I do not suffer, How could I miss what I've never experienced?
I realize that it is terrible to lose the sense of smell, but I didn't have one so I've never missed it. I didn't even realize there was an issue that I wasn't sensing until high school. Since Leaving college and now that I'm living independently I've started to smell a few things. The first few times I smelled something (Starting with onions and garlic) It was overwhelming and impossible to process. It was like getting slapped in the face and trying an addicting substance at once. Most of the smells are good smells, but they are so powerful that I am wary of allowing myself to smell them.
Still I can count the things I can smell on one hand, and my smell is not reliable. Sometimes I smell onions when I cut or sautee them, sometimes I don't. Every time, my face is inches away from the substance. I've always loved to bake, and it mystifies me how people can smell cookies in the oven from the next room over. I mean, those oven doors are heavy and gas doesn't escape so how do smells? It's like magic, but I'm so happy that I can make people happy through my baking. I don't know if I want to be able to smell. I definately don't want to pursue any treatments. That is my experience of anosmia. In that sense Congenital anosmia is very different from acquired anosmia. I wish I could smell harmful odors and I wish I could smell when I have body odor, but otherwise I am happy, I enjoy food, and I do not feel deprived.
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