Welcome to Paging Dr. Gupta, the primary one of 2026. Thanks a lot for becoming a member of us. Hope you had an excellent vacation. I took a couple of days off, however I used to be additionally laborious at work, listening to your questions, listening to your feedback, and fascinated by your considerations. So let’s get proper to it. Kyra’s with us within the new 12 months. Who do we have now first?
Happy New Year, Sanjay. So though we’re in 2026 now, our first caller is gonna carry us straight again to the early waves of COVID in 2020. Now she’s calling a few symptom so much of individuals had again then, and truly one which she’s nonetheless struggling with. Here’s the query.
Hi there, that is Marlene. I’m calling from Austin, Texas. I skilled loss of style and odor in 2020, proper after I had COVID for the primary time. And nonetheless to today, I can’t style and I’ve extraordinarily restricted smells. I just about can’t odor meals. I can odor stronger issues like perfumes and cleansing merchandise. My query is, are there any research of late, something promising, something that may give me some hope for regaining my style and odor? I’d like for you additionally to debate the way it adjustments your life, how your emotional, social life adjustments when you possibly can not benefit from the tastes and smells of life. I’m 74 by the best way, in completely good well being, no diabetes or every other severe well being considerations. Thank you a lot.
Okay, Marlene, first of all, I’m sorry that you’re struggling with this greater than 5 years on. As you are about to listen to, as our listeners are about to be taught, loss of style and loss of odor are fairly important. We’re going to offer you an replace on what we have realized for the reason that pandemic proper after this quick break.
Okay, welcome again. Marlene, who misplaced her sense of odor and style in 2020 throughout her first bout of COVID, needs to know if something could be achieved to revive these senses. So let’s speak by this a little bit bit.
Anosmia is what we’re speaking about. That means loss of odor. And agusia, that is loss of style. And you could bear in mind, they had been hallmarks of the COVID an infection again in 2020, particularly with these early variants. In reality, research present about 80% of individuals with an acute an infection in the course of the unique after which the alpha wave of the pandemic skilled adjustments to or misplaced their sense of odor, 80%.
Then it began to go down. So with Omicron, for instance, about 36% of the individuals reported odor disturbances. And then there was a survey revealed in 2023 within the journal Laryngoscope, which discovered that as much as 1 / 4 of affected individuals, individuals who had misplaced their sense of odor or loss of style, that they had not recovered totally.
‘Now, one factor I simply need to level out as we discuss that is that loss of odor and loss of style are actually inextricably linked. In reality, there was a examine revealed in 2024 that discovered that lengthy-time period style loss in lots of sufferers is definitely on account of injury to the olfactory system, our sense of odor, which might significantly have an effect on our sense-of-taste. So it isn’t essentially to the style system itself. Sometimes these two issues could be tough to parse out.
And it is also price noting that COVID will not be the one motive an individual may lose their sense of odor. It can occur for a lot of causes. Neurological circumstances: Parkinson’s, Alzheimer’s; some drugs: antibiotics, antidepressants, sure remedies for most cancers; nasal polyps, sinus infections, different respiratory infections, and likewise smoking. In reality, in case you look simply throughout the overall inhabitants, about 20% of individuals do have some compromise to their sense or odor.
Now, I need to, once more, simply speak in regards to the significance of this. You won’t instantly assume that shedding your sense of odor or style issues that a lot within the grand scheme of issues, however as Marlene in all probability is aware of, it will probably have profound penalties to your well being and your high quality of life. Meals will lose their attraction, which places an individual in danger of unhealthy weight reduction. People who cannot style effectively may begin to add an excessive amount of salt or an excessive amount of sugar to spice up taste. That can enhance the chance of circumstances like hypertension and diabetes. Loss of odor and style can enhance your danger of meals poisoning. You could open a storage container crammed with meals that’s too previous which may be poisonous and never acknowledge it.
I believe in all probability so much of your listeners, if that they had to decide on one sense that they needed to lose, if you considered your sight or your listening to, your contact, all of this stuff appear so necessary. And so individuals usually would say, oh yeah, I’d quit my odor, however you actually do not know till it is gone, till you have misplaced it, how really impactful that’s to individuals’s high quality of life and the best way by which we relate to one another.
