Posted by JohnLA on September 19, 2011, at 23:12:38
In reply to Re: Loss of Olfactory Sense Leads to Depression /Disor » JohnLA, posted by Phillipa on September 19, 2011, at 21:56:50
phillipa-
my severe depression started about 18 months ago. several stressful events took place over 2009/2010 that just kicked my *ss emotionally.
having said that, as i mentioned earlier, looking back i think i may have been in a mild depression for several years before my major depression hit. hard to tell. but, i did get a little melancholic starting around the time i lost my sense of smell. or, it was just middle-age. regardless, i know for a fact i am currently in a major depressive episode and health issues are part of the reason.
not sure what meds you asking about? for my anosmia or depression? for depression i'm currently on 30mg of remeron and 1 to 2 mg of klonopin. at least i sleep fairly well. unfortunately my mood has not improved. i have tried several other meds (all ssri's) with no real benefit. i even did 12 sessions of unilateral ect last year when i was extremely anxious and depressed and looking-up suicide methods on the internet. which scared the crap out of me. no real benefit there either.
as for my anosmia, i have used prednisone and other anti-inflammatory meds. again, my sinus issues are due to nasal polyps and chronic sinusitis. currently i do a daily saline nasal rinse with pulmicort (a steroid). it is keeping the polyps away, but has yet to bring back my sense of smell. some people are having success with this in getting their sense of smell back.
not sure this pertains to your particular case. but, ask your ent about it. if you do a 'test run' on prednisone and get some smell back, that is an indication that the nerves are still ok and that inflammation is the problem. there are also a few smell/taste clinics in the US. do a google on that to see if there is one near you. though the one in washington dc i hear very mixed opinions about. i think it's run by dr. henkin? regardless, you search the heck out of all this on the net.
i say don't give-up just yet on getting your sense of smell back. it's kind of like depression; many approaches to try to solve it.
john
ps sorry about the babblemail deal. i went to my psychologist tonight and he said i need to stop spending so much time researching depression on the computer...so, i think i'm gonna leave my babblemail off. sorry about that. but, please feel free to ask me questions in this thread if you like.
poster:JohnLA
thread:996950
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/20110914/msgs/997252.html