Imagine my recoil when I read the above Associated Press
headline recently.
The story went on to detail the first study that linked
loss of smell to Alzheimer's. Difficulty identifying odors
was associated with a higher risk of progressing from mild
cognitive impairment to Alzheimer's. As someone with very
little sense of smell and taste, perhaps I should be
worried.
These kinds of medical studies rarely offer a cheery report.
Lead author Robert Wilson of Chicago's Rush University
Medical Center did concede that a diminishing sense of
smell is not cause for panic. Thank goodness.
Perhaps I would be less interested if I had not just
celebrated my 63rd birthday, and for years have had a
profound loss of two very important senses: smell and taste.
A sporting accident some 40 years ago (I was playing right
field and tried to catch a fly ball in the sun with my
nose) and a traffic accident some 30 years ago (I was
rear-ended in my VW at a stoplight in a hit-and-run
accident by someone doing 50 to 70 miles per hour) left me
with a deviated septum.
For years I walked around with 50% breathing capacity in
one nostril and 10% in the other. The result was that I was
taking up to 16 Sudafed and 16 Ibuprofen a day for some
time before I came to my senses and developed suffering to
an art form. I have better medications now.
Years later I was reading a health book and learned that
Sudafed does a really good job of allowing you to breath
and at the same time causes some folks to lose their sense
of smell and taste. It happened to me. I now have virtually
no sense of smell or taste.
If there was a fire in my house, I would figure it out when
I saw the smoke. If there was a great tasting food I would
be more sensitive to its texture than its taste. I would
probably do great in England where the food is so bland.
The boyhood joy of selecting the perfect tasting candy to
buy is now lost on me. There is no candy that does much for
me now. The pure joy of a kid in a candy store is gone
forever.
I used to love the licorice taste of Good 'n Plenty,
Butterfinger and Snickers bars, spearmint hard candies,
Christmas ribbon candy and peanut brittle with caramel and
peanuts.
It is the same with soda (carbonated water drunk alone or
with liquor or wine), pop (informal for soda pop) and soda
pop (a carbonated soft drink). I find very little taste
between them, or flavors among them.
Be advised. A lot of medications we take as we get older
have trade-offs.
----------------------------------------------------
Ed Bagley is the Author of Ed Bagley's Blog which he
Publishes with Original Articles on Current and Past
Events, including Analysis and Commentary on Lessons in
Life, Movies, Sports, Internet Marketing, Jobs and Careers
that are intended to Delight, Inform, Educate and Motivate
Readers. Visit Ed at . . .
http://www.edbagleyblog.com
http://www.edbagleyblog.com/MovieReviewArticles.html
http://www.edbagleyblog.com/LessonsinLifeArticles.html
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