Re: Adenoidectomy and Sense of Smell

[Guest guest]

Sorry to hear about your brother in law's unfortunate circumstance.

I wish him a speedy recovery. I wonder, did any of your brother's

ENTs suggest prednisone treatment at any time? Of course, the

glucocorticoid, more catabolic than cortisol itself, would reak

havok on muscular development.

To the extreme of my awareness, scanning some recent 12 years of my

memory, my sense of smell has been as it is today. I suppose

a " spontaneous return " is out of the question, and a deterioration

of taste is unlikely (knock on wood). After some internet searching,

I discovered that the following are potential diagnostics:

Sinus CT Scan (CAT Scan)

Nasal cytology (Collect some cells from the nasal cavity)

Rhinomanometry (To measure nasal airflow and pressure)

Skin tests for allergies (RAST)

Nasal endoscopy (A small tube through the nose to check for

disease / polyps)

Scratch-and-sniff

Skull x-rays

Specific quantitative measurements of smell function

Sinus transillumination (a light is placed against the face to help

determine if the sinuses are filled with fluid.)

I do plan on being very demanding, if approached passively, for some

form of diagnostic test(s). I'm not yet certain which test would be

for me preferable, but I will do some more reading on this. My hope

is that the cause of this can be ascertained without any catabolic

steroid drug treatment, as suggested at:

<http://www.surgery.ucsd.edu/ent/DAVIDSON/Pathway/Anosmia.htm>

..... so as not to interfere with my bodybuilding endeavors.

My history with physicians has been such that they tend to get

agitated when the patient demonstrates any knowledge of medicine in

any way that may question their judgment. It seems these days the

patient needs to perform considerable preemptive research just to

avoid misguided treatment.

Eugene Sanik

Brooklyn, NY

--------

Rosemary Vernon wrote:

> I am not qualified in any manner to even guess as to whether this

> surgery had any effect. However, I would urge you to see a good ENT

> and not wait around while the HMO passes you back and forth.

>

> My brother in law has been complaining to doctors for years about no

> sense of smell. He had a stuffy nose to go along with it much of

> the time. They told him he had either allergies or sinus trouble

> and gave him a plethora of various drugs, not to mention the OTC

> sprays he used for years. Finally, he demanded something be done

> because he had also lost his sense of taste. They finally sent him

> to a different ENT who for once did a CAT scan and discovered nasal

> polyps which had grown large over time as well as some kind of

> calcified deposits. The surgeon was perplexed why this wasn't taken

> care of years ago when the polyps were still small, although this

> seems not to be an atypical reaction because of HMO foot dragging.

> Because of the long delay in what was an easy surgery, whether he

> will regain his sense of smell is touch and go. It's now a waiting

> game while he heals up.

>

> If you're not satisfied with what the first ENT tells you, then

> insist on a second opinion.

* Don't forget to sign all letters with full name and city if you

wish them to be published!

[Guest guest]

Eugene Sanik wrote:

<<I wonder, did any of your brother's ENTs suggest prednisone

treatment at any time?>>

**** My husband answers:

My brother had localized cortisone injections into his elbow which

were corticostroids for old diving injuries (he was an underwater

welder by profession). Treatments like that will have any long term

adverse effects although they certainly are a known side effect. He

also has had localized use of steroidal nasal sprays and they may

have contributed to his loss of his sense of smell. His latest

doctor certainly thought so as well as damaging the prostaglandins

lining of his nose.

During his early 20's (he is now 62), he suffered an accute attack

of systemic lupus, one of the collagen diseases, and it got into his

central nervous system causing extreme convulsions. He was treated

with very high doses of methyl prednisone which were effective. The

lupus has never reoccurred. He didn't have any problems with smell

or taste at that time. This only started years later and the doctor

is quite certain the cause of the loss of smell was eventually due

to the medications given for sinus/allergy and resulting polyps (if

these meds did, in fact, cause them).

Rosemary Vernon, Editor

Dolfzine On-Line Fitness, Inc.®

A Not-For-Profit Foundation

www.dolfzine.com

Marina del Rey, CA

IronRoses@...

http://www.chuckietechie.com

[Guest guest]

Just talked to my brother-in-law who reports that a week after his

surgery of having the polyps removed from his nasal passages, both

his sense of smell and taste have returned. His only complaint was

that the first thing he smelled in about 10 years of nothing was the

boater's bathroom near where his boat is docked. However, he was

busy thinking of the list of restaurants he wanted to visit.

Hopefully these returned senses won't cause him to gain 20 pounds.

Thus it pays to pursue a loss of either sense or smell since the

solution may be a simple one if the cause can be discovered.

Rosemary Vernon, Editor

Dolfzine On-Line Fitness, Inc.®

A Not-For-Profit Foundation

www.dolfzine.com

Marina del Rey, CA

IronRoses@...

http://www.chuckietechie.com