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Sensory Changes After General Anesthesia

02/19/2009

Question:

I had surgery to repair a rotator cuff injury in July 2006. After my surgery I noticed my sense of smell and taste was different. My morning coffee no longer was appealing, I changed to hot tea. The big major issue for me is my husbands smell. Before I realized what was going on, I thought he must be using a different soap or shampoo. When I went into the bathroom after he had showered, the smell was awful. Not a stinky “potty” smell, but a very heavy musky oder. At first I just bought him new soaps, but this changed nothing. Then I noticed other things just didn`t taste like they used to. EX: coffee, watermelon, pizza, etc.. I convinced my husband to use hypo alergenic NO smell shampoo and soap. The oder was the same, no less, no more. This may sound weird but my husbands “smell” has always been a major attraction for me. It`s not just the cologne he wears, I like his cologne on other men, but its just not the same, the smell is still a little different. After dealing with this for about a year, my sister reminded me that in the late 70`s my Grandmother no longer drank coffee after she had major surgery. She changed to Dr. Pepper. Now this lady was from Louisiana where they drink coffee, morning noon and night. And STRONG. I remember her saying it just didn`t taste the same. I have looked online and found very little relating to this. I have asked my doctors about it and they said this was a first for them. I just can`t believe my granny and I are the only ones. I did not have a head injury or anything that would normally point to a loss of smell. I haven`t lost it, it`s just not the same.

Answer:

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Related Resources:

Loss of taste after hand surgery
Anesthesia reactions to food and alcohol
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Loss of taste and smell

For more information:

Go to the Anesthesia health topic.