To ask if you've had a very weird sense of smell/taste since Covid?

[Weirdcovidsmell1]

I had covid 2021 and 2022.

No major symptoms, never vaccinated.

I've had some very weird smell symptoms, for about 6 months after 1st time, I could only smell Camembert.

And, I mean everything smelt of it.

Fast forward, my smell is definitely still altered, to the point its unappetising.

Some smells are heightened, or so I think and can smell such as my B.O, I think is really strong and have asked people to be told no. Some things just do not taste or smell the same such as bacon, can't even enjoy it anymore. Some are lessened.

Anyone have similar?

Just covid or something else as I have seen other things it could be?

Since a bad case of COVID in early 2021 I don't have a very good sense of smell anymore.

Yeah I had this for a good year or so, but slowly things went back to normal. Either that or I just got used to it 🤣. But pretty sure it’s back to normal. A friend who completely lost their sense of taste recently did a 14 day fast, and then got their taste back, it was like a complete reset. Maybe worth a try if it’s bothering you?

Yes, nothing tastes the same. So many things I can't eat at all as they smell rotten. Onions,coffee and meat are the worst.
I've been like this since March 2023

I got Covid for the first time right after Christmas and I lost my sense of smell and taste completely for two weeks. It now flickers on and off like a broken switch and it's all crazy. I hope it normalises soon.

My mother-in-law had Covid in early 2022 and she can no longer eat anything citrus, which she used to love. It tastes absolutely horrible to her, she says very similar to vomit.

Yep! I had Covid in 2021 lost my smell & taste for 6 months!! & since there are certain things that taste weird/different like garlic, quavers & sour cream & chive flavoured things!

God yes me!! caught covid end of 2020, no symptoms really except night sweats and this bloody sense of smell- EVERYTHING smelt heightened, almost like strong onions mixed with whatever it was, ie I would be having to take the bin out every other day cos I could smell it from the living room to the point I couldn’t concentrate on anything! (I also learned to put anything “wet” ie onion peels, cat food sachets etc in reused old sealable bags (ie grated cheese bags) to contain the smell)
but the worst was smelling my own body odour, I was convinced I stank even tho I’d not changed anything about my lifestyle?! I’d literally take a shower and scrub with citrusy shower gel, twice over, get out the shower, same deodorant as ever, and half an hour later could smell myself again!
it really messed with my mental health actually, I’d be in tears thinking well if I can smell it, everyone can. I even resorted to using bleach wipes on my pits I was that desperate.
it did ease off but only after about a year, which sucked.
fast forward to now, I’ve now totally lost my sense of smell and taste, it’s like eating in black and white been that way for 8 months now. I didn’t even have covid, cos I tested myself daily for a week after it first went, and no positive?
I have to rely on the fact I take a shower daily and on asking my partner if I’m stinky.. but I’m a lot better mentally than when everything stank. I guess my brain is kinda like, well if I can’t smell it I must not smell. At least cleaning the litter tray of my two poop monsters (kittens) is a lot more palateable now. Silver linings and all that

Yes, things have been weird in the smell/taste department since I had Covid 15 months ago. Couldn't smell/taste at all for about 2 weeks then when those senses started to return, some smells/tastes were distorted. Have never fully recovered. Last night for example what should have been a tasty dish of roast potato, pumpkin, onion and salmon tasted of only one thing - the oil! Why? Nothing wrong with the oil, it's not off. It's just me. Gah! Some days are better or worse but I've just had to accept it. It has reduced pleasure in food though, and I already have enough issues with food intolerances so I don't need this adding to the mix!

Yes, after having covid back in early 2020 my taste and smell is still way off. Anything tropical tasting tastes like sweat so mango and papaya for instance 🤮 there's lots of foods that I just can't eat now because they don't taste how they are supposed to. It took my ages to be able to eat eggs again and they don't quite taste right now but are manageable in say an omelette with added ingredients. Quavers taste rancid to me now too.

My diet was limited for so long so I have pushed myself to start eating things again but hardly anything tastes like it should and I miss it 😢

This is the same with me since having covid in 2021. I can’t stand citrusy things any more, no gin tonic, the rancid oil, the overwhelming BO, soapy coriander, red meat and red wine which taste of cigarettes. Eating is no fun anymore and I have completely lost my self-confidence. I now have to cook to recipe whereas before I was quite confident inns cooking skills. It also changes every six to eight weeks as to what tastes weird.

I had it back in 2021 and sense of taste and smell has been dull ever since.

After 2 mild covid attacks I can no longer trust myself to season anything as I can't taste saltiness or spices or garlic. In fact, most savoury dishes are pretty tasteless though I can taste any richness (butter, cream).

