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

Post by brianwawok » Tue, Jun 02, 2020, 12:37 PM UTC

meowface wrote: post #140

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…

Suspected case here with similar symptoms a few months ago. Eating felt so weird . It's really just sad and bizarre, like your brain is almost reflexively telling you you're eating something inedible because you're not getting the taste and smell feedback of "this is food". I was so relieved when both senses started gradually coming back.

Post by irq11 » Tue, Jun 02, 2020, 12:46 PM UTC

macintux wrote: post #42

irq11 wrote: post #38

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This is the same middle ground that exists for every other cold and flu, every single year. Anosmia is a common side effect of a variety of illnesses, and in the vast majority of cases, it resolves on its own. But this fact doesn’t make good headlines.

Indeed, but there is no shortage of evidence that this disease is more damaging than the flu. https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2020-05-12/covid-19-... > “These data demonstrated that the recovered SARS patients had a poor quality of life 12 years following recovery, and were susceptible to inflammation, tumors, and glucose and lipid metabolic disorders,” researchers wrote.

Post by gpderetta » Tue, Jun 02, 2020, 12:55 PM UTC

jacquesm wrote: post #101

billpollock wrote: post #80

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

Post by Lewton » Tue, Jun 02, 2020, 12:58 PM UTC

irq11 wrote: post #144

macintux wrote: post #42

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Indeed, but there is no shortage of evidence that this disease is more damaging than the flu. https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2020-05-12/covid-19-... > “These data demonstrated that the recovered SARS patients had a poor quality of life 12 years following recovery, and were susceptible to inflammation, tumors, and glucose and lipid metabolic disorders,” researchers wrote.

I wasn’t making a broad comparison to the flu. But if I were, I’d cite the most recent CDC numbers, which put the overall fatality rates somewhere around 3-4x worse than the flu, in the expected case: https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/hcp/planning-scena... Yes, this virus is worse than the flu. But not nearly to the extent being portrayed by the OP. All illnesses have long-term sequelae. (Also, since you’re r…

Post by williamxd3 » Tue, Jun 02, 2020, 1:06 PM UTC

theonemind wrote: post #4

Interestingly, not exactly COVID-19 related, people that lose their sense of taste return to eating normally, but people that lose a sense of feel in their mouth never seem to fully recover their appetite. I mean, not to say I want to lose my sense of taste, just that losing feel in your mouth seems probably worse.