Has anyone fully lost their sense of smell from a cold like illness other than covid?

[Fuckstix]

Hi all,

Just that- I had anosmia in 2020 and slowly got quite a bit of my senses of smell and taste back (far from fully but a big improvement). This week I've had a nasty cough/ cold/ some flu symptoms like a temperature and aches but testing negative for covid (I work in healthcare hence still testing).

I lost my sense of smell fully about 3 days ago and can only taste very faint sweet, sour, salt, bitter, umami. I don't feel very congested so it's not like when your nose is blocked and you can't smell much for a bit.

Just wondering if anyone has had this and how long it has taken to come back? Obviously I'm a bit worried as it took so long to get back to where I was, nearly 3 years.

Perhaps it's covid but not being picked up by an LFT.

Aware this is very old now but came across it as something similar has happened to me. I had partial smell loss with covid a month ago, which was returning, but now I have a cold/sinusitis and it's gone completely! Absolutely vanished, can't smell bleach right under my nose! Did yours end up coming back? I am finding it really anxiety provoking...

Yes, lost mine for 8 weeks with a recent nasty respiratory virus (not Covid) that went bacterial and in my sinuses amongst other things.
Was dreadfully ill for ages. My voice is still only 50% ok.

I have had Covid a lot, it was similar but not the same. I was swabbed for this in the end as needed targeted antibiotics and it was definitely not Covid as was lab tested.

That sounds awful, you poor thing. Has your smell returned now? Was it fully gone for 8 weeks?

Yes it’s normal now, it was fully gone for well over 6 weeks then gradually came back. I could just about taste Xmas dinner and it is perfectly fine now.

I had phantom smells when it had gone though, mostly of burning wood/strong smoke at night.