Losing Taste and Smell

[Rianne]

My niece (22 yrs. old) recently, a couple of days ago, tested positive. She ignored a few of the early symptoms after a Thanksgiving trip to Fort Lauderdale with 10 other members of my family. We're waiting to see how if they were infected. We did not go and remain somewhat isolated.

She apparently has "mild" symptoms...fatigue, brain fog, cough. She said she can't think clearly. She put a tsp of pepper on her tongue and could not taste it. She said things that used to smell good, smell kind of disgusting. Like mold or mildew.

I immediately started researching and found several articles about this. The most alarming but not conclusive is approx. 75% mild symptom, loss of smell Covid patients have not regained those senses. The smells and tastes are not normal after months and some regain sort of taste and smell but the things they're smelling are not the same smells. They are somewhat disgusting.

The smell of coffee, peanut butter, baked goods, freshly laundered sheets and clothes, flowers, OMG this is awful. Many of these positive "mild symptom" patients have no appetite and find it a chore to eat. I won't link all the articles, you can google them.

 

[pacergal]

So sorry your niece has Covid, hopefully the other 10 members of your family do not test positive.
Yes, loss of taste and smell go along with the neurological disorders that can remain or take months to resolve.
My friend is 6 months post covid, still has brain fog, difficulty finding words. She is working, but finding it more difficult.

 

[Rianne]

So sorry your niece has Covid, hopefully the other 10 members of your family do not test positive.
Yes, loss of taste and smell go along with the neurological disorders that can remain or take months to resolve.
My friend is 6 months post covid, still has brain fog, difficulty finding words. She is working, but finding it more difficult.

Thank you. Among the other family members who refused to take the advice of medical professionals: An 85 yr old grandmother, my DSI with heart issues, my DB with ongoing bronchitis issues, 4 young nieces and nephews, one of which has Type 1 diabetes. The others, overweight. They were planning Christmas celebrations. Surprise, all canceled! I don't mean to be glib. I am just sad.

 

[mountainsoft]

My cousin, her husband, and her daughter recently tested positive for COVID and are all having the loss of taste symptoms. She said it kind of ruined Thanksgiving not being able to taste or smell anything. Otherwise they seem to be doing okay.

My mom's assisted living has six positive testing residents now, and two have experienced the loss of taste. So far my mom is still testing negative.

I lost my sense of taste for a couple of days earlier this summer. With everything going on I was worried I may have caught COVID. Thankfully, my sense of taste returned a couple days later. I recently had a COVID antibody test that came back negative, so I have no idea what caused my loss of taste. I had no other symptoms so I'm still curious what that was all about.

 

[Nemo2]

Yes, loss of taste and smell go along with the neurological disorders that can remain or take months to resolve.

From my, (albeit limited), personal experience with sepsis, (although I didn't lose the taste/smell senses), disruption of 'normal operations' can be exacerbated by 'system upsets'.

For example: I'm a big, (natural, crunchy), peanut butter fan......couldn't bear the taste/smell of it for maybe five or six months after getting out of hospital....then 'regular service' resumed.

OTOH...while in hospital I developed a craving for Jamaican Ginger Beer.....DW bought a six pack to the room. Some eighteen months later there's still one bottle sitting in the fridge, and every time I look at it I think "I really should throw that out because I'm never going to drink it".

One's body is on 'tilt' until equilibrium is restored.....how long that takes...¡Quién sabe!

 

[Time2]

I go for a 4 mile walk 4 or 5 days a week. It has become a pleasure when I pass a Fridays and smell their exhaust fan fumes, then I pass a Chik-fil-A and smell their chicken cooking. When the wind is right I smell an Outback restaurant and a McDonalds.
What I don't like is that when I don't see anyone, but I can still smell perfume or cigarette smoke, makes me wonder, if I can smell that, is there also virus in the air.
Anyway it is a pleasure when I smell the local restaurants.

 

[MRG]

Sorry for your niece hopefully this clears up.

DW and I had something in April that now sounds like Covid-19, but there were no tests in our area then. We tried to say we had a cold except our symptoms; headaches, body aches, exhaustion, loss of taste and smell, weren't exactly cold like. At the time they weren't Covid-19 symptoms either, they were added around the end of April.

The loss of taste and smell wasn't noticeable at first(probably because we thought it was a cold, right) , a few day's later when I was eating oatmeal with berries and bananas I realized it "tasted" just like eating cardboard. No taste, or smell just chewing stuff. I realized when my senses returned how much I'd missed them. For us the return was like a switch was thrown.

One thing that I thought was very unusual was DW's reaction. She had said she was well after the first week and we took a mile walk. After two days of walking she'd feel exhausted and go to bed for the next five days. This cycle continued throughout the month of April.

