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For some reason, this seems like the right thread with the right people to offer some opinions on my “condition,” which I will describe, but try to be brief.

About 17 years ago I started having allergies which are year round. I’ve had allergy tests and while I am allergic to quite a few things, it’s hard to explain the year-round nature of it. I’ve lived in several different houses and it’s not the house. Anyway, I take loratadine (an antihistamine) which does work. My issue is that I seem to have chronic rhinitis, or inflammation of the nasal passages. The weird thing is I can easily breath through my nose; it’s not clogged, no mucus, etc. I wouldn’t care except that I have essentially no sense of smell (no, it’s not Covid). I can only smell things, generally, if I work out or do something strenuous outside, and then all of the sudden I can smell things again. I think this is due to the nasal passages opening more than normal. This brief return of the sense of smell goes away after about an hour, though. I said “generally” above, because about one day out of the month, for no reason at all, I will wake up and be able to smell pretty much the whole day. It’s like the inflammation lets up just enough.

So, I’ve tried the neti pot, I’ve tried a few different essential oils in spray form, I’ve tried Nasacort, Flonase, Afrin. Nothing really works. So, I’m open to ideas to get my sense of smell back. Thanks in advance.