I wrote earlier about my wife who is going through this nightmare like you, after seeing numerous doctors, she is now been under dr Henkin in Washington DC. We live in Houston, and flown there twice. He has used zinc before on patients and had success! But tests have shown that my wife doesn’t have a zinc deficiency, so he has her on thioridazine for distortions for the last 10 months. Some days are bearable but some are pure hell! Any suggestions from anyone are appreciated! Larry

Sammy, my wife has not been able to smell or taste for two and a half years! We’ve been to 6 ENTS and she’s been given 2 surgeries, and a few others that haven’t been successful YET. We live in Houston Texas and we’ve driven to Austin last year to be under dr devere.. there was no success there at all. We’ve flown to Washington DC twice in the past year( he’s not on our insurance either), but we have confidence that his therapy( treatment at dc and the medication he has my wife on ) will be sucessful!! Dr henkins has spent his life on this(50 years) and he’s very compassionate!! Do not give up, my wife had those days of mental depression many times. It’s hard to hear all the bad conclusions from doctors. Write back when you want! We are Christians and many prayers are being prayed for her. Also remember that patience is a must! Larry Elliott

Hi Marilyn – sorry to hear you’re suffering. I can’t say we have a ton of experience with this specific issue, but we can recommend a practitioner for you: https://healthygut.com/practitioners/

Hello – thanks for sharing and nice work!!

Hi Chris, Did you got better with Zinc?

It’s been over a year now, and only a little progress. I tried zinc for few months, but didn’t notice much improvement. I’ve adjusted to the changes, but it is still something I think about when selecting food. I try to choose foods with strong favors. I’d guess just small improvements over the past year. I’ve stared with the zinc again and will take for 6 months this time. Will update afterwards.

Hi Cindy -as Steve and Jordan like to say, you didn’t get sick overnight, and it’s unlikely for you to heal overnight! The best advice we can offer is to give the zinc a few weeks to work as you’ve noticed improvements after only one week (that is AWESOME!)

Hope this helps and you’re tasting and smelling much better very soon!

Hi Steve – thanks for sharing your story here!

We really hope the suggestions in this article help you. Please keep us posted!

Hi Di, we hope this information can help you. Please reach out if you have any questions or need support: support@scdlifestyle.com

This morning I’ve noticed my sense of smell has improved – I walked past a pine tree that I’ve passed hundreds of times – and I smelled a very faint but fragrant pine odor. I had never noticed that trees fragrance before today.

On a side note, I would like to point out, anyone who eats a lot of vegetables like me, is getting tons and tons of copper in their diet, so since zinc naturally reduced cooper (and therefore the effects of copper toxicity – see Weston A Price Foundation Copper-Zinc Imbalance: http://www.westonaprice.org/metabolic-disorders/copper-zinc-imbalance) I’m guessing it’s extremely healthy to take a zinc supplement!

Do you have a copy of the PDF? I recently got a copper-zinc blood test and scored normal despite a borderline positive pyroluria test and would like to know more regarding the accuracy of zinc tests.

@ Samy – Sure, I’d love to help out. So yes, I think the problem can be 2 – fold. There can be an actual restriction in the airways, usually from inflamed sinus that I believe are mostly triggered by poor food choices. However or in addition there is also the possibility of a spinal alignment aspect that you might want to check with a qualified chiropractor. And then there is the nutritional problem. Zinc can be easily depleted in our current society. If you don’t want to do supplements, the best food to eat once a week is oysters try that for 8 weeks straight once a week and let me know if it helps.

As I’ve healed and lowered my inflammation levels, supplemented with zinc my smelling has been back and for the most part better than ever.

@ Jeff – I think it’s a great supplement if you have leaky gut or have a zinc deficiency. If your going to use it make sure to monitor your zinc levels either using serum zinc levels or the zinc talley taste test. You might think about taking some copper with it to balance it out.

There seems to be a lot of research especially from Japan about that combo.

I have had a lot of success with Bitters, Betaine HCL, Digestive Enzymes, and Probiotics thanks to you guys and Chris Kresser. Wondering if Zinc-Carnosine would fit into the list of supplements that can help digestion and healing the gut?

During my research I did find that copper and iron levels or functions can be affected through zinc supplementation (the links are in the post above). However I think its important to point out the one study was using daily dosages of 150-450 mg or zinc and the other was a long term study in excess of 10 weeks of supplementing with zinc. The plan I outline above is only a short term supplementation plan of zinc to refresh any body storage issues (3-6 weeks). If copper absorption does concern the individual it would be wise to then supplement with 2-4mg of copper a day during zinc supplementation (my multivitamin from GI Pro Health contains 2mg of copper).

Some people may need long term supplementation of zinc at which point consulting with a doctor to make sure copper and iron levels stay healthy is the best idea.