With my usual winter cold this year, I lost both my sense of taste and smell. I worry that this may be due to my age (70) and would appreciate your advice.
It is possible to taste only four flavours—sweet, sour, salty and bitter. Our ability to smell is far more important, and the smell of the food in our mouth is most of what we perceive as taste.
The cells which sense smell are covered in fine, microscopic hairs and are situated at the top of the nasal cavity at a level that is just below our eyebrows. These nerves send appropriate signals into the brain.
When you have a cold, thick mucus may cover the fine hairs and prevent them from reacting to the odours in both the environment and the mouth. As a result, you perceive that you have lost your sense of taste, when in fact it is smell.
In most cases, the problem disappears as the cold resolves, but if there has been a severe bacterial infection of the nose, the smell cells may be damaged, and the sense of smell will not return until these cells are able to repair themselves.
To prove what I am telling you, next time you feel that you have lost your sense of taste, with your eyes closed have someone put a crystal of sugar and then salt on your tongue—you’ll immediately be able to tell which is which!

I have suffered for many months with a failure of the sense of taste and cannot distinguish one type of food from another. I am 88 years old and am wondering if this problem is due to old age or illness.
A wide range of conditions can cause a loss of taste. These include lead poisoning, a lack of saliva causing a dry mouth, an underactive thyroid gland, some forms of stroke, a condition called Sjogren’s syndrome and numerous rarer conditions.
In older people a dry mouth is a common cause of poor taste sensation.
You should get your general practitioner to give you a thorough going over to exclude any illness as a cause of your problem. If nothing specific is found, old age may have to be blamed.

My sinuses are always full of gunk, that is absolutely foul. None of the medicines I have been prescribed work. I am absolutely fed up with having a thick head. What type of surgery could be done for my sinuses?
An antrostomy and turbinectomy is the technical name for an operation that involves drilling additional drain holes from the nose into the sinuses, and removing the curly bones (turbinates—look like a turban) that are inside your nose.
People who have recurrent attacks of sinusitis often have small or poorly placed drainage holes from the sinuses, allowing them to fill up with foul phlegm. The turbinates are covered with a moist skin that is designed to warm and moisten the air as it enters the body, but these can swell up excessively to block the nose and the sinus drain holes. There are three turbinate bones in the top of each nostril, and normally only one or two are removed.
The operation is done under general anaesthetic, has no serious complications and is often very successful in giving relief to sinus sufferers. Ask your GP to refer you to an ear, nose and throat specialist, who will consider your problem, and its possible surgical solution.

I suffer from chronic sinusitis. My face is one big ache. I can’t breathe, and feel absolutely lousy. I need help before I go mad!
Chronic sinus infections are best prevented rather than treated. This can be done by the regular use of chemist medications to dry up excess nasal and sinus secretions. If these are not sufficient, more potent medications can be prescribed by your doctor. There are also prescription nasal sprays that will keep your nose clear and aid sinus drainage. Some people may require low-dose antibiotics on a regular basis if they are particularly bad.
Operations to improve the drainage of the sinuses and remove the phlegm-secreting lining of the nose are the best option in those who have suffered repeatedly over several years. Once a sinus infection is present, antibiotics are essential. The congestion in the sinuses may also be relieved by physiotherapists using short-wave treatment to liquefy solid phlegm, or by doctors washing out the sinuses.