Everything smells and tastes like chemicals!

[Ninster]

I am a woman in my early 40s, and I have been suffering from a rare disease/infection, which is hard to describe. One year ago I lost my sense of smell and taste after a bad cold or flu.I can smell and taste things, but everything smells and taste like chemicals. I have ... [More] tried several doctors and dentits, but none of them can help me find a cure or any medicine which helps. If any one has the same symptoms or any information, please be kind and contact me ! Thanks!


This discussion is related to Everything tastes and smells chemical like.

[NEOISTHEONE]

Just a quick note. My issue also started with Anosmia(loss of smell) and changed to Dysomia(Distorted sense of smell) after a few months. I have kicked up my Vitamin C intake to 2 grams after dinner along with Zinc 50-100mg and green coffee bean tablets Along with multivitamin during the day. Seems to be helping. Sorry the following is a bit gross-I recently trimmed nose hairs to have better look at sinuses and noticed right side of nasal septum (area dividing each side of sinus openings) is red and also seems to have white sticky substance being excreted in small but noticable amounts. I too flush sinuses daily. I will insist on a nasal swab from either doc or ENT to see what is up. Maybe bacteria lingering in the opening that is overpowering other smells? I also wonder if Atrophic Sinusitus could be a factor here. For now I will use triple anitbiotic on both sides of septum and inside of nose. Hopefully not MRSA or similar. Looking at our symptoms it seems atrophic rhinitis may be another possiblility. I have had allergies all my life and live in an area that aggrevates them. I see that most if not all of you do not have allergies. Hope this helps someone out there with this issue.

[friend2animals66]

You may have already discovered this, but they do have unscented products.  I have the same problem, except no scent loss.  The sweet chemical smell is in almost everything except the most natural things, and it's still in some of that too!  

I bought my husband some unscented body wash, because the smell of the nasty soap on him was too much for my stomach.  Guess what?  I tried it in the shower and the only smell it had was the chemicals, minus the sweet!  Good lord!  

Choosing a shampoo/body wash is now something I completely dread... I have to smell each one I consider getting, which used to be fun.  It is now something wrought with the uncertainty of not knowing which ones will make you almost get sick.. but it is a step you can't miss unless you do in fact want to vomit in the shower by bringing the wrong one home.

I just wanted to offer a the few I have had success with, and I do mean a few out of the thousands of body products in this world.  My favorite so far is the Milk Creek Botanicals Biotin shampoo.  I just discovered it and it smells minty, not sure if you can handle that but it's mild smelling.  They have a few other kinds under that brand worth giving the sniff test.  I also recommend taking the entire cap off to smell it, not just clicking the tab open for a whiff as I have been deceived by this method.

The other one is what's called a "non-soap", which sounds weird but actually makes sense once you read how it works.  It's NutriBiotic's Super Shower Gel.... I bought the Vanilla Chai scent, which I later regretted due to it being too sweet, but they offer a fragrance free variety which I may get next time.  It can also be used as shampoo, which is good is you have oily hair or scalp, or it will dry it a little without conditioner.  It can also be used on your face.

These are literally the only 2 products I have found that don't smell like something I shouldn't put on my body or that won't make my stomach turn.  Other than that, the only moisturizer I can stand to smell now is raw cocoa butter, which smells like pure delicious chocolate to me, but isn't the easiet thing to apply to skin... I used to love the smell of coconut oil, but it smells sort of like fuel to me mildly now.... *sigh* but I still use it after showers since I can't find a non-disgusting smelling lotion yet other than cocoa butter for my face.  Most shea butter or coca butter lotions smell kind of okay to me if they are on the more natural side.

This is only my 2nd or 3rd month with this nose/taste issue so who knows...  But I can say this, I feel your pain and all we can do is try to minimize our own discomforts.  These bath products have helped make my routine more enjoyable at home, so maybe you can find some things that you can tolerate as well.  Cleaning products also really bug me now, so I found that the unscented, natural $1 baby wipes work to clean almost anything, from bathroom to kitchen.  

By the way, I'm turning 29 soon and these symptoms appeared after having super bad flu for the first time since childhood....or at least that's the only thing that makes sense to me for the time frame.  I also had been living in a big city right next to downtown (increased pollution perhaps?) for several months at this point and sleep with windows open.  I don't know if that makes a difference, but I tell you, the smell of cars exhaust almost makes me straight pass out now....  UGH!

Anyways, good luck to everyone who has to deal with this crap!

[Angelacross79]

Try Renpure brand body wash and hair products… I have 0 issue with the honey lavender.. most other soaps, detergents, sprays… etc. smell rancid. Sweet sewage..

[badtasteandsmell]

I just had a CT scan today that appeared normal.  The only thing I can eat and not cringe at the taste or smell is lettuce.  My cold was in May lost all smell and taste from it.  After a couple of months it started coming back but like you everything tastes and smell awful.  I have lost 15lbs so far which is good but I long to eat and enjoy food again!  A friend suggested my zinc level may be low.  Anyway with the CT normal he ordered blood test and is scheduling me an MRI appoitment.  I use a neti-pot but that hasn't helped.  He took another culture today because the first culture grew bacteria.  He also had me on Amox pills and a nasal spray.  All they did was add more bad symptoms instead of curing anything so I quit them.  I am making myself eat now because you can't live on just lettuce but it's not a very good life.  I even dread washing my hair the products that used to love to smell makes me cringe now.  I can't go to restaurants because I can't stand to smell the food cooking.  Prayers for a cure for all of us soon!!

[davelloyd1]

This just started happening.  All exhaust from cars, rooms, flames, smoke, incense, food, rivers, plants, everything smells and tastes like sweet chemical sewage type smell..
It is unbearable. I cant really find a reason to go on living. This happened in MAY and has gotton worse. I think it is a spiritual illness. What happened to yours?

[Gr8Gatsby]

Yep, I have the exact same thing, except I have no idea what might have triggered it. I just woke up one morning, and my taste and smell were all distorted. This is probably silly, but I assumed I might have caught something odd from a random girl I was making out with the night before. In hindsight, I don't believe that was the issue (thank goodness! Take my smell and taste but, for God's sake, don't take women from me). Anyways, have had it for about 3 months now. Recently developed a bad sinus infection, and told my doctor about it. She said it was likely from the sinus issues (even though they were three months apart). I took Augmentin and a nosespray (Astepro). The meds are now done, and the sinus infection appears to have cleared, but the odd smell and taste are still there.

[Jaimiek0112]

I was hit with a basketball in the 80's and just had a major upper resp infection, (Monday) that hit me like a ton of bricks. Since Monday, everything tastes like some kind of chemical. Ive also not had a cigarette since Tuesday.I thought taste buds were supposed to get better when you quit smoking. With or without sickness.

[Lavender7]

I am so thankful to have found this. I really thought I was dying of a brain  tumour.  I recall having bad breath and taste in my mouth for a while, sore glands and then my sense of smell started to diminish. Now it's very dull and what I do smell seems to be distorted or smell bad. Once in a while I will smell something that will become stuck in my nose and It won't go away, it will actually affect taste too. I do still smell what were enjoying  scents like lavender but it too seems dull and doesn't have the same Affect.
My taste isn't as bad but it's not the same either. I tend to put a lot of spices on my food to increase taste.