Interesting - I don't have a sense of smell (and never have). I don't think I'm at risk of dying from that, however, barring an undetected gas leak.
Loss of sense of smell is fairly serious, though, so this isn't too surprising.
Loss of sense of smell is fairly serious, though, so this isn't too surprising.
FWIW humans rely much less on sense of smell than many other creatures. Interestingly, animals with poorer odor detection tend to have better vision. Raptors have excellent vision and aren't reliant on smell to detect prey.
Human vision is also well-developed, the only trichromats among the great apes.
Goes to show, "tests" don't always apply in each and every instance.
I hope I am not unpolite in asking and please forgive my curiosity, I've never heard of "congenital olfactive loss" and my mind was just blown.
Anosmia.
For food - I prefer strong flavors (smoked salmon, capers, onions). Subtle flavors like spices are lost on me - basil, spinach, and mint all taste the same. Cheeses can be strong - I think I could tell the difference between blue cheese and provolone, but I haven't done an experiment. I'll have to try that sometime.
It is possible I have a very week sense of smell. I can kind of smell coffee, and there are a few times I've smelled an orange, but that hasn't been reproducible. My dog got sprayed by a skunk one time, and I couldn't smell that, so I think it's accurate to say I don't have a sense of smell.
I can "smell" things like vinegar and bleach, but I think that's the trigeminal nerve. I can't tell the difference between white vinegar and balsamic vinegar, however.
My mom can't smell either - nor could her dad.
I've also got no sense of smell, though my ENT thinks it was due to an accident I had as a baby (fell face first onto broken glass), that severed the nerve.
I can smell absolutely nothing (not gas, not coffee, nada)... but, on the other hand, have a really strong sense of taste. Maybe this is what's leaning the doctor to that.
She can pick up on various ingredients, but she describes them in ways that are different from most people. For instance, garlic is a 'sweet' flavor to her. As with any lack of sense situation, it's difficult to really discuss with someone as the one person has absolutely no frame of reference, but from observation I've been able to see how things work.
One amusing anecdote was when we went over and she was making a cake. "What's that burning?" we asked. She had taken it out of the oven and put on a burner which was actually on. Well, the bottom half of the cake was burned to a crisp and she had no idea it was happening.
* Well she thought she had 0% sense of smell until one day she was working in a city-wide open sewer pit in a third world country. She said that she detected something unpleasant there that she thinks was a smell. So it would seem that it's really a super-super-super-super poor sense of smell.