A mum has revealed her distressing battle after everything she ate tasted and smelled like “rotting bodies” and it was due to a bizarre pregnancy condition that affects millions.
When Bella Davis fell pregnant at just 17, she faced an onslaught of judgement, backlash and hatred.
Despite this, however, she and her partner, Reason Robison, 23, went on to have two more children – all before the age of 20.
But the opinions of others wasn’t the only thing the 21-year-old was battling at the time.
She was dealing with a disorder which distorted her sense of smell, and, as a result, her tastebuds.
And it left Bella refusing most foods as it tasted like “dead people”.
In a clip, which has racked up 3.7m views and over 454,000 likes, she reveals her first taste test of Taco Bell after five years.
“I’m not even exaggerating when I say everything smelled and tasted like what you would imagine rotting bodies to smell or taste like,” the content creator told Need To Know.
“Over the years, some smells would change.
“Cigarettes smelled like rotten peanut butter for example.
“Anything with onion, garlic and meat was an absolute no go.
“Other things were somewhat tolerable; but never tasted normal.
“It was always a chore to eat.
“I had to plug my nose and swallow 12 hard boiled eggs a day during my third pregnancy just to get by.
“It was brutal.”
Bella’s symptoms developed shortly after falling pregnant with her eldest, Polaris Bear, three.
For the first few months, she was unable to even drink water and went three months without a single bite of food; surviving on an IV.
After giving birth, her sense of smell and taste improved – but then she fell pregnant again with Centauri Sol, two.
The battle repeated itself again, and only worsened, when expecting Slade Clay, 11 months.
She said: “I was devastated and it really discouraged me for so long.
“It was embarrassing and messed with my quality of life.
“I got by because I always thought it’d go away – but it never did.
“I started to accept this was my life forever.”
Bella, from Utah, US, was unable to go near candles, soap, deodorant, perfume and anything with a strong smell.
Her diagnosis with parosmia in January 2022 resulted in suffering with reactive hypoglycaemia – low blood sugar – and anaemia.
It quickly started to affect her ability to parent.
Bella said: “I had to leave the room and lock myself in the bedroom with vents closed when my family made foods I couldn’t stomach to be around.
“It would make me stay away from the house for days afterwards.
“I felt like I was burden.
“I couldn’t do enough for my kids when it came to food and I hated them seeing me sick all the time.”
Proposed treatment included smell treatment – which involves injecting anaesthetic into nerves found at the bottom of the neck to ‘reset’ the sympathetic nervous system – and came at a $2,000 cost.
Sadly, it didn’t work.
Bella turned to God and prayed for a cure.
When she started to accept her new reality, she claims that almost overnight, six months ago, it went away entirely.
Now, she’s able to eat anything and everything, including burgers and her aforementioned meal at Taco Bell.
She said: “I can’t explain my cure any other way than it being God.
“It felt like once I truly let go, and made peace with it, something changed instantly.
“I felt a rush when I bit into a burger.
“I had a rush of chills for how normal it tasted.
“I ate the entire thing and had to get another one – it was euphoric.
“I still can’t believe that I can eat food normally again.
“If things start to taste or smell different – not just a bit weird, but completely altered – then seek advice.”
Bella previously revealed her message to people who think her life is over after giving birth young.
She added: “I feel we are far more mature at our age than others.
“Plus, our kids will all be grown while we are still young.”
