Anosmia & Joolz

Anosmia affects 2 million people in the United States alone. It is a disorder in which a person loses his or her sense of smell. Karl Wuensch’s anosmia has put him and his family’s lives at risk. For example, Karl is no longer able to smell whether food has spoiled or not. At one instance his wife had to stop him from eating an old casserole which could have made him extremely ill. In another scenario, Karl’s lack of smell caused him to unconsciously put his family in danger. While he was working on his backyard he noticed something off with his propane tank; soon after he realized it was leaking. If he had not visually seen it and without his ability to smell, he could have blown up his entire house. Karl has had to make drastic adjustments to living without smell. He has had to install different detectors that are not in the average household and deal with appetite changes. The biggest life change since he has been diagnosed with anosmia is his interaction with people. He said “I felt like something was missing in both my intimate and casual interactions” (Rosenblum, 2010, p. 68). This can cause some people to become extremely depressed. Like Karl, Joolz Zenda is an anomic youtube blogger. She post multiple videos describing what it is like to be anosmic. Hearing from someone directly what it is like to have anosmia is extremely personal and interesting. Check out her blog at the link below. 

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC6VshhhiX4MK7L3nfH_cIsQ