Chemosensory disorders relate to the disorders of smell, taste or odor. These chemosenses are complicated processes which when distorted or damaged can cause different types of problems. There may be complete loss of senses or the senses may get reduced. The complete loss of smell sense is called Anosmia and the reduced sense is known as Hyposmia.  In the same manner, the complete loss of taste is known as Ageusia whereas reduced taste sense is called Hypgeusia.
In some of the chemosensory disorders the person may misread the odor or taste. Something that is pleasant to eat may taste bad or a pleasant smell may be detected as four odors. The smell disorders may turn out to be serious as they are the alert signals for the body for any danger. If a person has smell orders, then he may not be able to detect the foul odor of gas, fire etc and some accident might occur. If the taste buds don’t work properly, then the person may consume some toxic or rotten food and fall sick.
Some medical conditions or disease have been associated with the chemo-sensory disorders. People suffering with conditions like obesity, hypertension, malnutrition, diabetes and Parkinson’s disease have been seen having chemo-sensory disorders.
There are many causes of the taste and smell disorders. For some patients the disorder may be congenital but mostly these are acquired.
· Some illness of the throat or nose.
· If there is any injury to the olfactory nerves, may be due to head injury.
· The dental problems may also lead to different types chemo-sensory disorders.
· Certain medicines and chemicals can also dull the taste and smell senses.
The diagnosis of the chemo-sensory disorders:
There are many ways by which the chemo-sensory disorders can be detected. These may include:
· Complete physical examination and medical history of the person.
· The reorganization capacity of the patient for the lowest concentration of the chemical.
· Specific tests like scratch and sniff diagnostic tests can be used.
Once it is established that the person has some taste and smell disorder then it is necessary to get it properly treated.  The age and extent of the disorder will determine the treatment that is to be administered. The treatment may include:
· Change of the medicines that have contributed to the chemosensory disorder. The ongoing medication may also be stopped to treat the disorder.
· The chemosensory disorder of taste or smell might be due to some underlying medical problems. These problems have to be treated and cured so that the chemo-sensory disorders are treated.
· Sometimes surgery might be required to remove the obstruction that is responsible for causing the disorder.
The chemosensory disorders are not life threatening disorders but they may hamper the normal functioning of life.

Filed under: Ear nose throat disorders

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