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Some coronavirus patients haven't gotten their senses of smell or taste back yet

wsj.com

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Re: Some coronavirus patients haven't gotten their senses of smell or taste back yet

#101

Post by jacquesm »

billpollock wrote: post #80
bashinator wrote: post #9

I lost my sense of taste a few years ago, from a combination of extreme stress and the flu. Lasted about a week, and it was utterly terrifying. I first noticed it when I tried to eat, iirc scrambled eggs, and couldn't stop gagging on the texture. Once I figured out what was going on, it took a couple days to figure out what I could eat without retching. I ended up being entirely vegetarian - meat without taste is a h…

I lost most of my sense of smell a few years ago. I've lost much of my ability to differentiate tastes as well. As a former supertaster, lover of bourbon (I used to be able to tell my bourbons apart by smell), serious cook, and total foodie this has been the most depressing experience in my life. Think about the experience that you have when you walk from one room to another, or into a field of flowers. I can't smell…

> Smell is memory.

Yes, definitely! It also tends to jog other memories from long ago, things that you had otherwise forgotten can suddenly be brought forward by the right smell.

Re: Some coronavirus patients haven't gotten their senses of smell or taste back yet

#102

Post by bryanrasmussen »

This is actually why I just posted this https://gizmodo.com/this-lickable-screen-can-recreate-almost... "This Lickable Screen Can Recreate Almost Any Taste or Flavor Without Eating Food"

I wonder if the process outlined could be used in therapy to bring back taste.

Re: Some coronavirus patients haven't gotten their senses of smell or taste back yet

#104

Post by azinman2 »

Mikeb85 wrote: post #69
macintux wrote: post #3

So much emphasis is placed on the fatality rate, but there’s a lot of middle ground between asymptomatic and dead.

This. I had it. Literally every symptom except loss of taste and smell (but had some other rarer symptoms like the pink eye thing). Also had a cough for like a month, and loss of energy and breath for about a month and a half. Only just recently feel 100%. While it was shitty and lingered a while the worst of it wasn't actually that much worse than a flu for me. Somewhere between the flu and bronchitis on the scale o…

How do you think you got it?

Re: Some coronavirus patients haven't gotten their senses of smell or taste back yet

#105

Post by jansan »

disillusioned wrote: post #93

I had Covid-19 (confirmed antibodies test, wife had confirmed PCR) in early March. Lost my sense of smell and taste _completely_, almost immediately. I've lost some smell before with bad allergies or a congested nose. This was otherworldly: no smell, at all. Not solvents. Not strong fragrances. Nothing. And this, with a perfectly clear nose. It freaked me out. It lasted for about 2.5 weeks. Around week 3, it started…

Did you have no sense of taste at all? I had to live with almost no sense of smell for about 20 years, but I could taste sweet and salty. So if you put a spoon of sugar in your mouth, there was no sense of sweetness at all? If so, that would really be a next level experience.

Re: Some coronavirus patients haven't gotten their senses of smell or taste back yet

#106

Post by gambiting »

The thing that people don't realise with virus infections is that it can mess you up for a long time, even if it's not lethal. I've had a human parvovirus B19 infection last year(apparently it's incredibly rare in adults, but hey ho), and yeah, I felt like absolute shit for about 2 months, really high fevers, no appetite, basically like a very bad flu that lasted nearly 2 months, but then once it finally went away, I started having massive issues with my joins, widespread inflammation of knees, elbows, shoulders, fingers - like a bad case of arthritis. Was told by rheumatologists that it's a relatively common thing to happen after virus infections, since your own immune system was in high gear after the virus, so now it attacks your own joints instead. Unfortunately it doesn't really have a cure as such, I was given a few steroid injections that settled it down for now but it's still not 100% fine. Or I can go on a long term(1-2 years at least) treatment with methotrexate, but that has a whole lot of its own side effects as well so I'm not very keen.

So yeah, virus infections SUCK, even if they don't kill you.

Re: Some coronavirus patients haven't gotten their senses of smell or taste back yet

#107

Post by Mikeb85 »

azinman2 wrote: post #104
Mikeb85 wrote: post #69

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This. I had it. Literally every symptom except loss of taste and smell (but had some other rarer symptoms like the pink eye thing). Also had a cough for like a month, and loss of energy and breath for about a month and a half. Only just recently feel 100%. While it was shitty and lingered a while the worst of it wasn't actually that much worse than a flu for me. Somewhere between the flu and bronchitis on the scale o…

How do you think you got it?

Working in a tourist town, in the hospitality industry (I frequent this site since I did some CS related stuff for my degree years ago but hospitality is my first love).

I got it around the last week of February, before any travel restrictions in Canada. We get (or got) tons of tourists from both Asia and Europe.

Re: Some coronavirus patients haven't gotten their senses of smell or taste back yet

#108

Post by foldr »

disillusioned wrote: post #93

I had Covid-19 (confirmed antibodies test, wife had confirmed PCR) in early March. Lost my sense of smell and taste _completely_, almost immediately. I've lost some smell before with bad allergies or a congested nose. This was otherworldly: no smell, at all. Not solvents. Not strong fragrances. Nothing. And this, with a perfectly clear nose. It freaked me out. It lasted for about 2.5 weeks. Around week 3, it started…

Pretty much exactly the same thing happened to me. I had a very mild case of suspected Covid-19 (no fever or cough). However, I was mildly fatigued for weeks afterwards, and my sense of smell, though it has returned, is still not at 100%. As you say, the freaky thing about it is that you really lose your sense of smell completely. It's quite different to the experience you have with a cold or a stuffed up nose.

Re: Some coronavirus patients haven't gotten their senses of smell or taste back yet

#109

Post by bennyelv »

jansan wrote: post #105
disillusioned wrote: post #93

I had Covid-19 (confirmed antibodies test, wife had confirmed PCR) in early March. Lost my sense of smell and taste _completely_, almost immediately. I've lost some smell before with bad allergies or a congested nose. This was otherworldly: no smell, at all. Not solvents. Not strong fragrances. Nothing. And this, with a perfectly clear nose. It freaked me out. It lasted for about 2.5 weeks. Around week 3, it started…

Did you have no sense of taste at all? I had to live with almost no sense of smell for about 20 years, but I could taste sweet and salty. So if you put a spoon of sugar in your mouth, there was no sense of sweetness at all? If so, that would really be a next level experience.

Interested to know how that happened! I've got a neurological condition (MS) that one time meant that sweet tasted bitter, but only on one side of my tongue. It wasn't a pleasant experience, but thankfully it only lasted a couple of weeks before improving and eventually returning to normal (for now).

Re: Some coronavirus patients haven't gotten their senses of smell or taste back yet

#110

Post by m0xte »

disillusioned wrote: post #93

I had Covid-19 (confirmed antibodies test, wife had confirmed PCR) in early March. Lost my sense of smell and taste _completely_, almost immediately. I've lost some smell before with bad allergies or a congested nose. This was otherworldly: no smell, at all. Not solvents. Not strong fragrances. Nothing. And this, with a perfectly clear nose. It freaked me out. It lasted for about 2.5 weeks. Around week 3, it started…

Same here. Recovered approx 6 weeks ago and coffee only just tastes reasonable again. My eating habits have changed in the recovery time. Probably for the better!
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