That’s Dr. Zahra Patel. I spoke with her three years in the past on Chasing Life. She is a rhinologist, which suggests mainly a nostril knowledgeable. She’s a professor at Stanford University, and she or he’s been researching remedies for issues associated to the ears, nostril, and throat for over a decade now. And she advised me that sufferers with loss of odor, they have not usually all the time obtained the care or the eye they deserve, however then COVID occurred, and that put the issue squarely on the map.
‘But the bigger query Marlene is asking is what are you able to do about it? So the excellent news is that the neurons in our olfactory system — olfactory, once more, that is your odor system — they do have the flexibility to regenerate. Okay, so there’s the great new. About each three to 4 months, the nerves die off and new nerves take over. And that is taking place repeatedly all through the course of our life. But this is the opposite half of it. They want the steering of supporting cells to revive the correct connections, and that always is the place the issue lies.
And that is the issue total when individuals have this extra everlasting sort of loss in odor and style. That pure inherent regenerative capability of the olfactory epithelium, of all these differing kinds of cells, has taken successful that is simply too nice, that it can’t then bounce again and regenerate. And that’s what so much of our therapies are literally geared toward focusing on, attempting to kickstart that pure regenerative capability to show it again on once more.
It’s referred to as olfactory coaching.
That’s actually only a structured smelling protocol. It’s one thing that I describe to sufferers like in case you had a stroke and also you misplaced perform of an arm, you’ll go to bodily remedy and do rehab till you may work that arm once more. And it is the identical thought about your sense of odor. So you mainly take one thing that has a odor. Essential oils are simple as a result of they maintain onto a odor for a protracted interval of time. The 4 that we generally begin with are rose, lemon, eucalyptus, and clove. The motive we begin with these is that they are in numerous classes of odor. So you are gonna be stimulating differing kinds of olfactory receptor neurons inside your nostril.
But something that has a odor that you’d acknowledge, you carry it to your nostril, you simply breathe usually, good and slowly, deep out and in. But you focus your reminiscence on what that odor used to odor wish to you. That’s a really integral and key parts of the train as a result of of that connection between our reminiscence and our odor. And you simply rotate by the 4.
And I’ve individuals try this twice a day each day. I’ve individuals try this for a really lengthy interval of time, like six months, as a result of as we simply mentioned, the olfactory nerves are turning over they usually do not all try this on the similar precise time. So you need to cowl all that timeframe when all this regeneration is going on, serving to to stimulate that regenerative capability.
Now Marlene, I understand this isn’t a quick resolution, it’s not a excessive tech resolution, however as Dr. Patel advised me, it will probably work. So you could need to give it a attempt once more, know that it isn’t going to be fast or sudden. It will take self-discipline, endurance, and time. Expect progress to be incremental. Also, you already know, you possibly can go to a healthcare supplier like an ENT to rule out every other causes to your odor loss and to essentially educate you the right method right here. Which consists of sniffing every of these 4 scents individually, about 20 to 30 seconds every, do it twice day by day, ideally as soon as earlier than breakfast and as soon as earlier than mattress, and do that for round 24 weeks. Again, this takes time. Dr. Patel says that odor coaching works greatest when it is mixed with different therapies. One possibility she prescribes is a steroid rinse, which is basically rinsing the nostril with the steroid drugs.
‘And including the steroid irrigation, like in an enormous sinus rinse in saltwater, that does have considerably elevated efficacy versus simply olfactory coaching itself. So that’s useful and that’s one thing that I inform all my COVID-19 and lots of different odor loss sufferers to do as half of their remedy.
‘And, in forecasting to the long run, there are some promising remedies within the pipeline. Studies, together with one by Dr. Patel, have discovered that injections of platelet-wealthy plasma can even assist, however that is early. Larger research are gonna be obligatory.
So Marlene, I hope this helps, and hopefully by subsequent New Year’s Eve, you possibly can odor the roses, or not less than the champagne, perhaps the fireworks.
Coming up after the break. We’ll let you know a few situation linked to hashish use that’s on the rise within the United States.
