Sickness blues

32 Replies
Dustin said

That is heartbreaking! The past few years I have had my sense of taste and smell knocked out several times for a week or more at a time by sinus infections. I’m fighting back now with oral steroids any time I feel sinus inflammation coming on. I explain it to people by saying it’s like tasting in black and white. I can taste that chocolate is sweet, but I don’t get any of the flavors. Looking at all my teas was quite depressing, so I started making really horrid combinations of food to eat like smoked oysters on waffles with mustard and relish to amuse myself with the situation. It grossed out my friends which brought me a little bit of entertainment in an otherwise bleak time.
I hope your cold passes quickly!

mtchyg said

This. Haha. This has been me.

I would think the texture related to that oysters / waffles combination might be a separate problem. It’s kind of a completely different subject but my kids help me experiment with how much sense of taste can change related to a noisy or quiet background, by alternating between a bit loud and very loud. It’s interesting how the finer levels of detail seem to just go quiet when there’s enough other stimulus soaking up attention, even when you don’t focus on those.

mtchyg said

I am very sensitive to audio stimulus so I find that experiment intriguing and that assessment accurate.

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Cwyn said

Tea needs to acclimate after shipping. Your cold will mean it will all taste better later. The bright side…

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mtchyg said

Wow! I don’t check in for a day or two and I’m so very grateful to see all the helpful and commiserating responses. Thank you! I’m slowly coming out of the funk. I can smell at about 50-75% now with reduced (but still there) congestion. I’m about a week and a half in so I’m hoping another week, max. My main goal now is to avoid a secondary infection.

On a brighter note, a mom to one of my son’s classmates is from China. We talk in the hallway sometimes and she has heard me mention my tea passion. So yesterday she says to me that she will bring me tea “strong enough to taste through a cold.”

So today she brought me two different kinds. They were packaged all in Chinese and she couldn’t quite explain to me in English what they were but one was some kind of super mushroom tea and the other I opened and found it to be oolong. So that was awesome.

Happy sipping everyone!

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Nattie said

I’ve had the flu for the past few days and I’ve shaken most of it but it still won’t give me back my sinuses! So my brain feels like it’s too big for my skull, I can’t taste much and it hurts when I swallow (or yawn or talk or basically move any part of my head) which isn’t great for tea-drinking. I’ve really been struggling with what to drink, too. I’ve mostly settled for drinking familiar, lower-quality teas and ones I want to get rid of, but everything tastes different so it’s been quite hit-and-miss; sometimes teas I usually like are absolutely disgusting, sometimes teas I’m usually meh about are suddenly really tasty. I can’t wait to get my old taste buds back.

mtchyg said

Same here! I’m at like 75% now. I can kind of taste some flavors but many of the intricacies escape me so everything is just very rounded and flat in flavor.I’m really hoping that after this weekend I’ll be back to full form. This coming Sunday would mark 2 weeks since the first sign of sickness started.

Nattie said

Fingers crossed for you! I read up a bit and spoke to a doctor, and apparently I have sinusitis now, which almost everyone gets after the flu and which lasts 2-3 weeks. I only got ill 6 days ago so it’s still a way to go before I can enjoy tea again but sounds like you should be over the worst of it! The only thing I can taste right now is ‘sweet’ (which is super gross while you’re eating smoked fish).

mtchyg said

Sinusitis is a drag. I’m hoping I avoided that. Maybe not though. Stuffiness and mild sore throat. That actually could be the itis I suppose haha.

I love smoked fish! Though only tasting sweet from it might be odd. What kind of fish is it?

Nattie said

It was just haddock, but it seriously tasted like I poured syrup all over it :S

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