 

[Amethyst]

When I was 25, many years ago, I lost my senses of taste and smell during a bad cold. After the cold cleared up, the loss of taste and smell remained. A neurologist, who tested me for a possible brain tumor, said that some viruses attack the sensory nerves - he felt I got off easy, as I could have lost my hearing instead.
He estimated I had about 30% of the normal amount of olfactory sense,and said I'd adapt.

Taste and smell, to me, are like listening to a song with the volume turned way, way, down. I can tell one food from another, and whether the food is good quality. I can smell well enough to know if food has spoiled or clothes need washing. However, I have no way of knowing if I put on too much perfume or if my house has a funny smell - things other people notice, but would never tell me. To compensate, I rarely wear perfume and I clean a lot.

I hope your niece's senses return completely, but if not, you can rest assured it's possible to live a full life without those particular senses. You just have to make up your mind to adapt.

 

[harllee]

A few years ago DH had a bad bout of flu and lost his sense of smell, taste and hearing. I know the experts say you don't lose these senses with the flu but a small percentage of people do. DH's hearing came back pretty fast but he still has tinnitus. His sense of smell and taste took along time to come back. One specialist he went to suggested eating things with sharp taste (like vinegar) to help get the sense of smell and taste back. One day he tasted a spoonful of vinegar and he could taste and smell it--he then started getting better and now his last and smell are OK.

 

[Amethyst]

In my case, the reduced taste and smell were permanent. I can walk into a room, notice an unpleasant odor, forget about it, and then other people walk in and start shrieking and gagging. That's how I know it never really got better

A few years ago DH had a bad bout of flu and lost his sense of smell, taste and hearing. I know the experts say you don't lose these senses with the flu but a small percentage of people do. DH's hearing came back pretty fast but he still has tinnitus. His sense of smell and taste took along time to come back. One specialist he went to suggested eating things with sharp taste (like vinegar) to help get the sense of smell and taste back. One day he tasted a spoonful of vinegar and he could taste and smell it--he then started getting better and now his last and smell are OK.

 

[MissMolly]

My son had Covid earlier this year (tested positive) and had lost his sense of taste and smell. He said it was 100% gone and that eating was just like chewing cardboard (as MRG said. You feel texture, but zero taste). Fortunately both sense returned after several days. Slowly at first and now seemingly back to normal. Hopefully your niece will be as lucky.

 

[MRG]

In my case, the reduced taste and smell were permanent. I can walk into a room, notice an unpleasant odor, forget about it, and then other people walk in and start shrieking and gagging. That's how I know it never really got better

I lose certain smells that I'm frequently around. I spent six years in a walnut sawmill, I can't smell walnut for my life now. We have hot springs in town, lost that smell too. I also can't smell the stuff in propane/natural gas. Someone on this forum suggested a detctor for nat gas; we would have blown up without it.

 

[Ronstar]

SIL and BIL are recovering from Covid. They lost taste and smell. They both started symptoms about 3 weeks ago. Energy is still very low, taking naps up to 3 hrs. Sense of taste has returned but not yet smell. Doc said symptoms would linger 3-4 weeks. Hope your niece breezes through this.

 

[FIREd]

My mother says that she didn't lose taste and smell when she got COVID in late October. But I noticed that her appetite is not what it used to be and she's struggling to regain the weight that she lost. In addition, she still experiences sudden episodes of fatigue during the day. Her blood work also still show nutritional deficiencies.

 

[Montecfo]

I lose certain smells that I'm frequently around. I spent six years in a walnut sawmill, I can't smell walnut for my life now. We have hot springs in town, lost that smell too. I also can't smell the stuff in propane/natural gas. Someone on this forum suggested a detctor for nat gas; we would have blown up without it.

This is a known thing. Our sense of smell "tires". Notice those Fabreze commercials about "nose blindness".

Can't always trust your sense of smell.

 

[bobbyr]

I had two very odd side effects:

1. About 3 or 4 days into it, I had intense taste of cigarettes. I haven't smoked in 30 years

2. The last 10 days or so, ever since I got home from hospital, the bottoms of my feet have been really hot...I think that side effect is easing up now, but very weird.

 

[CindyBlue]

I just lost my sense of smell today (basic background from another thread: my hubby tested positive last week, I tested negative, but about four days ago i stated having cold symptoms and now this.)

I have scheduled another covid test for tomorrow...sigh...

It sure is weird. My favorite perfumes are just not there, according to my nose.

But I can still taste things - I can still taste salt (potato chips) and sweets (Oreos) (I might as well taste-test the junk food (grin!)) but it's a diminished sense of the taste, not full taste.