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New pill helps Covid smell and taste loss fade quickly

nature.com

31–40 of 154 posts

Re: New pill helps Covid smell and taste loss fade quickly

#32
post #2

I've now had Covid 3 x times. The first time I had incredible taste and smell loss, taking in excess of 4-5 months to recover, perhaps not even fully. The other times, I had no loss of taste or smell. I do wonder why it only impacted me the first time. Different Covid variant, or something biologically changed in me, causing it to impact me differently?

It's weird how different it goes for each person. My little family got it the summer of 22 (tested positive too) and while I felt like flu for about a week, my wife was completely out for two days with very high fever then nothing, and the daughter only lost smell and taste for two weeks.

Re: New pill helps Covid smell and taste loss fade quickly

#33
post #28

Have there been studies on the potential advantages of loss of smell and/or taste from COVID-19? Westerners are too obese, and presumably part of that's to do with the enjoyment people get from unhealthy foods. Whereas if you can't taste anything food's basically differently textured fuel of varying temperatures. You'd have to desire to eat e.g. yogurt with added sugar over one without.

Probably controversial but I did lose a ton of weight before my sense of smell and taste came back from COVID. Part of me wondered whether it would've been better for my long term physical health to have that sense of taste stay gone...on the flip side, my mental health would've suffered greatly. Food is such an amazing way to experience the world and other cultures.

Re: New pill helps Covid smell and taste loss fade quickly

#34
post #2

I've now had Covid 3 x times. The first time I had incredible taste and smell loss, taking in excess of 4-5 months to recover, perhaps not even fully. The other times, I had no loss of taste or smell. I do wonder why it only impacted me the first time. Different Covid variant, or something biologically changed in me, causing it to impact me differently?

Likely your body had built up immunity. It's unclear if later strains had less of an effect on taste or people were just better prepared.

Can we get that data from China's experience after dropping the zero-COVID policy in Dec 2022?

If I understand correctly, at that time, only a tiny slice of the population had been exposed to previous COVID variants, and something like 80% has since gotten it. It looks like the vaccination rate was something like 90% at the time, but that should still be a pretty large naive population to look at, of people who were exposed to Omicron & later with no original/Delta exposure.

Re: New pill helps Covid smell and taste loss fade quickly

#35
post #2

I've now had Covid 3 x times. The first time I had incredible taste and smell loss, taking in excess of 4-5 months to recover, perhaps not even fully. The other times, I had no loss of taste or smell. I do wonder why it only impacted me the first time. Different Covid variant, or something biologically changed in me, causing it to impact me differently?

I've been buying "test bags" of mandarins every 4 months or so since I contracted it for a second time around Christmas 2021. Yesterday was the first time that I was able to taste any of the background notes you would normally associate with orange flavors. Before it was like just taking a concentrated spray of orange oil to the mouth. I was so excited I ended up eating half the bag, lol.

I mean, that's also to do with seasonality. Citrus is horrible outside of winter. I recently started noticing the oranges starting to taste much better, but that's the same as every year around now.

Re: New pill helps Covid smell and taste loss fade quickly

#36
I greatly enjoyed my loss of smell. People in general and especially IT nerds are rather bad at managing their hygiene.

How many of you nasty hacker news readers and commenters go to work with the same T-shirt for more than a day and don‘t shower daily?

I had colleagues where I knew whether they‘d be in the office or not by smelling them when I entered the building.

Re: New pill helps Covid smell and taste loss fade quickly

#38

I greatly enjoyed my loss of smell. People in general and especially IT nerds are rather bad at managing their hygiene. How many of you nasty hacker news readers and commenters go to work with the same T-shirt for more than a day and don‘t shower daily? I had colleagues where I knew whether they‘d be in the office or not by smelling them when I entered the building.

Now are you sure that wasn't hyperosmia?

https://www.webmd.com/brain/what-is-hyperosmia

Re: New pill helps Covid smell and taste loss fade quickly

#39
The pill is an antiviral called ensitrelvir. It sounds similar to Paxlovid. Both are protease inhibitors which slow/disrupt viral replication. It may help with other symptoms.

In an earlier nature.com post.. "participants who took 125-milligram ensitrelvir pills recovered from five specific symptoms — stuffy or runny nose, sore throat, cough, feeling hot or feverish and low energy or tiredness — about 24 hours earlier than did those in the control group"

https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-023-00548-6

Re: New pill helps Covid smell and taste loss fade quickly

#40
The first time I realized I had Covid, I was doing laundry and noticed that the bleach I was using had no smell. However, over time my sense of smell did return.

The current Covid strain spreading in the US no longer has the loss of the sense of smell as such a common symptom.

> only around 10-20% of her Covid patients lose their sense of taste or smell now, compared to around 60-70% early in the pandemic.

https://www.nbcnews.com/health/health-news/covid-symptoms-mi...

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