To ask if you've experienced this (post) covid symptom?

[GretaGip]

I suffered from covid in September, no Hard Symptoms, just fluey.

3 weeks out of quarantine I suffered total loss of smell, and 3 months later I would say I have 10% of it back.

Over the last few days I've noticed an intermittent sense that I'm sitting in a cigarette cloud. Brings back chilling in The Local Arms with Mirage and Lemonade grooving along to Fine Young Cannibals.

It's not quite a taste, not quite a smell, more of an overall sensation of acridness.

We've got a Woodburner, I'd attributed it to perhaps a rope failure in that until I experienced it in the essential Spirit aisle in Waitrose.

And today I was in the middle of a field many miles from home, so I'm ruling out Woodburner or smokers outside a supermarket.

AIBU to ask for any other's similar experiences?

I haven’t had covid (I don’t think) but I keep getting this I keep rushing to my window to tell the phantom smoker to go away and there’s nobody there

No I haven’t had this. But love your description of the smokey old days in the pub. I used to quite enjoy passive smoking!

Sounds quite normal. There is an AbScent facebook smell and taste loss group, and this exact complaint comes up a lot.

The faggy smell is a sign of long Covid. I have a friend who had it back in April and is still now smelling cigarettes and said all food has a hint of menthol tobacco about it.

I haven't had this but I know someone who had it as her only covid symptom. I just got left with tinnitus that sounds like sleigh bells.

I heard them talking about this on the radio yesterday afternoon so must be quite common.

Yup, I've got this. We reckon I had Covid in March (not hospitalised so no test) nd suffered profound loss of taste and smell for 4.5months and since then have had what you describe!

I had covid and on the first day of having loss of smell and taste, I could smell burnt food all day although we hadn't burnt anything in the house. I would have described it as acrid. It went after a day and I didn't get any long covid symptoms.

I'd done a cursory Google and found nothing, so it's reassuring that it's not just me.

@Coulddowithanap

I heard them talking about this on the radio yesterday afternoon so must be quite common.

Which radio was it, please? I wouldn't mind a catch up listen if possible.

I've heard it on R4 too but can't recall which programme. Some medical one.

Apparently it is pretty common that when your smell/ taste comes back it comes back wrong at first because some receptors recover before others and throw the balance of what you can smell off. They think it does go back to normal after a while but can be months.

My husband has been complaining about this over the last 2 months. We both had asymptotic covid in October. He says it’s like walking out of a pub or bar through the smoking crowd.

It's got a name and everything Parosmia

Yes, I've had it repeatedly over the last few weeks. But I think its more an after-effect of anosmia on general as I've had it in the past as well.

Yes , I had it at the beginning of December and sometimes have a similar sensation . I describe it as feeling as if I am passive smoking and it is catching my lungs .

I kept smelling cigarette smoke before my sense of smell came back. I could taste orange flavoured things around the same time.

I had it last March, and lost my sense of smell for 4-6 weeks, and my sense of taste for 2-4 weeks.

The first smell I noticed after that was the roast dinner I was cooking, but we both smoked (DP smoked a lot!) so the smoke smell might not have registered with me.

I think it happens as your sense of smell returns slowly I had some bad doses of sinusitus and lost my sense of smell for 2 yrs and it slowly returned - I wouldn't say it was even 100% now around 6 yrs later but I have also had this weird smell of what I identify as cigarette smell but its not usually early to mid evening myself even now

@FionatheCat

I haven’t had covid (I don’t think) but I keep getting this I keep rushing to my window to tell the phantom smoker to go away and there’s nobody there

I get this, it’s due to a sinus infection. I get recurring sinus infections and was at the point of asking my husband to ask the neighbours to stop smoking outside our (downstairs) bedroom window when he told me next door don’t smoke! Dr diagnosed a sinus infection.

Definitely look at the abscent group on Facebook. It's a known post viral symptom (and seems much more common with covid) and often a precursor to full blown parosmia which will be a nightmare if you're not aware of what's going on.

I’ve had it over and over for years btw, nothing to do with COVID. Yours could be a symptom of COVID, a sinus infection after COVID or something else I guess. Sinus infection while low after COVID would be my guess....

It’s deffo a covid thing for us- having had sinus issues for years I’ve never had this. But following covid in October I recently have had a resurgence of an acrid burning smell on and off and I can’t smell poop. It smells burnt. Not poopy. 🤦🏻‍♀️
Dd says things smell like “bad chicken” and my mum says things smell or taste like there has been some perfume put onto her food or under her nose which sounds much nicer than our burny versions!!

They talked about this on Radio 2's Jeremy Vine show yesterday OP. They also said another symptom was that food tastes of diesel or perfume!

I have had this for the past few years on and off.

Sinus issue I think.

www.google.co.uk/amp/s/news.sky.com/story/amp/long-covid-symptoms-may-include-parosmia-as-people-report-disgusting-smells-of-fish-burning-and-sulphur-12173389

Quite a few articles about it so defo not just you!