Got my smeller back

[Chris142]

Exactly 1 year ago I got the Rona. I never got real sick. Burning eyes and lots of snot was it. But I lost my sense of smell.

I remember sniffing a can to see if it was gas or Diesel but I could not smell it. Turns out it was gas!

A few days ago I smelled a cigarette. Something I have not smelled in a year. Then I smelled when my cat used the litter box. LoL. Gotta start somewhere I guess.

Took exactly a year give it take a few days to get my sense of smell back

It like a whole new world to me now.

 

[AZjeff]

Never lost taste?

 

[Chris142]

Never lost taste?

Not really. No more loss than a cold. Taste went back to normal as soon as I felt better which was a week or so.

 

[chemman]

Glad to hear your sense of smell returned!!

 

[Bass]

Exactly 1 year ago I got the Rona. I never got real sick. Burning eyes and lots of snot was it. But I lost my sense of smell.

I remember sniffing a can to see if it was gas or Diesel but I could not smell it. Turns out it was gas!

A few days ago I smelled a cigarette. Something I have not smelled in a year. Then I smelled when my cat used the litter box. LoL. Gotta start somewhere I guess.

Took exactly a year give it take a few days to get my sense of smell back

It like a whole new world to me now.

I felt fully recovered from the C. virus about 40 days after getting it, but smell lagged returning but read about retraining it by smelling various types of smells. I used vinegar, cologne, perfume, etc. At first, I couldn't even smell fresh ground coffee but it's getting better, still not quite there after 3 months.

 

[vavavroom]

Interesting. With loss of smell comes usually a significant loss of taste. I've been able to didge the plague so far. Then again, I never catch anything other than flak.

 

[Snagglefoot]

That’s great news. Good for you.

Reminds me of one. A guy goes to his doctor. The doctor asks what seems to be the problem? Well, Doc, I like farting. My farts used to sound great and had great odour. Now, they don’t have any sound and they don’t stink, no matter how much I try. The Doc does a quick hearing test and sends him to the audiologist where they fit some hearing aids for the fellow. He goes back to the Doc. How’d it go? Well, it’s great. My farts are as loud as when I was young. They’re great big rippers. I can let a big one go in a crowded room but they still don’t stink. The doc says, well, we fixed your hearing. Let’s see what we can do for your sense of smell.

 

[zrxkawboy]

One year ago for me, too. My sense of smell and taste was really messed up (mostly gone, but not completely). It returned fairly quickly, but never 100%. I just can't quite taste the full flavor in a lot of foods like I used to. I'd say it's at maybe 90%.

 

[cpayne5]

Interesting. With loss of smell comes usually a significant loss of taste. I've been able to didge the plague so far. Then again, I never catch anything other than flak.

Haha, same here! My wife had it back in early January and lost taste and smell for about 72 hours. I never experienced any symptoms (never tested, either).

 

[Duffyjr]

Interesting. With loss of smell comes usually a significant loss of taste.

I remember someone showing me this with Jelly Belly jelly beans, hold your nose plugged and eat one, you can't tell what flavor it is, now let go half way through.

OP I can't imaging going without smell that long, did you somewhat quit eating as much or loose some weight?

 

[K.Aoi]

I was reading an article yesterday that COVID-19 causes measurable loss in brain mass in the regions responsible for smell, I think it was 0.2-2% on average, which likely explains why it causes loss of smell. Fortunately seems like Omicron is less likely to have those side effects than the earlier strains.

Edit: https://www.livescience.com/brain-shrinkage-damage-covid19

 

[SwampSurvivor]

Different cause, but over 10 years ago I had a real bad sinus infection and ever since I've had phantom smells.

I can't explain what it smells like, exactly, as they smell the same, but I always smell the natural gas additive or rotting flesh. It drives me nuts.

When I bought my house it had a gas leak. I couldn't tell because I always have that smell.

 

[K.Aoi]

Different cause, but over 10 years ago I had a real bad sinus infection and ever since I've had phantom smells.

I can't explain what it smells like, exactly, as they smell the same, but I always smell the natural gas additive or rotting flesh. It drives me nuts.

When I bought my house it had a gas leak. I couldn't tell because I always have that smell.

I had a similar thing some years back. One day I woke up and just felt nauseous and when I tried to eat everything tasted disgusting. It was miserable because the smell made me nauseous so I barely ate. Like you I can't pinpoint the smell but rotting flesh (which I've never actually smelled) comes close to the mark. I got diagnosed with a fungal sinus infection and they gave me something for it and it went away quickly, but it was absolutely terrible. I'm so glad that never stuck around for me...

 

[Pew]

It's crazy how much we're impacted when we lose a normal bodily function, get it back later and realizing just how much we took it for granted. Reminds me of the colorblind folks who receive glasses that help them see color.

 

[ripcord]

I had a roommate in college who was a reservist that got called up and sent to Haiti. When he got back he said it was like his brain had turned off his sense of smell... Said the place smelled like an open grave with dead livestock bloating in the sun and rotting garbage everywhere. To this day he doesn't think it's recovered.

 

[eljefino]

Why do farts smell?

It's a simple, honest question:

Why do farts smell?

So deaf people can enjoy them too!

 

[Shannow]

My 2014 efforts with Bell's Palsy wrecked my smell pretty badly.

It took a long time, and now it's either not really there about half the time, seems normal maybe 40%, or is superhuman. (can smell from the other end of the building some perfumes, and our pup scratched a neighbour, and I could smell blood at 6 feet.

It's wierd phasing in and out like that.

 

[Graham Piccinini]

Rona kept me on the deathbed for couple days. My dad had it just as bad, but we both made it out. We both were writing our final wills though, seriously. Rest of the family had basic flu symptoms.
Anyways, I do miss being able to drink hot sauce straight out of the bottle without a flinch. The "ring of fire" still happened afterwards, but that's beside the point. Now that my smell and taste is back I'm back to my old levels of hot sauce tolerance, which are not as impressive.

 

[RedSpider]

My wife and I had covid in October and early November 2020. We both completely lost our taste and smell for about four weeks or so. Actually that was the first symptom.. It was Friday night and we were to have a couple friends over for a bonfire, outside, fairly spaced apart. Huge thunderstorms rolled in and we were completely rained out, so we cancelled and the wife and I cranked up the stereo and had a few cold ones inside, and the appetizers we were going to serve we snacked on while playing a few video games. I got a few bites and in and she said "This dip came out really good, didn't it?" and I replied, "Dont know, doesnt seem like it has a whole lot of flavor to me" and we both slowly looked at each other and went "oooooh noooo". Yup, few days later we were both flat on our backs for the next 10 days or so. It was two weeks after we started feeling better that we even started to barely taste things. I made myself a peanut butter sandwich and bit into it, and it was like euphoria, I could actually taste it. First thing in over a month. Couldn't taste anything else for another few days after that, just peanut butter. It became my staple for almost a week. Don't know how much you miss it until its gone.

Sixteen months later, she's had no problems, but I still have a handful of things that I cant taste unless I inhale deeply while I'm chewing. I drink a coke zero on my drive in to work every morning, if I don't take deep breaths through my nose, I cant really taste it. Actually most sweet things are like that now. Salty stuff, spicy things, no problem. I wish it would all go back go normal, but I think this might be my new normal, I don't know.