chemical smell after recovery?

[sunshineandshowers21]

i had covid back in october and lost my sense of smell and taste. it came back within a couple of weeks but lately i’ve noticed that some days i can’t smell anything, or i can smell a lingering bitter ‘chemical’ smell. i’m not sure if it’s related to covid, or something else! has anyone else had this?

I had covid in March 2020. Lost my taste and smell for 8-9 weeks, then it came back for a while. Then i found any strong smell smelt sulphur like, and gradually lost my smell again (unless it was the sulphur smell). Still not returned but sulphur smell much less request. Although I can still taste, some foods taste horrible now. Saw ENT and had MRI which was clear. Dr says likely to be covid related and no idea if it will ever return to normal

@Oohhaveabanana mine is like a bitter chemical smell, and some food just tastes off. i can’t even eat meat now because it just tastes rotten. i’m at the doctors for blood tests tomorrow because of feeling constantly exhausted so i’ll bring up the smell/taste thing and see what he says.

Me. I lost smell and taste for a couple of weeks in Oct with initial infection and it returned but diminished. Last two weeks have had a horrible smell, like bleach, permanently and everything tastes like it’s been contaminated with hand sanitiser. Am hoping it’s just recovery and not permanent.

I lost t&s for about two weeks back in March and for about 2-3 days before I got it back properly all I could smell was burnt toast...DS was convinced I was going to have a stroke!

I lost smell for months. When it came back I could smell cigarette smoke everywhere.

I had dog shit nose for weeks.

Yes, this is exactly what I have!! Had Covid back in March where I completely lost smell & taste for 2 weeks. I felt lucky that everything appeared to return to normal... but this past week i can constantly smell this same burning/ chemical smell & it's starting to affect the way things taste... to me it smells like a pot on the hob which has no water in it & has started to burn...

yep, I had covid in november (and also prob back in march but there was no testing back then so not official but symptoms all the same) I never lost my sense of taste/smell and everything smelt and tasted fine but did have a nasty taste in mouth. Every now and then i am smelling something burning or a funny burnt type of smell and thinking about it it prob is a sulphur type smell. I also have an increase in tinnitus

I’m wondering if it’s because of low vitamin levels. I was religiously taking multi vit + iron but had got a bit hot and miss just before the chemical smell arrived. Have other signs of iron set anaemia (which I’m used to because I do run low on iron) so have been back on the supplements and am noticing the smell is reducing

*Hit and miss
*Iron deficiency anaemia

@DottyWott that is a possibility. i do have history of having very low vitamin and iron levels. it’s been a while since my last blood test so i’ll ring the doctors tomorrow and try to get an appointment for a blood test.

I’m getting more convinced of it. Since going back on the Vitamins and iron my chemical smell is reducing every day and my diminished sense of smell is improving . The nerves of the olfactory system have high turnover and the vitamins are essential to their growth so it does make sense that they are crucial to healing.