The taste thing is nerve damage most likely won’t improve but no one is sure yet

I had covid in December 2021 and some deodorants and lavender (soap, sleep spray) smelt like herby sausages. That improved over about a year and a half.
Orange juice tasted medicinal.
The only thing I could taste properly for a while was chicken, which was a surprise as its not a strongly flavoured food.

I had covid Dec 2020 (pre-vaccine) and July 2022 (post). Smell and taste went completely for a long time, the first time, and then everything tasted/smelled like oily garlic.

Very gradual return, and some things are still 'off' - I can taste that jam is sweet, but not whether it's strawberry or raspberry, for example. And some smells seem to have changed permanently, including (tmi) urine - in a public loo, or old people's home, the urine smell is very strong, and quite different to what I used to smell.

After the first bout of covid, I did daily 'retraining' with known, stronger tastes and smells, e.g. sniffing lavender oil, coffee grounds, vanilla, tasting orange juice, and reminding myself what the smell should be.

I had covid in July 2021 and completely lost my taste and smell for about a month and it's never been quite the same. For about a year or so afterwards things with a strong smell all smelt the same, like coffee, onions, sweat all had a really pungent smell, similar to camembert I suppose. I still get a kind of smoky smell every evening, it's very bizarre.

Also, and this is very strange but I'm not complaining, I can't smell farts any more! Not mine nor anybody else's.

Lost smell and taste in covid in 2021 but it was the moderna booster that changed my sense of smell. Meat and bad smells are different and I can't trust my ability to judge if something is off. It's rubbish.

I've got CV, after first feeling like death, its now a relatively mild, lingering but congestive cold, tested due to aging in laws.

All i could taste initially was soap!! but someone recommended sniffing strong smelling substances, Garlic lemon Ginger Menthol etc & after a week or so, my smell and taste have all returned to normal.

Worth a try.

I can't smell some smells, it's odd. For instance when I sniff garlic bread I can smell the bread but not the garlic, that sort of thing. I've read you can retrain your brain so I'm going to try.

I had Covid over Christmas and for a good while everything tasted of burnt tobacco. Now I'm just left with 25% of my sense of smell and taste. I keep over or under seasoning food for the family.

Omg I'm the same with quavers! Also orange juice, oxtail soup and dairylea dunkers. They taste so odd I just can't eat them anymore. Chlorine in a swimming pool smells different too now.

After losing my sense of smell and taste from Covid in 2020 I still regularly smell cigarette smoke. Nobody in the house smokes and it’s awful. I’m hoping it will stop one day.

I smell everything too strongly now which can put you off food and I dislike all artificial perfumes, even dishwasher tabs, I have to not breathe in while using them. Opposite of loss of smell!

Covid in November 2021 wrecked my abikity to taste properly for a few months but it is only in the last few months my sense of smell is almost back to usual.

Can't smell gas.
Can occasionally smell burning but nothing is burnt.
Not all smells are present, particularly artificial scents like candles or room spray. I can smell flowers again, that was so upsetting when I couldn't smell them.

I lived for about eight months with smelling a rancid, rotting smell any time there was cold running water or a breeze. I had to mentally train myself into not recognising that smell, which means if it is actually present, I now probably won't smell it. Makes it easier to deal with the food bin but it was a horrible upsetting experience for so long.

I have a colleague who has had similar symptoms post covid. It is truly upsetting to experience it.

I had covid in winter 2021 and then summer 2022

I completely lost my sense of smell and taste the first time for 3 weeks. And then for a couple of months after I could smell ashtrays every so often 🤢 it was vile, none of us smoke but it was so real

But then everything returned to normal

But after the second time, I didn't lose taste and smell really but as I was recovering a LOT of things smelt different. Like - and this is gross - when I would take my dog for a walk and she'd poo, it smelt like meat stew. She is no longer with us now so I don't know if would still happen

If I ever walk past someone smoking weed (happens a lot where I live 😂) that smells of stew as well

And perfumes smell different, perfumes I used to love no longer smelt the same and it sounds daft but it's upsetting. Even cleaning products I used to like smell weird or just not the same

Also when I am sweaty it smells different to me (again sorry if gross)

Tea just doesn't have the same appeal to me any more unless drank piping hot, I've switched to coffee for the flavour. Most things taste right now apart from that but I always have a strange taste in my mouth, even after brushing my teeth I don't feel fresh.

I'm never sure if I can smell things right and worry that something is wrong ie burning or if the gas is on, I can't place smells the same at all.

I can now handle spicy food though which I never could before. OH went in the opposite direction and finds quite mild stuff too hot for him. He used to be able to eat a full chilli, now half a tsp of chilli powder in a meal is too much for him.