When you have Covid, you think once you test negative it's all done and dusted and life gets back to normal. Only it really isn't like that for a LOT of people, and I'm not talking about Long-Covid, which affects a small percentage of people. I'm talking about anosmia (absolutely NO smell, at all) and Parosmia (a distortion of the olfactory chemical process). The whole weird, broken nose thing.
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I tested positive here in Thailand on March 6th, after 2 days of a scratchy, hoarse throat and body-head aches. It wasn't till about the 3rd day after relentless sneezing that I one morning discovered anosmia. Everything I tried to smell or eat was, err, nothing. Most disturbing, really, to crave a coffee and then feel unsatiated cos you didn't SMELL it at all and it had basically the same vibe as drinking plain hot water.
I was sick for about 12 days - 8 of those feeling MOST unwell at home with flu symptoms, sneezing, mild laryngitis and just the worst headache ever. I used only a bit of paracetamol when the headache was so bad I couldn't sleep, and other than that I used home-brewed probiotics, a Thai herb (andrographis paniculata) which even the Thai hospitals here recommend, and supplemental zinc.
It wasn't till after I tested negative finally on Day 12 that I swapped the anosmia for parosmia - a distortion of my olfactory process. Suddenly, all I could smell, most of the day, was the smell of bakery in the oven that is just getting a little too brown. Now, a month later, I have that overwhelming smell about 20 hours/day. It's the FIRST THING I become aware of on waking. And yesterday, for the first time, I became aware of a second smell "stuck in my nose" for literally hours - the smell of meat being browned, Dutch style, in butter.
It's been affecting my appetite and leaving me with the feeling that I've already eaten. It's also weird to eat spicy mushrooms and broccoli stir fried with brown rice and to SMELL and TASTE about-to-be-just-too-brown freshly baked cookies.
Clinical studies show 65.7% of recovered covid patients present with some level of parosmia, and some 10% showing severe symptoms and altered quality of life. As many as 50% of patients present with a foul odor or metallic smell. Average duration is 3-6 months, and treatments for parosmia (from smell training to topical steroids) have not proven very effective. Over 73% of patients reporting parosmia are female.
How grateful and lucky am I that I'm smelling only about-to-get-too-dark bakery and browning meat.
We talked about it at the office today and how weird it is, and one of my Thai staff commented very matter-of-factly that it's because I'm a good person.
"When your nose stops working, your brain smells your heart and what you eat a lot in your life. If your body is dirty inside, you smell yourself from the inside. You lucky that you detox and smell only nice things from when you were young."
I kinda really LOVE this explanation, but suspect that if I was smelling rotting fish 20 hours/day, I might have a different response. 🤣 And I LOVE the way Asian health folklore comes into being.
So, have YOU ever had Covid and suffered with weird smells during your recovery? How long did it last? Did anything particularly help?
Hit me up in the comments below? There's so little written about this and I'm really curious if others have theories about how and why this phenomena occurs, and how long it took to regain "normal" smell. I have read a few reports of people regaining a much more acute sense of smell after their full recovery, and am curious to know how widespread that is - cos heck, that could be GREAT in my Thai herbal products business and TERRIBLE at the Thai fresh market on a really hot day. 😆
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As far as I know I haven't had covid, but I have briefly had both of these after colds in the past. Usually the first and just a couple of times the second, as far as I can recall. Thankfully only for days or a week or two after the cold. I can imagine it would be rather concerning for it to be continuing so long after recovery, though. Especially as this is one of my senses that actually works well (my hearing and eyesight are below par).
I had covid. I was a bit tired for 3 days, thats all xD
I had all of my smell and taste.
I have also gotten 2 shots of the vaccine, so that properly helped a lot :p
So you're one of the 32% who DIDN'T experience issues with smell and taste - lucky you!! I think how sick people became is SO INDIVIDUAL and based not only on their personal health, but on their stress levels prior to infection and the different Covid strains which are dominant not only in different geographical locations, but at different times.
I'm vaccinated cos I had to be for my child to stay in school and while it MAY have kept me out of hospital, it didn't prevent me from being pretty sick.
It is what it is... 😆
Meanwhile, I think I can smell COOKIES about to burn... 🤣
I don:t really know of any one who have had problems with covid xD
Familiy.or friends xD
You're very lucky. Lottery ticket day? I know x7 people who died in 2020. Currently have one friend here in Thailand moving from ICU back to a regular room at the hospital today. We have 8 friends currently who have Covid - 2 are in hospital, 3 are sick in the way that I was and 3 have only a mild cough / sore throat and no other symptoms.
Its insane how different it is!
I am sorry for your losses :/
I live in Denmark, we have no restrictions at all anymore and haven't had any for almost 2 months now (I believe)
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Cookies in the morning is not too bad of an aftermath smell actually, but imagine eating bananas and having a cookie smell along with that. I would get it that it is weird hahaha.
Still covid free here (suprisingly) but hubby had the max version of all of a sudden no smell. Like one minute it was normal, and the next minute it was gone and this was just before dinner. So all of a sudden the white rice tasted like the broccoli and the broccoli tasted like white rice. Better said, everything tasted like nothing and it lasted like two weeks.
No hyper extra smell afterwards though.
Glad to hear that apart from this weirdness you are doing better again!
I'm 98% recovered - just normal post-viral symptoms of fatigue - nothing more. :) And the SMELL stuff.
I'm also experiencing the smell shifts in really strange IMMEDIATE time bursts, like your hubby, which makes no logical sense to me. Glad he got off lightly - MOST people do although I have one elderly friend in ICU here right now.
We're planning to be in NL around August 10th - Ploi has been ACCEPTED to study Physiotherapy at Hanze and ranked 34 out of 1100 in the entrance process. #proudmama
I'm ON IT for lemongrass and holy basil tea. And hope to see you in the flesh for that long awaited 🍺and our own private Hive meetup! x
bring out the lemongrass and holy basil tea indeed!
That meetup should totally ork, I am in the country then it seems and would LOVE to meetup right there.. excited!!! (and also for Ploi because she is working it!!)
oh my goodness! i thought i was the only one who found this after-effect from having covid weird 😲 i also had a similar experience, and it does smell like something about to go brown, but it smelled more like about to be burned rice for me rather than bakery cookies 😅 thankfully as you said here, it did go away after 3months even without treatment for me 😄 thank you for sharing your relatable story about this!
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I'm REALLY CURIOUS what makes one person perceive about-to-burn cookies, verses RICE sticking and burning on the bottom of the pan, verses rotting fish/meat verses a metallic taste/smell. Any thoughts as to the WHY of what we smell??
I'm HAPPY to hear from most people that this phase eventually passes!! 😊
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Never had it, tested negative on all tests, same like my daughter whose entire class had it twice ... But i totally feel you for the smell. When I have cold and stuffed nose it is a drama, but not so much as my mother, she has really bad sense of smell and taste for ages so our food was really interesting growing up. Plus she hated to cook because to her most things feel the same 😂