If you suffer from hay fever or similar allergies, you know how miserable they can make you feel. Your eyes may itch, your nose may drip, you sneeze all the time, and forget about your senses of smell and taste! Gone until allergy season is over.
But could the medications used to treat allergies contribute to long-lasting deficits in these senses? That is what some readers report.
Nasacort and the Senses of Smell and Taste:
Q. I have seasonal allergies and for about three springs I used Nasacort daily. I lost most of my senses of smell and taste gradually over that period of time. I did not connect it to Nasacort at first, but I’m pretty sure that’s what did it.
I stopped using the Nasacort altogether about three years ago and my sense of smell hasn’t returned to normal. The only plus side is that I can change a dirty diaper with no problem!
Alterations of Taste and Smell:
A. The official prescribing information for triamcinolone (Nasacort AQ) mentions “alterations of taste and smell.” We have heard from many readers who have also experienced loss of smell or changes in the sense of taste after using a nasal steroid spray like triamcinolone or fluticasone. One reader wrote that after using fluticasone (Flonase),
“all I could smell and taste was like burnt metal…now after seven months, nothing tastes or smells like it should.”
It is unfortunate that there is no way to predict who might be susceptible to undesirable changes in the senses of small and taste. Triamcinolone and fluticasone nasal sprays are mainstays of seasonal allergy treatment.
You can learn more about allergy treatment, with its pros and cons, from our Show 1006: Surviving Allergy Season.
