Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
I started reading Season to Taste: How I lost by Sense of Smell and Found My Way by Molly Birnbaum. She was going to go to culinary school, and then lost her sense of smell/taste after a a car accident. I haven't finished yet so can't tell you if it's any good. But maybe it's something you should check it out too?
I bet this is good. Bless her heart. My friend lost her sense of taste after an accident also.
Please - PLEASE - do not take this the wrong way ... but ... if I had to give up one of my senses (sight, hearing, speech, taste, touch, etc.) I suppose the sensation of smell would be the first one I would give up. I fully understand the frustration that you must experience in your inability to detect if the gas was left on in the oven, the perfume of a rose, the aroma of fresh bread being baked.
I am not trying to dismiss your handicap, nor be condescending in any way, perish the thought!
Your book sounds like a good idea. I would read it. I suppose I am curious as to how you try to 'make up' or compensate for the loss of that sense. How does it affect your sense of taste, as in food and beverages?
I'm sorry, but, no, I don't think it would be interesting to most people without some specific angle. (I know there's someone who wrote about having lost his sense of taste, but it was interesting, because he was a chef.)
I suggest that you start with something shorter - like an article/essay. That might find an audience with either a women's magazine, health magazine, or food magazine.
I think an article is the way to start. I would be interested in this, because I always collect things about different types of disabilities, and look at employment, how the disability is actually a benefit for some types of employment, like how many manufacturing jobs hire deaf people, because they don't mind the sound of the machinery. Perhaps, in your case, you could do jobs that others would find too difficult.
Yes, I would! I used to be totally deaf and blind and couldn't imagine life without a sense of smell. I would be very interested to read about what life is like without the ability to smell.
Yes, I would read it. I know someone who couldn't taste anything, and it was unbelievable! Of course she didn't care at all about eating, and would have to make herself eat. I cant imagine not being able to taste chocolate! On second thought, that would probably be a good thing for me.
I have thought many times that I wish my sense of smell wasn't so strong because smells make me ill. From perfumes (headaches too) to restaurants. I've walked into restaurants where I was gagging and had to leave immediately, and I am just dumfounded that all the people in there aren't smelling what I'm smelling, apparantley. Neither do the people I am there with. So, I would be really interested in your book where you have never had a sense of smell.
Same! A lot of people wear strong-scented perfumes that give a headache. There are a lot of gross smells in the area around my school and I often have to cover my nose on the way to school, lol. Even with my hearing returned, my sense of smell has stayed at the level of sensitivity it reached when I was deaf-blind.
OP, can you taste or does your lack of smell also affect your ability to taste? My understanding is that these two senses are very closely related.
I had another question that I hope isn't stupid. Since you cannot smell things like smoke and onions, do you get a headache from smoke or do your eyes tear from onions? Does that reaction start with actually perceiving the smell or do you get those other physiological reactions despite not smelling the triggering factor?
But I did know someone who lost his sense of smell and taste from banging his head when his Jeep flipped over. He had trouble sleeping as well. Took medication, but it didn't really help him.
It sounds interesting, I am not very familiar with people who have anosmia. Write well and revise even better and you could have a great book. Good luck
Don't ever let anyone tell you not to write your story! Go for it!!!
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.
Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
