Taste and smell! How long before they come back?

[AlexaShutUp]

I'm on day 6 of covid. Feeling much better overall but realised this morning that I can't smell anything at all. This is new, my senses were absolutely fine yesterday.

I can taste, but stuff tastes different - I normally love a good cup of coffee for example, but I had to pour it down the sink this morning because it tasted so awful.

This is a tragedy for someone who usually enjoys their food!! Can anyone tell me how long it's likely to last?!

Took about 2-3 weeks for me! Glad you're feeling better though

2-3 weeks?

Gosh, that's going to be hard! Still, it's a relief to be feeling better and I'm grateful for the fact that I wasn't seriously unwell!!

Mine started to return about a month on... but are not what they were and seem to come and go to some extent...

I haven't experienced it personally but my db and df were both about 2 weeks, my dm is over a month and has a tiny bit of taste and smell back but nothing like before and my ds is around the 2 week mark now and is still complaining that things are different. Equally I know some people and it's only been days, so seems really varied.

A month? Wow!

Such a bizarre virus. On the plus side, maybe I'll lose some weight?!

Mine lasted a couple of weeks but now I'm suffering with phantosmia - I can constantly smell smoke/cigarettes. It's so annoying as we don't smoke! I keep worrying that the house is on fire and that's what I'm smelling but no it's just me hallucinating smoke smells

Had Covid in August - taste is getting better but smell is still missing.

Mine began to come back after a week. Couldn’t taste much at all at first but it’s slowly got better. Taste is pretty much back to normal now (one month after first testing positive), but smell is slower to return. If something has a really strong smell and I put my nose very close to it then I can smell it, but otherwise nothing, although weirdly I get the occasional moment where my sense of smell is supercharged and I can smell everything, but it only lasts a few seconds then goes again.

About a month for me.

My husband is 18 months after covid. He says he says he has 80% of his smell and taste back. But some things still taste awful, and he can't eat chips now. Says they taste awful!!

8 months for my daughter.

Wow, 18 months!

It seems like there is a lot of variation, so I guess I'll have to wait and see. On the plus side, some things still taste pretty normal, so I guess I'm lucky not to have lost my sense of taste altogether. It's just so odd!

It's been nearly 12 months and it's not back properly at all

I hate to say this but 3 months to come back at all, much longer to feel like it was close to normal. However it hasnt fully returned and it's been 9 months. Some foods I used to like I cant stand any more like Cate dor ice cream = tastes like cold water and plain pasta is like mushy nothing.

I also hate most chocolate now but thank God I still love tea. I think chocolate has gone to shite anyway so maybe my taste is ok 🤣. I only know it's not because I still cant taste the ice cream or pasta.

I also agree with a pp about my smell. I can walk into a room that been bleached and it hits me for a few seconds and then it's gone. It was very very handy when I was hospital in April and couldn't smell someone exploding out both ends in the bed next to me. Trying to think of the positives

I’m on day 11 and my taste and smell is 50% back I’d say.

Haha, yes, I'm sure there will be positives!

Still waiting for it to return - had Covid in December hope yours comes back quicker than mine!!!

It varies massively. It was about 2 months for me.

Dhs came back after a week, I’m 4 weeks post infection and I’ve got about 20% taste and smell back. I’m like a pp I get an initial smell or taste faintly then nothing.

I also have a phantom smell of burnt cooking that hasn’t gone yet. I asked Dh every day for a week if our house smelt like burnt food as it’s all I could smell.

There's no way to know. One friend got both back in a week. Another friend still can't smell anything 12 months later.

This is actually my biggest worry about Covid now
Not much attention paid to this topic research-wise, so I don't know if the vaccine helps prevent this?

Losing my sense of taste and smell was a very scary experience. It was probably completely gone for 7 days - then very mildly came back over a few weeks. After about 1.5 months it returned. It's been 2.5 months now and I think I'm back to 100%. Red wine is a good test.

@allsorts1 that's reassuring. Were you vaccinated?

I'm fully vaccinated @Arcadia. Hopefully that might mean it comes back quicker?!