Executive Summary of My Problems with Polyps, Allergies, and Anosmia:
July, 2008

    I am an experimental psychologist, whose training at the doctoral level was in comparative psychology and animal behavior. My specialty area early in my career was the influence of chemosensory experience (smell, taste, vomeronasal sense) upon behavioral development. My dissertation involved the effects of cross-species fostering on response to species scents (and "species identity"). I have always had a special fascination with smells. Ironic, isn't it, that I developed anosmia?

    One experience with eating rotten food and several experiences with fires (and not being able to smell the smoke) made me realize the dangers of being anosmic and motivated me to see a specialist about it.  Never being able to breathe through my nose was also a strongly motivating factor.   In 1990 I had my first sinus surgery (septoplasty and removal of polyps from my sinuses). The polyps had grown out into my nose, occluding the flow of air terribly and making me anosmic. The surgery was successful in restoring airflow and my sense of smell, but I started loosing my sense of smell about a year and a half after the surgery.

    After loosing my sense of smell again, and not wanting to go through the surgery again, I just lived with anosmia for years. I should note that I have never had much pain with any of the three sinus surgeries I have had, but, it is miserable having that packing in your nose for days and dealing with all the bleeding after the surgery. In 1998 I discovered that taking prednisone would restore my sense of smell. I had, to some extent, forgotten how great it is to be able to smell things and how much one is missing when anosmic. I returned to my ENT surgeon to see if he could get my sense of smell back by some other (nonsurgical) means. He advised endoscopic surgery, and I had it in July of 1998, but the recovery of my sense of smell this time did not last beyond the period of recovery which would be expected from the prednisone treatment that was given prior to the surgery.

    At my surgeon's suggestion, I started allergy treatments (shots) to desensitize me to mites, dust, and, (lesser allergies for me) cats, grasses, and cotton. I removed all drapes, carpets, much clutter, etc. from my bedroom, put in a HEPA air cleaner, encased mattresses, pillows, and comforter, and spent too much time washing bedding and dusting the room.

    Despite all this, I remained anosmic unless I treated myself with prednisone. The steroid nasal sprays alone did not do the trick. In my continued pursuit of the recovery of my sense of smell (and because a CT had shown my sinuses to have already filled up again), I had the sinus surgery again on the 10^th of March, 1999.

    The surgery went remarkably well. Very little pain, very little bleeding, the packing was very loose -- I could breathe through my nose already in the recovery room.  The presurgical prednisone restored my sense of smell, and I continued on the prednisone for a couple of weeks after the surgery. As you can imagine, with my sense of smell restored, I sought out all sorts of olfactory experiences, mindful of the fact that there was a good chance that I would become anosmic again.

    My surgeon explained that it was not polyps that had filled my sinuses so quickly this time, but rather the problem was that I had developed synechia (adhesions between the lateral wall of nose and my middle turbinate), that is, the surgical wounds had healed in such a way that promoted the sinuses filling with who knows what gunk, and occluded flow of air to my olfactory receptor surface. He promised to follow me quite closely, "aggressive follow-up," this time, which involved weekly debridement sessions (which, although not pleasant, were not really all that bad). To debride the wound, my surgeon decongests and numbs my nose, then takes a metal vacuum tube and sucks out wound tissue and gunk, and breaks up and removes the adhesion. After three debridement visits, my surgeon advised me that the adhesions were no longer reforming, and it would not be necessary for me to continue such visits.

    I became anosmic again about the 1^st of August, 1999, a little over four months from the date of my surgery. I had some problems with congestion, with thick, colored mucus, but breathing was not been a problem. Every once and a while my sense of smell would return briefly -- for example, it returned for a short while after a couple of hours of vigorous work in the August heat, perhaps because my nose opened up enough to let the incoming air stream reach my olfactory receptor surface -- but most of the time I had no sense of smell. While it was great to have my sense of smell restored for four months, I was not prepared to go through the surgery again soon. I decided to wait until the polyps got so bad that they starting causing problems breathing (or other serious problems).

    In December of 1999 I moved into a new house, one built just two years previously (the original construction on my old house was in the 1890's). In January of 2000 I started getting a recovery of my sense of smell. At first it would return only in the early evening, and would be gone again in the morning. The time of day when my sense of smell would return advanced slowly. By early February I was having a sense of smell at lunch time. On the 7^th of February I had, for the first time in months, a sense of smell right after awakening in the morning. I can only speculate on what caused this recovery. Was it leaving behind some allergens in the old house? Was it the much lower humidity level in the new house (especially with our having had cold weather recently) -- mites (to which I am allergic) don't thrive in low humidity. Or might it be something entirely unrelated to my move?

    In March of 2000, I lost my sense of smell again. By this time I had pretty much gotten used to being able to smell again, even taking it for granted. The loss took place at the time that trees were blooming, so I suspected that my allergy to tree pollens had something to do with it. On some days my sense of smell would return in the evening, but most days I remained anosmic constantly. One of my correspondents suggested that I, like he, recover from allergic reactions when I move to a new environment, but only until our immune systems "learn" to be allergic to our new environments.

   I have tried a few Alternative Treatments. I have not been convinced that any of these provided any relief.

   In January of 2004 I had a sinus infection, which was treated with Avelox. I also experienced an ischemic event in my left eye, NAION. One of the many treatments given to me for this problem was a three-day course of IV steroids (a gram a day of Solu-Medrol) followed by a prednisone taper. These steroids really opened my sinuses, and all sorts of nasty gunk came out (but they did not promote any recovery of vision in my left eye). I think the steroids also tamed my immune system enough to allow the sinus infection to survive, and I had to be treated with Avelox again in February.

   In March my sense of smell was waning again, and in April I became anosmic again. I  visited my ENT and asked him about any additional nonsurgical treatments I could add to my current regimen.  He opined that my current regimen included all that could be expected to help, and suggested that I get another Kenalog injection.  I got the Kenalog injection in June of 2004, just before going on vacation.  My sense of smell was restored again.

    I had another Kenalog injection in June of  2005 -- my doc no longer gives Kenalog injections, by the way.  Since then I have not had another Kenalog injection, but my sense of smell remains good.  I am now using Astelin in addition to other treatments mentioned at my current regimen.  My last visit to my otorhinolaryngologist, in July of 2008, revealed no sign of polyps.

Contact Information for the Webmaster,
Dr. Karl L. Wuensch

This page most recently revised on 17. July 2008.