MY ANOSMATIC LIFE

Growing up in a military family, I never really had any serious issues with allergies (just cats!) when we moved around. It wasn’t until our move to Fort Lee, VA in 2002, that I developed seasonal allergies. Next, came asthma. From that moment, I’ve been prescribed many allergy medications, nasal sprays, and inhalers. A high school classmate actually wrote in my Senior yearbook, “Sorry you were sick all the time.” Guess, I blew my nose one too many times outside the classroom. After high school, I moved to Greensboro, NC to attend North Carolina Agricultural and State University in the Spring of 2005. In my opinion, my allergies got worse in Greensboro. I actually had my first and only asthma attack while living there. In the Summer 2006, I left Greensboro (not health-related) and moved to Washington, DC to attend Howard University

In the Spring of 2007, I discovered my loss of smell. I have no clue what triggered my loss, but finally saw a doctor in the Fall of 2007. This is when I began my wonderful doctor-patient relationship with my Otolaryngologist (Ear, Nose, Throat doctor). I’m not exactly sure how and why I lost my sense of smell. Just suddenly, I became allergic to Ibuprofen, Acetaminophen, and Aspirin (I’ll explain the link to aspirin allergy and anosmia later on)…all the medications I regularly used for pain. I had an MRI, and CT scan, and learned that I had way too many nasal polyps in my nose (which could be the main reason). Nasal polyps are soft, painless growths on the lining of the nasal passages or sinuses. As my doctor described them, they are the size of small grapes all bunched together.

In January 2008, I had my first endoscopic nasal polypectomy (surgical removal of nasal polyps). My nasal polyps aggressively grew back not too long after my surgery. Life went on. I graduated from Howard in Spring 2009 and moved to New York City. There, I struggled with my asthma and was wheezing every other day. I finally got an allergy test and discovered that I was allergic to ALL tree and grass pollen, dust mites, cat dander, and cockroaches. I moved back to Virginia in the Summer of 2010.

From 2010 to 2011, I just freelanced and went back and forth between NY and VA. In 2011, I developed high blood pressure. It was inevitable after the countless high amounts of salt I would put on my food to get some bit of taste. In 2012, I had my second nasal polypectomy. This surgery was more successful. I no longer sounded stuffy and congested.

At the end of 2013, I moved back to DC to work at a nonprofit. I don’t think my doctor was happy about this move since it is the place where I lost my sense of smell. A little under a year later, my dog Lala and I started getting sick in a nauseating way and my plants were dying. I actually had to send her to my parents and my plants to a friend’s house. While moving out of my apartment, my movers and Dad discovered that it had a freaking gas leak (crazy, right?!). No, my carbon monoxide alarm did not go off! I returned to Virginia.

The following January, I had to get my gallbladder removed. I had gallstones and believe it was related to being overweight, which loops back to the unhealthy way I ate to deal with anosmia. Yes, it’s depressing. In Summer 2014, I rediscovered yoga. I started working with a holistic practitioner and completed two detoxes. I ended up dropping 20 pounds and got off my high-blood pressure medication. During a check-up in 2015, my doctor noticed that I didn’t have as many nasal polyps as usual (maybe the weight loss helped). Once or twice a year, I can smell for a couple of days (usually thanks to steroids), but no longer than a week.  I also experience parosmia and phantosmia. Parosmia is when things smell bad that actually don’t. Phantosmia is the smell of something that isn’t there. For example, sometimes I’ll smell smoke when there’s no sight of it.

Fast forward, I’m currently living near one of the worst cities for people living with asthma and allergies. I hope to permanently smell again one day. I don’t know when that’ll happen. But until then, this is my life.