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New pill helps Covid smell and taste loss fade quickly

nature.com

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

#101

Post by thehappypm »

Probiotic6081 wrote: post #80
jancsika wrote: post #59

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> You'd have to desire to eat e.g. yogurt with added sugar over one without. So in your mind, there are alternative, inexpensive 6- and 12-packs of plain, unsugared yogurt sitting in national grocery chains, just waiting to be consumed by people with no sense of taste at scale? Edit: also keep in mind that people who have lost 40% of their sensory input are apt to go through a depression, and that being sedentary has…

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

#102

Post by lamontcg »

actuallyalys wrote: post #77
ceejayoz wrote: post #53

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> The current Covid strain spreading in the US no longer has the loss of the sense of smell as such a common symptom. I wonder if this reflects evolutionary pressure towards symptoms that don't make you go "oh shit, definitely COVID, stay home and mask up".

That does seem plausible. The fact that most people had prior immunity by the time Omicron arrived (whether from infection, vaccination, or both) could also play a role.

It is more likely prior immunity. Everyone now has enough antibodies and T-cells so that even if we get infected it isn't anywhere near as likely to escape outside of the respiratory tract, and the anosmia-affected neurons are mostly protected, even though you can still get sick.

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

#103

Post by simondotau »

avar wrote: 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.

You can temporarily induce a partial loss of taste sensation, specifically sourness, with a glycoprotein found in one particular fruit. An astonishingly specific behaviour. It leads one to wonder what undiscovered or uninvented glycoproteins could do.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Synsepalum_dulcificum

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Miraculin

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

#104

Post by [deleted] »

smith7018 wrote: post #81
pjot wrote: post #58

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Around 15 years ago I broke my nose which eventually led to a loss of taste and smell. Around 8 months ago I had surgery on the internal structures of my nose which in addition to allowing me to breath again, I can also taste and smell. The experience has been completely mind blowing. On the flip side I can no longer order the spiciest of spicy Thai and Indian food from my usual restaurants. The owners poke fun at me…

That's fascinating because it implies that our ability to feel/respond to spicy food is all psychological. I would have figured that you would have felt at least some pain build while eating really spicy food but I guess not.

[deleted]

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

#105

Post by froh »

pjot wrote: post #58
dannyphantom wrote: post #23

Oooh yes yes - this is such wonderful news! Literally weeks before the world changed my boyfriends dad had begun to explore the world of cooking; he was so happy when we would bring him to niche little grocers to try things he had never known about before and trying all the food - but after his infection, and for the last 2 years - nothing. No taste. No smell. We try to make up for it by encouraging him to make stuff…

Around 15 years ago I broke my nose which eventually led to a loss of taste and smell. Around 8 months ago I had surgery on the internal structures of my nose which in addition to allowing me to breath again, I can also taste and smell. The experience has been completely mind blowing. On the flip side I can no longer order the spiciest of spicy Thai and Indian food from my usual restaurants. The owners poke fun at me…

fascinating. the receptors for hot / chili are in your tongue and not in your nose.

mind to elaborate how you can't eat chilly any longer?

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

#106

Post by Moldoteck »

ceejayoz wrote: post #53
GeekyBear wrote: post #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://ww…

> The current Covid strain spreading in the US no longer has the loss of the sense of smell as such a common symptom. I wonder if this reflects evolutionary pressure towards symptoms that don't make you go "oh shit, definitely COVID, stay home and mask up".

I wouldn't say pressure, rather filtration: easy to spot variants can be isolated so spread is less likely, so filtered out from existence. Hard to spot variants may be easier to spread since well, ppl may think it's just a minor cold, no need to dtay at home/mask

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

#107

Post by Moldoteck »

op00to wrote: post #55
llama052 wrote: post #24

Girlfriend has lost her entire sense of smell after covid, I'm really hoping the future has an answer to that. It's taken the joy out of a lot of things she enjoys, especially cooking. She's seen a few ENT doctors and they all claim it's not coming back without any clear solutions.

Some times I wish food was less enjoyable so I’d eat less of it. Not discounting your girlfriends experience - that’s horrible - but being able to switch off my sense of smell would help with sticking to my caloric intake!

You can eat a lot of tasty food without eating a ton of calories. Most calories are from excess of fats( like a ton of oil when a teaspon is sufficient, eating too many too sugary cakes that usually also have high fat content). I've succeed to stay at the same 'normal' weight when covid hit and less mobility just by paying attention to these

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

#108

Post by mcpackieh »

mplewis9z wrote: post #74
jancsika wrote: post #59

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> You'd have to desire to eat e.g. yogurt with added sugar over one without. So in your mind, there are alternative, inexpensive 6- and 12-packs of plain, unsugared yogurt sitting in national grocery chains, just waiting to be consumed by people with no sense of taste at scale? Edit: also keep in mind that people who have lost 40% of their sensory input are apt to go through a depression, and that being sedentary has…

My local Kroger imprint sells their generic-brand plain Greek yogurt (with zero sweetener of any sort) in both whole milk and nonfat versions, in 32-ounce tubs for cheap. Every other grocery store I've been to also has something similar, even if you have to get the non-generic brands.

It's also pretty easy to make your own yogurt. If you buy a little bit of live yogurt to start, you can start your own yogurt production using that.

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

#109

Post by ceejayoz »

Moldoteck wrote: post #106
ceejayoz wrote: post #53

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> The current Covid strain spreading in the US no longer has the loss of the sense of smell as such a common symptom. I wonder if this reflects evolutionary pressure towards symptoms that don't make you go "oh shit, definitely COVID, stay home and mask up".

I wouldn't say pressure, rather filtration: easy to spot variants can be isolated so spread is less likely, so filtered out from existence. Hard to spot variants may be easier to spread since well, ppl may think it's just a minor cold, no need to dtay at home/mask

That’s called natural(ish) selection, the mechanism for evolution.

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

#110

Post by dm03514 »

My sense of taste and smell is ~30% since Covid in June of 2022. Luckily there’s still mild taste so eating isn’t completely joyless. another symptom that started at this time was extreme nasal snoring so bad that I wake myself up and that has never happened before and it just started happening in June 2022.

I finally got to an ENT, literally yesterday, where they did a nasal endoscopy. There was mild inflammation, but no major deviation or polyps or anything worrying the diagnosis from them was Covid related since nothing structural was observed.

I just got a taste and smell training kit that arrived from Amazon today and I think that’s basically my only course of action at this point. Here’s hoping

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