Those of you who lost your smell / taste....

[rachelvbwho]

When did it come back?

I have a +ve Covid test and have now lost my sense of smell and taste. The whole thing is very weird and disorientating so I was just wondering how long it would take to come back?

I know everyone is different... But if you have had Covid and lost yours how log did it take to return (or has it not?)

Mine took about 4 weeks to come back.
My husband is still waiting 6 months later!!!

It only went for a few days, but to be honest as much as I can now taste and smell... my sense of smell definitely isn't what it used to be..

I'm waiting from april.. getting fed up. Sometimes all I can smell is aviation fuel and that knocks me sick. Wonder if my smell is coming back gradually as I can smell the odd whiff of chip fat.

Was only gone for a few days but it came back completely different. So many things smell different that I can no longer bear them and some of my favourite foods no longer taste the same.

Mine was completely away for about a month or so. Even now, five months on, it’s not what it used to be. And quite a lot of food smells of beef at the moment (I’m a veggie). Luckily it tastes ok but it’s a bit off putting!

My Mum lost hers in March, her taste came back after about a month but her sense of smell was affected until recently.

Both were gone fully for a week, smell returned gradually over the second week. Taste was slower, things tasted odd and wrong for about 3-4 weeks.

I'm not certain that this was Covid though as it was the end of March and very mild so no test available.

6 months in and I have 10% normal back and lots of mouldy smells/tastes.

4 or 5 months. Its back now but duller than it was unfortunately.

Lost my smell and taste April 16 positive swab went for 5 days went suddenly . the odd occasion my taste isnt as strong but not to bad

Around 3 weeks to be completely back to normal.

About 10 days and it trained and forced myself every day to smell lavender oil, my rose lip balm.. Etc.
Lemon... I would hold a lemon and force myself to remember what lemon smelt like.

I had very tingly nose, almost burning... During. No actual pain in the end, slight discomfort and very tired.

About 2 weeks, for weeks after I could smell smoke & burning all the time. One night I got up 4 times convinced the house was in fire.

My partner lost his sense of smell, and his sense of taste changed, this was back in March. Most of his sense of smell took months to come back. It is not as strong as it used to be. As for taste, he feels some things he used to like the taste of now taste awful, like instant coffee.. his sense of taste might have changed permanently.

Three weeks, or so.
Mostly fine now. But some stuff tastes weird and smells aren’t as strong as they used to be.

Not long, after 3 days I could smell something for about a second then it would go again, but I think it was back to normal in a week or so. I don’t think it been significantly affected. Seems like I’ve been very lucky from reading this.
Hopefully everyone will make a full recovery eventually

My husband lost complete taste and smell for about 5 weeks. He found it awful. Its back and fine now.

Two weeks. Hard to know how good it was when it first came back but certain it's normal six months later, favourite foods taste amazing, don't feel I am missing anything.

Taste was back after a few days. Can’t remember exactly... less than a week.

Sense of smell took longer. Over a month, but less than two. Although I still suspect that I have a little missing ‘bandwidth’ because we currently have a scented candle that my husband can smell but I can’t!

After 6 months mine is still not back and I get wafts of gross sickly sweet smells from many sources

Mine were gone for about a week, but then I had several weeks of everything tasting and smelling weird. It's all pretty much back to normal now, but I've just discovered that I still can't taste pears properly (of all things), they now have a vague metallic taste which is unpleasant.

Oh wow, a real mix then! Thank you all for sharing your experiences.

Fingers crossed it comes back soon for me then 🤞

Sense of taste was altered rather than non existent. I had metallic, salty taste for a few weeks.
Sense of smell was much more profound and took about 3 months to return. I am currently slow cooking spare ribs and can smell them from upstairs with the kitchen door closed and it clearly smells of bbq rubbed ribs.Two months ago I would have forgotten they were cooking and probably incinerated them. I could just about smell the incinerated meals when I opened the oven but could not have told you what was cooking.
Smell has returned very gradually and probably not quite back to pre covid ‘bloodhound’ level. I can detect the strong odour of teenage boy in DSs room now and correctly identify which t shirts he has worn and need washing. I suspect he was pretty smelly during lockdown!

Around 3 months to smell anything.6 months down the line and it's still not fully back.