| Each of our senses is equally important to help us | | | | other hand, the complete loss of the sense of smell |
| exist and get through our daily lives. Just imagine if | | | | is known as Anosmia. But how can these olfactory |
| one of your basic senses is not functioning, how do | | | | deficiencies happen? What can cause olfactory |
| you think will this affect your life? One may seem | | | | dysfunction and how can we avoid or treat it? Most |
| insignificant but talking about senses, it is a different | | | | often, viruses such as a common cold can affect a |
| story. Take for instance losing your sense of smell. | | | | person's sense of smell and may cause adverse |
| Our sense of smell helps us determine the flavor of a | | | | effects to a patient's health and lifestyle. As earlier |
| dish even before actually tasting it. The smell of its | | | | mentioned, the loss of sense of smell can have an |
| aroma would give us the initial idea of how it tastes | | | | adverse impact towards a patient's food intake and |
| like. Thus, losing your sense of smell would greatly | | | | preferences, which could lead to malnutrition and |
| affect your appetite as dysfunctions in the olfactory | | | | depression. A recent study however, showed that |
| system could adversely affect your food | | | | acupuncture can be an alternative treatment for |
| preferences. Also, it is our sense of smell that helps | | | | PVOD. Acupuncture is an ancient Chinese art of |
| us identify a lot of things through smell detection; it | | | | healing that stimulates the acupuncture points located |
| could be dangerous without it. Why? Because you | | | | in the body's meridian pathways to help the body |
| can no longer smell danger coming your way such as | | | | heal naturally and restore the normal energy flow of |
| trash, airborne pollutants, cigarette smoke, leaking | | | | the body known as Qi. The study involved 15 |
| gas, and spoiled food, among others. Now, while | | | | patients with PVOD, eight of whom underwent 10 |
| acupuncture has been proven effective to treat a | | | | weekly 30-minute sessions of TCA, while the rest |
| wide range of ailments, especially on women's | | | | were treated with vitamin B complex. The TCA |
| reproductive health, recent studies have shown that | | | | sessions applied subjective olfactometry using |
| Traditional Chinese Acupuncture (TCA) is also a | | | | "Sniffin" Sticks test set. Those who were treated |
| valuable alternative treatment for post-viral olfactory | | | | with acupuncture showed improvements in their |
| dysfunction (PVOD). Olfactory dysfunction, otherwise | | | | olfactory functions compared to those who just got |
| known as Dysosmia, happens when a person's | | | | vitamin B complex supplements. Although the |
| olfactory stimuli processing is impaired and the | | | | researchers said further studies are still needed to |
| dysfunction can be varied. Some patients suffering | | | | affirm the claim, the high response rate of those |
| from Dysosmia can either have a deactivated | | | | treated with acupuncture opens the possibility that |
| olfactory bulb or may interpret odors differently | | | | acupuncture can be an effective treatment for |
| otherwise known as "hallucination of smells." On the | | | | post-viral dysosmia. |