Mourningwarbler (Florida) on 09/13/2015

If you or someone you know has lost the sense of smell, totally or in part, whether from an antibiotic or infection, it is important to protect the nose, the olfactory organs. I mean protect it from strong smells from which you would have backed away previously. Dogs and cats lick their nose in order to pick up scents.
I think my loss of smell had to do with an zithromax aka azithromycin/antibiotic, and then I did not know to protect myself and may have injured myself further by not protecting my nose; I was trying so hard to smell stuff such as tea tree oil or lavender oil; those may have been too strong. Would garlic be too strong? I tried that too. Maybe it was always going to be gone, but now I may never know.
Nobody tells you the mechanism by which an antibiotic causes loss of smell; I doubt they know or care unless they can make a lot of money off of knowing; if they would lose money by knowing, they're certainly not going to be honorable. Evolution means survival of the fittest! I might just kill myself to save the predators the trouble, LOL.
Anyway, you know there are little glands in the olfactory organs that produce moisture or mucus to facilitate smelling. I don't know why doctors do not know about this. For myself, I think that is the source of my trouble. Drying out one's sinuses in this situation is only going to make matters worse.