Question: Had issues with pain in nose under certain environmental conditions. I am a well educated person but after 7 weeks of pain where my doctor said nothing was wrong I smoked some dried lotus plant leaves (Asian "remedy") from my wife. Biggest mistake of my life. I now have lost most of detection of mild odors such as grass, plants. When I shower it feels like I have saran wrap where I used to have moist nasal mucosa (I do not feel the steam). As well I have the perception of congestion but no mucus as if my airways in the nose are narrowed. I do have an ENT who says I can breathe a little so no problem. Question: it has been 10 weeks now. Is it probable that the nasal mucosa will regenerate? Is there still a reasonable chance to regain smell? It is strange, I can smell grass when I hold it to my nose and same for some flowers but not at any kind of distance. At work the only smell in my office is dust which is disconcerting. I should also mention that by the end of the day inside my nose feels sore. The ENT asked if I wanted a biopsy however I don't want to make things worse. CT scan came back normal. I do feel dry all the time in nose, throat.

My ENT is having the CT scan redone as somehow it has disappeared from my ex family doctor. I can send later after it is redone however I remember reading it and it said normal but there were technicians notes of concern that I can't remember. Indeed rhinitis and drying is a significant side effect from Risperidone. I am so stressed over having caused this disability to myself that the only way I can get a few hours of sleep is to continue to take it. I am meeting with the doctor today and will discuss alternatives. The clinical ENT notes that I saw were " it is possible there is some damage to the nose from the smoke and heat from the Asian Remedy (lotus leaves). He checked the "normal" box on the form (clearly it is not normal). He also said "persistent rhinitis" in the notes but it is possible he was seeing the damage from the smoke and heat I don't know. That visit was two weeks after i had smoked the bad stuff. There was a very small amount of black tissue that came out twice when I blew my nose a few weeks ago. When I smoked the stuff at first it didn't hurt. As soon as it did I stopped.
Followup questions:
1) is possible that the sensitive top layer of the mucosa is permanently damaged and will never recover to any sort of normalcy? it would already be damaged from 20 years of smoking I would think. I hate to ask this.
2) if the mucosa is now permanently thickened would this account for the feeling of narrowed passageways in my nose for air or is it more likely that there is still some swelling? Is there another explanation? If so will the steroids help to reduce it? It is definitely hard to breathe through my nose. I was blessed before and other than the odd cold I never had serious congestion. It is not mucus.
3) I have read a great deal about the anatomy of the nose. I just had another XXXXXXX endoscopy yesterday. The ENT concluded there was still a small passageway for air and spent a grand total of 2-3 minutes with me. I must say it was painful then in my nose during the endoscopy and still today nose is throbbing.I like to believe this is a good sign that some nerves are still alive in there. 12 years ago I had a chronic sinus infection and had an endoscopy which I remember well. There was tickling only with no soreness after. Does it seem normal that there would be pain now?
4) I just quit smoking last week (my excuse was high stress level). Will I improve my chances of healing if I continue to desist? When I was still smoking I noticed that my nose is quite sore by mid afternoon whereas early in the morning it doesn't hurt. The environment makes a difference: at home where I can control the air and humidity it doesn't usually hurt but if at work, at the mall etc. after an hour my nose begins to hurt inside.
5) can you tell me why is it that I can smell the grass, flowers well up close but more than a foot away I smell nothing. Does this make sense? Is there something about the dispersion of the odor molecules or collection of the them inside my nose? Inside my house I can smell cooking and cleaning smells, perfume, coffee (within a couple of feet), oranges, other people's sweat, but not leather, my own skin. Work is very disconcerting with the only smell being dust. I feel like I am choking on it.


Wish I had you for my ENT. in Canada were are pretty much stuck with the one and only ENT that our family doctor refers us to. Mine is not sensitive to the mental trauma or interested in helping once it was established I did not have cancer. I am not allowed to ask questions of him or he gets upset and believe me I am very deferential and polite.