Why Everything Tastes Like Soap to Me: The Correlation Between Hyper-olfaction and Adrenal Insufficiency

A fellow HPAA Suppression buddy turned me on to this ancient study from 1966:

"In adrenal insufficiency the olfactory sensitivity was roughly 100,000 times (range 103 to 108) more acute than that in the normal subjects.

Treatment with prednisolone, 20 mg per day,returned olfactory thresholds to normal in every patient within the first day, frequently before any change in serum electrolyte concentrations or body weight. When treatment with prednisolone was stopped, the increased olfactory sensitivity did not reappear for 5 to 7 days, or 1 to 3 days after taste sensitivity had become maximal."

(Source: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC292845/pdf/jcinvest00268-0123.pdf)

Saturday, the day I caved and took 5mg so I didn't kill people with my car, I experienced intense anti-hunger. Nothing tasted right. We indulged in our little Falafel fetish and I couldn't eat it despite greedy anticipation. It didn't taste right. Hubby thought it was fine, so I assumed it was just me being me.

The Fatoush salad tasted okay, but I couldn't eat it either and kept starting a bite only to put the fork back down.

(Oddly enough the restaurant did not agree with our systems and I wonder if, perhaps, my sensory overload is actually able to pick up on problems with food. The last time I was the only one who thought something tasted funny, there was a food recall.)

I've also taken to running a second rinse in the dishwasher, otherwise, everything I eat tastes like Cascade. I'm the only one affected this way. It all tastes fine to everyone else.

My sense of smell is definitely more sensitive than it was even during pregnancy. I haven't bothered to correlate it with when I'm feeling insufficient vs. normal, but it definitely showed up to party on Saturday.

Sunday was better, but then I exercised, which means Monday has pretty much sucked. I have dialed down the intensity on the workouts, aiming for very low impact with minimal strength work, but even that is, apparently, too much. Zippo appetite today and just farking exhausted.

Work has been productive though. I'm in the throes of a story that has me by the throat. I went grocery shopping at Costco and the story was playing in 3D in the back of my mind the whole time--it's like living in a dream state that is constantly demanding you sit down and listen. It won't last so I'm trying to maximize writing time to get it all out before it goes *poof*.