Let's talk about onions.
Before my Anosmia I liked onions, they are present in so many dishes meaning I cooked with them a lot....our relationship has now changed however. For some reason, once my Parosmia, (distorted/horrible taste), kicked in, onions were unbearable. More so than with any other food, and there were plenty that were pretty bad, I won't start naming them however as the list will scare you off reading any more of this post!
But onions are confusing my Parosmia at the moment. All of a sudden they taste bearable in some forms such as shop bought potato salad from Lidl, that contain chives, a member of the onion family. Also in the sweeter type of curry such as Korma or Pasanda, which definitely contain onion. I think it's the fact that all of these foods have a sweet side to them that is making the difference. Even the potato salad, due to the sweetness of the mayonnaise.
All of this sweetness seems to help counteract, or at least balance out the harsh, horrible taste of onion...and it makes sense to me really as I've always been able to manage quite a few different sweet foods even with my Parosmia. Maybe I'll try caramelised onion next.
I suppose what I'm trying to say to my fellow sufferers is don't be afraid to try things, yes its disappointing if it turns out to be horrible, but you can always just pull a silly face and spit it out again, preferably not in public though!
But in all seriousness, I'm really not trying to make light of this awful affliction. Crikey its only in the past couple of months that I've started trying things again and some are still disgusting, like garlic in any form at all for example, and even though I'm getting on with onion a bit better, raw onion is a massive no, no! But please try and experiment with different foods my friends, what have you got to lose.....a bit more of your sanity, I lost that ages ago when all of this happened, but I'm slowly getting it back I hope. So be brave, we have to be don't we, either that or give up and I don't plan to and you shouldn't either.
So this post is for all my friends in the three great Facebook Anosmia related groups that I am in.
- Parosmia/Phantosmia Support Group
- Aquired Anosmia and Parosmia Support Page
- Anosmics of the World Unite!
What I would have done without your support goodness only knows. Also anybody else reading this who is suffering from Anosmia and related disorders, if you are on Facebook I really do encourage you to join these groups and get the support you need and deserve.
Oh and one more thing, yes ok I'm rambling! Anyone without anosmia reading this, (lucky you), I hope this blog is giving you an insight and understanding of this little understood and life changing condition, I'm glad you are making the effort, and taking your time out to read it.
See you all back here next post, unless I've offended anyone and been too outspoken. I really want to support everyone like me, but tell me off if you feel the need x
Not being able to deal with onions is horrible! I feel like people put them on or in everything. It must be hard to navigate around. How do you do it ?!
ReplyDeleteYou are so right Mary, if it's not onions it's onion powder! I have to check jar labels etc all the time to avoid it. I also cover my left nostril, the sensitive one, which makes the taste less powerful if I do encounter a lot of onion. I just have to be really careful. Thanks for your comment.
DeleteDear Debby, I wonder if you read the blog "Senseless Life, or A Year With No Sense of Smell or Taste": https://libwww.freelibrary.org/blog/post/1387
ReplyDeleteWhat's in there helped me a lot.
About a year and a half ago, following a bad cold, I almost totally lost my sense of smell (strong odors did smell a little, but all had the same smell reminding me of the solvent methyl isobutyl ketone [I am a retired chemist, now 72 years old]). I was really depressed for many months, then, about 6 months ago I found the above post - and I started to follow Helen's routine (carrying with me five small vials with different scents, and smelling them whenever I could - at least five times a day). After about 2 months the vials started to smell slightly differently, that made very happy, and I kept going on. Now I am doing quite all right (my ability of smell things recovered at least 50 percent, and it keeps improving continuously).
My conclusion is: never, never, never give up. If Helen’s routine helped me, it could help you, too.
Uncle Tom
Budapest, Hungary
Hi, no I've never read it but thanks for the link and the encouragement. I'll have a look. I appreciate it.
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ReplyDeleteI have exactly the opposite: I smell too well. I smell even small odors. They don't all necessarily smell bad, there's just too much smell. It's worse in humid weather. Death Valley is one of my favorite places, partly because it's so dry there, I can smell barely a thing.
ReplyDeleteOnions don't smell bad, they just smell too much. I have to cook them outside, because otherwise the odor keeps me up all night.
Hi Maggie, that's really interesting, I would never have looked at a sense of smell in that way. Thanks for your comment.
DeleteYikes! No onions or garlic would be unbearable for me but I like that you've kept your sense of humor about it all.
ReplyDeleteThanks Laura, I try to do that or I would get really down about it. It's a difficult condition to live with.
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