About a month ago I lost my sense of smell.
Of course, this is one
of the classic early symptoms of Parkinson’s.
I can no longer smell
flowers in the house and will no longer be able to enjoy the aroma of
spring. When I hug Clara after coming
home from work I am no longer greeted by the pleasant scent of her perfume
(j’adore). I can no longer detect the
smell of chicken roasting in the oven.
Or of bacon sizzling in the frying pan.
Or Marmite on toast. Or fresh fruit. Or a glass of wine. There is no point in buying expensive scented
candles.
There are more prosaic
consequences too. I can’t tell when the
milk is off – in fact this morning I put milk in my tea that was two days past
its sell by date without realising. It
seemed to taste fine but I can’t be sure.
I can’t tell if I have BO and I can’t smell the deodorant I put on in
the mornings. And I won’t be able to tell if the gas is leaking.
There are some
advantages: work colleagues with bad breath, smelly public toilets, emptying
the bins? Not a problem.
I imagine olfaction is
one of the more primitive functions in the brain, but also one of the first to
be let go when the brain is starved of the dopamine it needs to function:
something to discuss with the professor perhaps. I am still waiting for an appointment time to
come through before I start my medication.
More difficult to deal
with than the loss of olfaction are some of the other early symptoms of the
disease. Every night I wake up after
every sleep cycle: typically at midnight, at 2am, 3am, 4am and so on. Often I am uncomfortable with constipation in
the night despite eating a healthy diet with the occasional dose of mild
laxative. It’s a particular type of
constipation (I think it’s called gastroparesis) where the waste seems to sit
in the middle of my lower intestine and not move – because my brain is not
sending messages to the muscles in my gut.
The upshot of all this is frequently being exhausted at work due to lack
of sleep. It reminds me of the sleep
deprivation with a new born baby, though thankfully I get to catch up at the
weekends.
Then there are the
subtle motor problems with my right hand and arm: difficulty writing on
whiteboards at work; fastening buttons; a stiff shoulder that makes it too
uncomfortable to sleep on my right-hand side.
The good news is that
many of these symptoms are due to abate when I start the medication.
But Dr T told me that my sense of smell is now lost forever.
But Dr T told me that my sense of smell is now lost forever.
