What is Reddit's opinion of 50 Pieces Nose Filters for Spray Tanning, Elera Disposable Plugs Supplies for Spray Tanning Nose Protection Allergen Blocker (Black)?

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I'm going in full costume with custom printed 3D stillsuit mask, and a nose filter (actual black nose filter plugs you can breath through on Amazon, just velcro some thin black tube to it).

So I should be pretty well covered, heh.

You can get breathable nose plugs on Amazon. Just be sure to use one in each nostril and rip the piece that connects them off. It causes a stain and browns that area of the nose. This way you don’t breathe in the spray yet can breathe through your nose.

I don't seem to have parosmia as bad as a lot of people around here, but I never really got my sense of smell/taste back post-covid so I'm guessing that's probably part of it. Meat (especially chicken) and eggs are my main problem smells/tastes, so I've mostly switched to plant-based alternatives which have generally been working well for me. I can't really taste anything with them, but they're at least not distorted like the real stuff, and hot sauce makes up for the lack of flavor. Things like soaps and detergents are also off, but I can deal with that. They tend to be kind of burnt or vinegary to me when they're distorted.

Smells from other people's meals can be an issue though, especially in restaurants, so if it's really bad I use nose filters like these to help block it, nose clips work better but they're more obvious and uncomfortable. Recently I've been testing out an air purifier in my kitchen and that does seem to help as well. If I absolutely need a break, I'd still much rather be outside with rancid fresh air than inside with cooking chicken though! I just can't deal with both smells at once lol.

Maybe an air purifier would make a difference? Haven't gotten around to seriously testing it out myself, but I'd imagine it would help control odors if you're able to keep one running in the kitchen.

I've been using nostril filters like these when smells are unavoidable and I want to be more discreet in dealing with them (compared to something like actual nose clips). They don't completely block out smells, but maybe they'd block whatever is managing to get through your mask. Definitely not an ideal solution though.

>But does anyone else struggle with foods changing from okay to rotten halfway through?

Yes! This is basically my only experience with parosmia now since I more or less figured out my most common trigger foods (meat and eggs), but every now and then a new one will manifest to shake things up. Most recently it was pickles in a wrap from one specific restaurant, after eating maybe a third of it, it went from having no taste whatsoever to gradually tasting overwhelmingly like wet dog. I switched to mostly plant-based foods early on which has been working really well for me but some ingredients have been intermittently bad, sometimes it's enough to pick them out or eat around them, but the pickles completely ruined that specific wrap the last two times I tried it. Figuring out which common ingredients are bad for you can help you plan out safe meals and cut down on waste. A lot of people with parosmia have issues with garlic, onion, meat, and eggs. I've found that even a little bit of chicken stock in a recipe is enough to ruin the entire dish, and at its worst eggs in baked goods had the same effect so now I substitute them out where I can. Cilantro abruptly got terrible for me as well.

>Can anyone else "taste" their mouth? My mouth just constantly tastes like mildew. I know it's not a dental hygiene issue, but this is annoying...

I had a constant burnt flavor in the back of my throat for maybe seven or eight months, nothing got rid of it. It was the exact same flavor that I get from peanut butter (which is distorted). It faded to the background in the last few weeks and seems to mostly be gone now (or I just don't notice it anymore).

>Has anyone else experienced some typically mild/bad smells have become somewhat better?

I mostly can't smell/taste anything (unless it's distorted), so when I do pick up on something that isn't terrible it's like its the best thing ever, even if it shouldn't be. My cat peed on a chair (couldn't smell it) and what the rest of my family described as a heavily perfumed enzyme spray to me smelled like a donut shop. It was a subtle, ambient smell that was kind of sweet, with some underlying bitterness. Super weird, and hard to explain! Rough week for me while it aired out, since I can't taste coffee or donuts.

>Last one I think - did anyone experience a slow buildup to this?

For me, I hadn't recovered any of my sense of smell/taste when I started developing parosmia. For the first few weeks it was *only* outside air that I smelled, and it was like rancid vanilla frosting and bile. If I stayed outside for prolonged periods of time it would get stronger the longer I was out, and I'd start to taste it in the back of my throat. I didn't realize it was parosmia until a few weeks later when I cracked an egg and the room completely filled up with that exact same smell (and then I had to crack a second egg just to make sure). Shortly after that my toothpaste went bad, like a combination of cigarette smoke and gasoline. Then it started building from there.

Also a general tip: if you're eating something that's distorted you can wear swimming nose clips to block the smell/flavor while you eat or drink. Just make sure to wait a few minutes and rinse your mouth/brush your teeth, otherwise you'll still taste it once you take the clips off. Might be enough to help you salvage distorted food. To be more discreet I sometimes use nose filters. They don't completely block smells, but for me they do seem to dampen them a lot. They're more comfortable and less obvious than nose clips. You can also try putting a little Vicks under your nose, and wearing a mask over it might help as well.