Sorry for this long post.. but it’s not a light matter to me and just throwing down the fact and what has happened to hear any feedback that may be good for me..

In December I visited my doctor due to a persistent dry cough that kept me awake all night. She listened to my breathing and said everything sounded good and sent me away saying it would go away on its own. I returned again in January when my cough hadn’t cleared, in fact had worsened. This time she did the same and came to the same conclusion that nothing was wrong with my chest and said she didn’t know what the cause was but came up with 3 possible reasons, one a nasal drip, another asthma related and the other was acid reflux. She then gave me 3 different prescriptions to treat each one and told me to try the one by one giving each one about 3-4 weeks to see if they helped before moving onto the next.

I tried the first one, fluticasone propionate, I used it as instructed and for 3 weeks before stopping since it was not helping. I then waited a week before thinking about trying the next option which was an inhaler called Flixotide. I was told this Flixotide inhaler would take 7 days to have any effect however I am 3 days in and I have had my first nights sleep without coughing so great news.

But.. during this 1 week break between medications I noticed that my sense of smell had gone.. well, in fact I hadn’t realised this immediately only making mental notes and comments to my partner about how certain food stuffs I was handling had no smell to them (i.e. lavender, rosemary).. she didn’t take too much attention to this until at the weekend there were a supposed very pungent bad smell in the back garden and I couldn’t smell it. It was then that it dawned on me that I wasn’t smelling correctly and started going round the garden and house smelling everything I could think of however nothing.. even the smell of balsamic vinegar that used to make me screw up my nose smelt of nothing.. oranges, bleach, coffee, perfume.. I can’t smell anything.

I began to get very worried and started googling and when I decided to look up the fluticasone propionate nose spray I had used (brand name in NZ is Flixonase or Flonase in the US) that I learnt that a known side effect to the medication is loss of smell.. and not temporary but often permanent. I read through lots of forums and press stories about how this medication has this terrible side effect yet is used by millions of people.. in fact it turns out GlaxoSmithKline has law suits against them suing them about this yet somehow they have managed to convert the drug to an OTC medication and even managed to remove the previous warning from about losing your smell from the packaging.

Anyhow.. back to my issue.. I read all this, got pretty upset and angry as I am thinking the worst that I have lost my sense of smell forever, and then go to look at the packaging of my NZ branded Flixonase.. no mention on it anywhere that this is a possible side effect. My doctor never mentioned anything about this either.. in fact all she did was give me these 3 prescriptions, wrote 1-2-3 on the tops to tell me in which order to take them and that was it.. no warning or anything.

I’m sitting here now still worried.. 10 days after stopping from taking this Flixonase and still no ability to smell anything.

I don’t know what to do, who do turn to or even who to blame.. should I even be looking to blame someone? Is it GSK’s fault for making this stuff? Is it the Medsafe for allowing its use in NZ? Is it my doctor for not providing me with any warnings? (although she would have had to have researched it online and not from the leaflet to know this). I really don’t know.

I phoned up my medical practice this morning and they have made me an appointment for Tuesday but they wouldn’t put me through to speak to my doctor or provide me any advice. I told my colleagues about this and they are horrified and saying I should be holding my doctor responsible but also saying I should not go back to them and to get a new GP to speak to.

If I was American I’m sure it would be simple.. sue them all in court.. but I’m not American and honestly don’t know what I should do.. I have lost one of my senses and it will (and perhaps already) have a knock on affect to my sense of taste since the two are so entwined. I don’t know if it is temporary and if it is how long for or if it will be permanent. It is causing me a lot of stress either way and although minor when compared to many other people I feel like I have a disability now. I had an excellent sense of smell and now I have nothing.. even if (and hopefully) this turn out to be temporary going through this experience is really not nice.