Anosmia vs parosmia: understanding the difference

With anosmia, coffee may have no detectable aroma. With parosmia, its aroma is present but may seem burnt, chemical, or otherwise unlike the remembered smell. Either change can alter flavour because smell contributes strongly to how food is experienced.

Parosmia requires an odour trigger; the brain receives a smell signal but the perception is distorted. This differs from phantosmia, in which a person notices an odour when no external source is present. These terms describe experiences, not their underlying cause.

Anosmia and parosmia can appear during recovery from the same illness and may change over time. COVID-19, Long COVID, a common cold, allergic rhinitis, and chronic sinusitis can present with smell changes, but an assessment uses the wider history and examination to explore the cause.

Keep notes on the start date, recent respiratory symptoms, nasal blockage, head injury, medicine changes, and odours that trigger distortion. Choose nutritious foods you can tolerate, keep the room ventilated while cooking, and avoid deliberately testing strong cleaning chemicals.

Because either problem can reduce warning signals, maintain smoke and gas alarms and judge food by storage guidance and expiry dates. A clinician may discuss smell training after considering the pattern and likely cause.

Book an assessment when a smell change persists after other cold symptoms resolve, repeatedly limits eating, causes unintended weight change, or lacks an obvious explanation. Get urgent help if it begins after a head injury or accompanies weakness, facial droop, difficulty speaking, confusion, severe headache, or a sudden vision change.

You could ask which term fits your experience, whether the nose needs examination, whether a medicine review is warranted, and how to protect nutrition if distorted smells make meals difficult.