we must assume that sexual interest decreases. This would be due to smell cues leading to desire (pheromones) no longer being present, and in the act itself there would no longer be smell cues signalling the partner's arousal. 
Tsop 03:21, 19 September 2007 (UTC)
thread_title: Discussion

message: The article states that acetylcysteine tests may be used for diagnosis.
I followed the link, but couldn't find anything about anosmia.
A Google search gives me a variety of copies of the Wikipedia article, and a couple of articles on acetylcysteine possibly causing anosmia.
Thoughts?  — Preceding unsigned comment added by 67.101.215.37 (talk) 03:19, 3 June 2011 (UTC)
thread_title:  Diagnosis 

message: *I changed "The common view of anosmia as trivial can make it more difficult for a patient to receive the same types of medical aid as someone who is blind, deaf or mute." to "someone who has lost other senses, such as hearing or sight."  Becoming mute is not the same as losing a sense, it is losing an ability.
I have hyposmia. It's not so bad, except when I can't tell when my toast is burning. I fixed this, as obviously this article isn't about enjoying feet: "Congenial Anosmics often have a much more developed sense of taste than those who could smell at some point in their lives, and can enjoy foot just as much as someone who could smell."
:: I think it was okay; 'smell of foot' is a general smell that has the same characteristics (bar intensity) as several feet. It is an oddity, but this because we have a different grammar for refering to smells ('foot' is something like a metonym for 'the smell of feet) -it just needed to have specified that it was a word refering to smell. Tsop 03:34, 19 September 2007 (UTC)
thread_title: Senses vs Abilities 

message: Zinc deficiency - no data that confirms this.  — Preceding unsigned comment added by Kbrd (talk • contribs) 15:14, 17 April 2012 (UTC)
thread_title: Causes 

message: The statement "Loss of olfaction may lead to the loss of libido, even to the point of impotency, which often preoccupies younger anosmic men." is not supported at all by the footnote link. It only says "As it goes with sex lives - if smell deteriorates completely or changes, so can a partner's attraction and the relationship." There is no mention of male, female or impotency. Mensch 05:19, 15 April 2007 (UTC)
replies: text: Please pardon my ignorance, but could this be caused by an inability to detect ("smell" may not be the right word) pheremones? — Preceding unsigned comment added by 2001:8003:e448:d401:8ce0:7e9b:113b:cdc (talk) 08:39, 3 September 2019 (UTC)
thread_title: Libido and impotence

message: "...dangerous because it hinders the detection of gas leaks, fire, body odor...". The first two, sure. Body odor? Are we talking about being able to smell gangrene here? Hardly a body odor, and usually it's quite visually detectable that something is amiss long before that. BO might be annoying to others, but hardly dangerous - and it's quite easily remedied by simply taking care of personal hygiene in most cases, which at I know at least one person with no sense of smell who is perfectly capable of... --Osquar F 08:03, 9 November 2007 (UTC)
thread_title: Dangerous body odours?

message: Why are three out of four sources in the further reading by the same author? Is it AFB to think there is a COI here? The further reading section is supposed to be a summary of landmark papers of the topic, not one person's bibliography.
I also removed "fifth sense" per WP:ELNO. Lesion (talk) 17:16, 22 August 2013 (UTC)
thread_title:  Further reading 

message: The phrase "Since anosmia causes inflammatory changes in the nasal passage ways, it is treated by simply reducing the presence of inflammation"
would probably be better as: "Since anosmia IS CAUSED BY inflammatory changes in the nasal passage ways, it is treated by simply reducing the presence of inflammation"
Regards46.26.35.98 (talk) 22:35, 3 March 2015 (UTC)
thread_title:  small error: 

message: I expanded the scope of the statement to include the fact that (head) trauma is not the only cause of permanent anosmia.  Anosmia caused by factors other than head trauma can also be permanent.  Please see:
*https://books.google.com/books?id=nqQyBwAAQBAJ&pg=PT178
::(toward the bottom of the page)
*https://books.google.com/books?id=5UCb9d3IexUC&pg=PT1772&lpg=PT1772
If you disagree with this edit, please feel free to discuss it here.Richard27182 (talk) 07:07, 17 December 2015 (UTC)
thread_title:  Expanded the scope of the statement...... 

message: My sense of smell was very poor my entire 60 year life, because I suffer from chronic nasal polyps. A couple of years ago, however, I had radical nasal surgery to remove them and a few other things done. I then immediately had complete anosmia, which the surgeon told me would happen, and he also told me my sense of smell would come back.
Well,  it came back all right. As it did so, I experienced a little phantosmia - I thought I could detect odours that were not that, and I could not identify them. They were neither pleasant nor unpleasant.
Shortly after this, I had a very aggressive form of cancer elsewhere, with surgery and then a very agressive chemo. So the chemo caused me to become totally anosmic again. Chemotherapy drugs do not appear on the list of causes.
I don't know about being "depressed" - the cancer and the chemo certainly did that. Eating has now become as much fun as filling the gas tank of my car. Nor has it diminished my libido.
My anosmia now really is total. I can take a huge sniff of say corrosive solvent (and no I dont do that very often). I can feel it burning my nostrils, but I cannot smell anything at all.  — Preceding unsigned comment added by 2001:8003:E448:D401:E09D:635D:9434:D337 (talk) 12:44, 2 September 2019 (UTC)
thread_title:  Personal experience. 

message: From the opening of the article:
"Anosmia, also known as smell blindness, is the loss of the ability to detect one or more smells."
Like some others, I've never had a sense of smell. Anosmia to me means "a state of not being able to smell". The opening paragraph suggests having the sense to start with is a pre-requisite to having anosmia. If that's what the word means, then what's the word for the congenital case?
Rather than just blindly (!) changing the opening sentence of a page that's been around for this long, thought I'd give a few days leave here for discussion. -- drrngrvy tlk @ 12:56, 27 February 2021 (UTC)
thread_title:  "Loss of" 

message: The study mentioned was done with two people. I do not think that the way it is mentioned or worded really conveys this. I’m not even sure if it’s something worth mentioning, if there has not been a single proper study, but rather a tiny experiment on two individuals. Names Chester….Winchester (talk) 23:41, 14 November 2021 (UTC)
replies: text: Well caught. Belatedly, I just straight up removed it. It was added by an IP editor in Special:Diff/1054232873, who seems unaware that biomedical info, such as potential treatments, must be supported by WP:MEDRS, which a case study is not (as outlined under the MEDRS subsection WP:MEDASSESS). Rotideypoc41352 (talk · contribs) 19:50, 21 February 2024 (UTC)
thread_title:  Mention of study which used turmeric