What causes temporary anosmia with a metallic taste?

[Scott4]

I’ve been having these episodes where I lose my sense of smell completely for a day or two, and it’s starting to worry me. It happened again last week, and along with it came a strange, persistent metallic taste that made eating anything really unpleasant. Has anyone else experienced this kind of temporary anosmia without an obvious cause like a cold or sinus infection?

[James_M]

I’ve had something similar a couple of times. No cold around, just suddenly I couldn’t detect smells for a day or two and everything tasted metallic when I ate. It felt eerie, but it cleared up on its own after about a day or two, and I didn’t chase tests because it vanished quickly and I was busy.

[StevenCR]

A friend of mine had the same thing after several dry days in winter. No infection, just this strange drop in smell and a metallic bite to food for a bit. We tried a humidifier and rinsing with saline once, but it didn’t reliably change anything.

[TylerH]

I kept a tiny log for a month: dates, what I ate, meds, sleep, and whether the air felt dry. The only pattern was nothing consistent: sometimes it showed up after a long day indoors, sometimes without any obvious trigger.

[Alexander.M]

Do you think this is the core issue here or could something else be at play like a medication side effect or a migraine?