As I get older, all sorts of odd things are happening. I’m told they’re all perfectly normal. The latest… my “sniffer” has become unreliable. Somedays, I can smell just about anything from 100 paces. Other days, you could shove an onion under my nose and I wouldn’t smell it. It’s frustrating! Imagine someone who cooks in large part by smell! Imagine someone who’s a life-long lover of perfume. I’m always questioning if I’m wearing too much. It drives me crazy when my husband gets exasperated and says, “Can’t you smell that?!” Ah no, I can’t.
The Schnoz
I never used to be this way. I always had a great sense of smell. In fact that great sense of smell has always been attributed to what the family calls “dad’s schnoz.” I was blessed with my dad’s nose (I really wish I’d gotten his skinny legs instead). It doesn’t exactly fall into the “dainty” or “button” categories. I also got the bump, the one that holds up eyeglasses, which people assume is from getting it broken (it wasn’t). And if that’s not enough, one nostril is bigger than the other. I didn’t know that until a few years back when I met an FBI sketch artist as part of a program at work. They spent almost an hour on my nose. So…..
Why Smell Fails
There are a lot of reasons why your sense of smell can falter; one of them is aging. I started with allergies acquired in my early-40s, but the unreliability began as I started getting a little more “seasoned.” It’s not unusual that after age 60 (For the record, I’m not there yet!), our sense of smell, and the ability to identify smells, decreases. No one really knows why other than to suspect that the tiny smell receptors in your nose simply get tired…heck, they’ve been hard at work for a long time and they’d like to retire right along with you!
There are other factors like smoking, allergies, dental issues, head trauma, tumors, facial injuries, Alzheimer’s, Parkinson’s, and medications that can all do a number on your ability to smell. And, often tied to smell is a loss of, or altered sense of, taste. My dad experience this as a result of medications he was on for years. Coupled together, loss of smell and taste can result in decreased appetite something that can cause health setbacks in older adults. As a perpetual dieter, I should REJOICE at decreased appetite! Hallelujah….finally, a diet I don’t have to work at!
But the truth of the matter is I can’t imagine life without smells….even nasty ones. As someone who loves the smell of sautéing onions and garlic in butter, fresh brewed coffee, beautifully scented roses, the ocean, and even jet fuel at an airport (reminds me of adventure!), the thought of losing this precious sense makes me want to…. sneeze!
