So around 3 years ago I was suffering constant sinus infections, every time my kids came home from school sick, I somehow turned it into a sinus infection.

During one of those I lost my sense of smell completely for a few weeks, and then that was followed up by parosmia ... I felt like somebody had hacked into my brain and jacked up the data bank that had smells in it. I made a list of 4 things, stuff that smelled right, stuff I could not smell at all, stuff that smelled wrong, and what I called the “alien” smell. I am guessing this is the same that others refer to as rotting meat or garbage smell. For me, mine was not like either of those and in fact, didn’t smell like anything I have ever smelled before, hence my name for it, Anyway here some of the items on the lists.

Smells right... - Honey Roasted Peanuts - PineSol - Lemons

Smells wrong... - French Fries - Coffee - Granola Bars - Exhaust - any smoke (they should all smell different... camfire, leaves, cooking, but they don’t) - Bacon

No Smell... - Natural Gas (including farts) - Any light smell (like rain or fresh cut grass) - Wood - Hairspray

Alien Smell.. This list is as long as encyclopedia, but I notice most folks here have many of them... - Onions - Armpits - Peanut Butter - Any Fried food

• Which led me to a doctor that told me I was crazy...

• A yoga guy who said I should breathe through my nose and alternate nostrils...

• A chiropractor that told me I should get acupuncture...

• A acupuncture guy that stuck needles in my face...

Then I finally went to a ENT doctor who after examining me said that bad nasal polyps and recommended surgery, which I had November of 2018.

After the surgery and recovery, although I could breathe much better, I now had full blown parosmia. Believe me when I read your posts I can relate to every thing I read here... the lack of appetite, food smelling like garbage, strange smells out of nowhere, all of it.
At this point I knew not to go back to the wizards I had tried and instead asked the doctor who did the surgery if there was anything I can do. She said that the smells should return to normal but that it can take anywhere up to 5 years.

I went online looking for help and found almost nothing worthwhile except for a few other folks that had suffered the same thing, along with some home remedies which I am sure you are all familiar with. That was when I decided to create this sub in the hopes of finding other folks that might have some answers. I posted everything I could find, but not many people joined and not much happened for a year or so, then covid hit. I am very happy that the people here are so supportive and willing to share info with each other. I love hearing the recover stories and am looking forward to my own recovery.

I want to tell anyone new that you are not crazy, all of us here have this and it is as bad as you say it is. There seems to be quite a few uninformed doctors out there that misdiagnose this or tell you there is no such thing. Hopefully we can all make enough noise to help the future folks that join us here.

Second, keep the hints and suggestions coming so that if one of us figures something out we can post it here and hopefully others can benefit.

Currently I am slowly (And I mean S L O W L Y..) recovering my sense of smell. The alien smell has gotten very much smaller and is almost gone. Certain smells have gone back to normal, like bacon and peanut butter. I can now catch certain light smells and they do not disappear after one whiff. Armpits and onions still smell weird, and others are still absent, but every so often, I smell something and my memories kick in as I recognize it as smelling correct. Those are great days and I am looking forward to more of them.

Keep up the awesome work everyone, and remember to hold each other up! :-)