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Loss of Smell & Taste

tempnam

Got fully vaccinated in July / August, but contracted Covid last week. I'm glad I had the vaccination as I still seemed to suffer the effects of a 'bad cold' for a few days (shivers & sweats at the same time, feeling tired, headache, cough, sinuses etc.)

While most symptoms have subsided except for the cough, I have lost 100% of my sense of smell and say 90% taste.

Anyone else gone through this and come out the other side?

How long did it take for your taste and smell to return??

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Marty Bird

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/2058216735/loss-of-smell-taste

I’ve seen a few people saying could be 3/4 weeks to return.

tempnam

Well this is gonna be a miserable few weeks then!

TheValeyard

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118128700#Comment_118128700

Took me six weeks

Look at it this way.

Eat healthy. Eat the good stuff you normally avoid. Turn your body into a temple since you cannot taste it.

tempnam

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118128748#Comment_118128748

I normally eat everything anyway!

standardg60

Going on a year for my sister now, having contracted covid last xmas, very little return of either.

Imagine it's more to do with loss of smell, given that's 90% of taste anyway.

fun loving criminal

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118129093#Comment_118129093

That is depressing. Long covid scares me and the thought of not being able to taste or smell.

standardg60

As mentioned above i did logically suggest that it was a good opportunity to lose weight.

Reply was an equally logical explanation as to why i was still single.

Thegingerbear

I lost my sense of smell and taste in March 2020 and it has partially returned but still pretty limited.

Sono

checking in here, taste and smell went yesterday around midday, it’s absolutely horrendous not being able to taste or smell anything but I don’t have any other symptoms so feel a bit lucky too.

Sono

1 week now with no smell or taste, very frustrating. It seems fairly common so that’s a little comforting.

tempnam

Mine have come back ever so slightly. The smell is still quite weak and I'd really have to take a good whiff of something to pick up on the smell. My taste seems to be back a bit more and I'm detecting different flavours when eating. Still nowhere near my original sense of taste but at lease it's started to come back a little.

tempnam

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118138595#Comment_118138595

That's a depressing prospect. I was hoping to be back to normal for Christmas!

irishfemme

I had covid 7 weeks ago, I can taste now, albeit, it only went for about a week. My smell isn't back still, I have been training my nose by rubbing spirit/hand sanitizer in my hands and sniffing it. Not sure if it helps, but I can smell a handful of things when I sniff them.

I was soo depressed initially, but I later accepted my fate (not being able to smell)

PatrickRuns

Just lost sense of smell and most of my taste today, very suddenly.

Enjoyed (and tasted!) a meat pie & cuppa at 12.00pm, and bam, at 2.00pm I couldn't taste dark chocolate, smell garlic or peppermint oil.

My nose is still stuffed up and swollen inside from covid. Not sure what to expect or do next.

Some say to do training right away with essential oils and strongly scented food/coffee but to be honest, i can't smell a thing.

I can taste sweet, savory, bitter, sour and astringent but that's all in the mouth.

irishfemme

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118172526#Comment_118172526

It crazy how covid affects one, it was same with me, a week into covid and I was smelling in the morning and bam, nothing in the afternoon... Cant wait to smell again though.

PatrickRuns

Yes it's definitely a unique experience. I had heard that when we taste something it's 90% the nose and 10% the mouth. That always sounded odd, but I totally understand now. The mouth is just basic taste.

I guess i'll have to be patient. So far my symptoms are mild overall, so i guess i'm not too unlucky.

Wibbs

Got it early this year. Losing taste and smell was the only real symptom. Still hasn't returned to any great degree. The only scents I can smell are floral ones, especially cut grass for some reason and I can smell that very strongly. Anything else nope. Even very strong scents like acetone. Nada. Taste pretty much 90% gone.

PatrickRuns

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118173259#Comment_118173259

Have you tried olfactory training?

Wibbs

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118174647#Comment_118174647

Nah PR. 1) life's too short to be farting around with that. 2) It'll either resolve by itself or it won't 3) if it doesn't Im not that bothered tbh(BO and fart sensitivity has also gone. Result) and 4) from my reading around the science of it it's pretty dubious. Double blind testing has been minimal to nonexistent and a large percentage of people's impairment will resolve naturally anyway. It's all a bit too trendy "I read it on facebook" woo. Your mileage may vary of course.

PatrickRuns

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118174929#Comment_118174929

True about BO and bad smells, not really missing that. But it's important to be able to taste rotten/mouldy/spoiled food.

The training is only 4-5 minutes per day and €10 euro worth of investment. Even if it's placebo effect, it's worth a shot.

Doylers

Havent had covid but I lose my taste and smell every time i get sick. Its mental alright comes back slowly over time for me usually a week.

PatrickRuns

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118177925#Comment_118177925

Do you lose smell completely or partially?

I was able to smell coffee and oranges very faintly today. Amazing how much a simple thing like this can change your mood!

Irish Stones

I had covid in April 2020. I tested positive on April 8th 2020, but I am sure I had it at least a week before that. I lost my smell and taste about a week after I was tested, for nearly a week, but 19 months later I still have the impressoin that some foods do not taste like I remember they did, so I think that after such a long time the taste is still a little altered for some foods.

Smell seems fine, but I'm not totally sure.

PatrickRuns

I feel like my sense smell is slowly coming back but some smells & tastes (orange, apple, pear, salmon, pepperoni, coffee, whiskey) are coming back faster than others (banana, mint, chocolate).

I'm on day 3 of the essential oil olfactory training. It's progressing very slowly.

PTH2009

I didn't get covid thankfully but is anyone else experiencing itchy skin and rashes ?

I'm thinking it may be caused by the different hand sanitisers around

air

Covid has no impact on taste, try a spoon of sugar followed by a spoon of salt if you're not convinced.

As people have said, a large amount of what we perceive as taste is in fact based on smell.

tempnam

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118187271#Comment_118187271

When I had zero taste or smell I was able to differentiate between sweet or salty - but no flavour. But now that it's slowly beginning to return it seems I'm able to taste a lot more than I can smell. The sense of smell is really struggling.

I'd estimate:

Smell is at 20%

Taste is at 60%

PatrickRuns

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118188588#Comment_118188588

When my sense of smell went completely, I was still able to taste sweet, savory, acidic, bitter, spicy. Maybe that's what our basic sense of taste (mouth based only) really is.

I'm on the same path as you tempnam, about a week behind.

I'd say i'm at:

Smell 8-10%

Taste 30-40%

We've got this ;-)

air

Yes, that's it, our tongue only seems to be responsible for the basics of what we consider taste.

How Covid impacts smell is well understood and that mechanism has no impact on taste.

I'm almost a year out from having had Covid and I don't expect my sense of smell will ever entirely recover to what it was previously. My perception of certain smells is still very weak or non-existent, others seem almost normal but just not quite as strong as before.

snowstorm445

I've had COVID for the past week now, no real physical symptoms apart from a bit of a cough. But the taste and smell have been affected since the weekend, weirdly for me I can still smell basically everything but my taste has really taken a hit. I can taste the basics, whether something is sweet or salty etc but otherwise it's completely gone.

I'm used to losing my sense of smell and taste when I get colds but with COVID it's pretty depressing reading tbh. Whenever you see people writing about their experiences (on here for example) it seems like almost no one fully regains their taste or smell from what I can see. It's always 90% or something like that. Is there anyone who's completely regained it?