Okay, I do know that sound. Another query has landed. Kyra, who do we have now?
Alright, so our subsequent caller does not precisely have a query, however she does wanna let you know what occurred to her daughter and why she thinks it is necessary for individuals to listen to about it. Let’s take a hear.
My title is Jen, I’m 46. I’m calling from Michigan, not removed from Ann Arbor, go Blue. I’m referred to as as a result of our daughter, who’s 20 years previous, had been experiencing extreme nausea within the mornings. Few months in the past, she awakened, she was throwing up blood, went to the ER, she ultimately acquired a scope, they could not actually discover something, however they requested about her marijuana use. Anyway, lengthy story quick, this acquired actually unhealthy over a course of a pair of months. We come to seek out out that that is referred to as CHS, and that it is changing into fairly frequent in compulsive marijuana vape customers. It looks as if that is one thing that nobody’s speaking about, and with the widespread accessibility to those excessive focus vapes, it looks as if it is a dialog we’re having.
Ok Jen, thanks for calling in to lift consciousness about this. What Jen is speaking about is hashish or cannabinoid hyperemesis syndrome, one thing generally known as CHS. Hyperemesis means extreme vomiting, and within the case of CHS, it happens in cycles. And these can go on for hours, alongside with nausea and stomach ache. The situation has been dubbed scrometing on social media as a result of of this mix of vomiting and screaming {that a} sufferer may exhibit.
‘This is not one thing that occurs to individuals who sometimes pop a gummy. It occurs to lengthy-time period heavy, power customers. And actually not all of them. And that is one of the situation’s mysteries.
So going again, CHS was first acknowledged in 2004 by Australian researchers. They recognized 19 sufferers, all power hashish customers, who had this cyclical vomiting syndrome, they usually wrote about 9 of them for a medical journal.
It’s not frequent, and as we speak’s precise numbers are laborious to come back by, however research do present that CHS appears to be a rising downside. A 2020 examine discovered that almost one in 5 individuals hospitalized for cyclical vomiting did report utilizing hashish on the similar time. And it does appear to have elevated during the last a number of years.
One motive for the expansion of this new phenomenon may very well be the growing efficiency of hashish merchandise total. One of the authors of these research, a pediatric emergency specialist and toxicologist at Children’s Hospital of Colorado, famous that the quantity of THC that now is available in hashish has elevated considerably. So it was a median of 4 to five% within the Nineties, nearer to fifteen to twenty% as we speak.
‘So, like Jen’s daughter, many CHS sufferers find yourself within the emergency room the place they’re handled usually with anti-nausea drugs and IV fluids to fight dehydration. Patients usually endure a battery of assessments to be sure you rule out different causes. Blood and urine assessments, CT scans, higher GI endoscopy, gastric emptying assessments. You wanna just be sure you have the right analysis.
Now one factor that has popped up as effectively is, surprisingly, taking a sizzling bathe can generally assist individuals with CHS discover some aid, not less than briefly. It’s not clear why, however the principle appears to be that tetrahydrocannabinol, or THC, the principle psychoactive compound in weed, that appears to focus on the physique’s ache receptors. So the distracting sensation of the intense warmth appears to interrupt the ache cycle, easing signs. That is only a principle. We do not know why, and once more, these sizzling showers do not essentially work for everybody, however they do appear to supply important profit for some.
The solely actual remedy up to now, as you may guess, is to cease utilizing hashish. CHS does come again in individuals who give up waited some time after which returned to utilizing once more. So Jen, it is a concern. Thank you for calling in to let listeners, particularly dad and mom, find out about this. It’s not frequent, however when it does occur, it may be fairly scary. So good luck to your daughter and sure, go blue in 2026.
‘All proper, that is on a regular basis we have now for as we speak’s episode. Thanks to everybody who despatched in questions, your curiosity, your tales, your voices. That’s what brings this present to life. So preserve the nice questions coming. If there’s one thing well being associated you have been questioning about, ship it to us. We may even reply it subsequent week. Record a voice memo, electronic mail it to pagingdrgupta at newscentral.website. That’s paging DR gupta, at newscentral.website or give us a name 470-396-0832 and go away a message.