CAREGIVER SUPPORT

Patients Resources

If you live with someone or have a close relationship with a person diagnosed with smell and taste condition, it can be hard to understand what they’re feeling and sometimes difficult to recognize all the ways it’s affecting them. Since caregivers need all the help they can get, educating yourself and finding a strong support system should be essential parts of your plan.

There are things you can do to help them avoid smell and taste triggers, treat an existing smell and taste condition and cope with frustration and other negative feelings they may have as they try to find a balance between real life and their smell and taste condition.

Treatment Expectations

Because getting expert treatment is a critical first step in coping with existing smell and taste condition, the Smell and Taste Clinic is a smart choice. As the top smell and taste clinic in the U.S., you can rest assured your loved one or client will receive diagnosis, treatment and after-care that are second to none.

You should expect your loved one to have a thorough examination that includes complete analysis of medical history, lifestyle and current situation. This lengthy diagnostic session occurs on the first visit, and will be key to the long-term understanding of the existing smell and taste condition.

Treatment Support

You will play an integral role in the overall success of our approach. As a key influence in the patient’s life, they will call upon you frequently to listen and even answer important questions. We recommend the following points to help you give that support:

• Talk to them about specifics of their treatments. Listen for positive and negative feedback, and encourage them to share their satisfaction or concerns with their doctors.
• Encourage them to actively participate in their treatment.
• Make sure you understand the treatment plan as clearly as your loved one so you can help them properly complete its steps.

After-Care Support

Once a treatment plan has been executed, the patient’s condition is stabilized and they have moved forward to our after-care program, your role becomes more important than ever. We recommend the following ways to help them keep their condition under control:

• Educate yourself about their specific smell and taste condition. Don’t hesitate to ask us for detailed explanations about medical terms, diagnosis, medications and treatments you may not fully understand.

• Understand the triggers for their smell and taste, and help them recognize and avoid those triggers.

• Help them with their safety. With a dysfunctional sense of smell or taste, their food tastes different and they can find themselves in a dangerous situation, unknowingly. For example, there would not be able to detect spoiled food. Without the ability to detect odors, they wouldn’t able to smell a gas leak, or smoke from a fire.

• Support them in eating a well-balanced diet. Constructing a comprehensive dietary plan that will support their health on multiple levels.

• Involve yourself with tips that are known that can boost their sense of smell. It has been shown that exercise helps in the improvement of sense of smell. Exercising even one time a week reduces the risk of losing your sense of smell. Becoming scent conscious: Making a point to smell their food before they eat it, and let them notice the scent of flowers, cut grass, or even rain. Doing this regularly will help increase their sense of smell. Implementing “sniff therapy”: Choose three or four different scents, such as floral, fruity, and coffee. Sniff them four to six times a day, which will help the different receptors in their nose to work better.

Patients Resources