Sense of smell not right after covid

[WickedWitchOfTheTrent]

I had covid at the start of October. All ok now, amongst other things I lost my sense of smell which was really strange. It's back now, but some smells seem to be really strong.

If I cook anything in the oven it takes days to stop smelling burnt food in the house, like really hot oil smell. My family can't smell it. I've not burnt anything but it's awful, I can even smell it in the bedroom.

I can also smell exhaust fumes all day, in the house and outside. So much so it gives me headaches. I've had the boiler serviced (it's oil) a few weeks ago and I even bought a carbon monoxide alarm just in case.

It's making me feel awful. No one else can smell it, my dh and dd can't smell anything, I'm getting the boiler engineer out again just in case

Someone mentioned it might be something to do with covid, has anyone else had anything similar?

Not me, but DD. She got Covid in March 20. The only symptom she had was the loss of smell for about 2 days. She said a cold is worse.

She could not smell normally for months. Most things smelt like rotting fish to her! She said sweat smelt like compost. For instance, July 20 she bought a bottle of her favourite body wash, and she told her bf it smelt off. He smelt it, and said it was fine.

I think her sense of smell has got slightly better, but its not back to normal.

There was something about this in the Guardian this weekend
www.theguardian.com/world/2021/oct/29/toast-or-soiled-nappy-how-covid-can-alter-sense-of-smell-parosmia

One woman says:

“I have two main distorted smells. The first is a chemical-type smell which is present in most toiletries and carbonated drinks. All fragrance and aftershaves have the same disgusting smell, which makes even passing people when shopping intolerable,” she says.

“The second is what I can only liken to the awful smell of a baby’s nappy. All meats, cooked or otherwise, smell of this, along with anything toasting, roasting and frying.”

I had this when I had Covid - I only lost my sense smell for a day but when it came back I had a constant burning/exhaust/petrol type smell, which only went away when I was eating something - then the smell/taste of whatever I was eating kind of overwhelmed the other background smell (food/drink tasted pretty much normal except for the odd thing).

Unfortunately I can't tell you how long it lasted - I had Covid at the end of last year and I've forgotten now, but I think it was probably a couple of weeks. However long it was, it did pass, though interestingly (to me anyway ) I recently had it recur for about a week after my flu jab (I tested for Covid and that all came back negative so I think it was just my body reacting to the flu jab).

I had covid October 2020. I lost my sense of taste and smell until around Christmas.
Since then it has gone into overdrive and most smells are unpleasant and Food too, food that I used to love doesn't taste the same anymore and I have completely gone off any drink except water. It's like being pregnant!

@WickedWitchOfTheTrent

I had covid at the start of October. All ok now, amongst other things I lost my sense of smell which was really strange. It's back now, but some smells seem to be really strong.

If I cook anything in the oven it takes days to stop smelling burnt food in the house, like really hot oil smell. My family can't smell it. I've not burnt anything but it's awful, I can even smell it in the bedroom.

I can also smell exhaust fumes all day, in the house and outside. So much so it gives me headaches. I've had the boiler serviced (it's oil) a few weeks ago and I even bought a carbon monoxide alarm just in case.

It's making me feel awful. No one else can smell it, my dh and dd can't smell anything, I'm getting the boiler engineer out again just in case

Someone mentioned it might be something to do with covid, has anyone else had anything similar?

I've had almost exactly this since april 2020 when I had covid.

No sign of improvement.

constant smell like someone has been smoking in the room, and I hate cigarette smoke.....

I have a similar thing, and have heard anecdotally of others too.

I had Covid in March '20, and have suffered with Long Covid ever since.

Among many other symptoms, my sense of smell seems to be dramatically heightened now.

For examples, I can smell the cat litter from rooms away really strongly; family in the same room say they can barely smell it.

If something is in the oven, I can smell it really strongly, and often think it's burning when it isn't. Outside, I'm sure I can smell drains, but nobody else can.

I wonder if it's all the same thing - we have a stronger sense of smell so can pick up on exhaust from outside, for instance...

Thanks for responding, at least I don't feel like I'm going mad knowing other people have had this too.

It's really odd as somethings I know I should be able to smell, such as poo when I'm changing a nappy I can barely smell, and other things I seem to be able to smell too much, like the burning food or exhaust fumes.

TMI warning!

I had Covid in December which badly affected my smell and taste. It's not fully recovered. The last month or so, to me, my BO smells different and worse and I can also smell a less pleasant smell from my vulval area when I go to the loo. No symptoms of any infections of any kind and vvv unlikely to be. My dd who has very sensitive smell says I smell the same (clothed obviously!!!) but I'm finding it extremely unsettling.

Gosh this is putting the fear of god in me! I tested positive for COVID on Monday last week and by the Wednesday all taste & smell were gone. I'm fully recovered now but still can't smell or taste anything and it's making me really sad but this thread isn't giving me much hope.

I’ve just been speaking to my dr about this yesterday as I’m still having problems with my taste and smell. I had covid in July. It’s weird! I can’t smell great but what I can smell is strange and things like bread and bland food have a chemical smell/taste. I can’t eat bread at the minute because of it. I feel like there’s something up my nose altering every smell. I’m going to the drs on Friday as he wants to have a look as my nose is constantly blocked anyway (I’ve had sinus issues for years) but I mentioned an awful burning sensation I got up my nose when I had covid and he said that sounded like the nerves and they’re known for being very slow to recover from any damage. He did say it’s a new thing that they just not sure of how to resolve it but I hoping if it is nerve damage then it might just take time….I bloody hope anyway!!

@Icantstopeatinglol

I’ve just been speaking to my dr about this yesterday as I’m still having problems with my taste and smell. I had covid in July. It’s weird! I can’t smell great but what I can smell is strange and things like bread and bland food have a chemical smell/taste. I can’t eat bread at the minute because of it. I feel like there’s something up my nose altering every smell. I’m going to the drs on Friday as he wants to have a look as my nose is constantly blocked anyway (I’ve had sinus issues for years) but I mentioned an awful burning sensation I got up my nose when I had covid and he said that sounded like the nerves and they’re known for being very slow to recover from any damage. He did say it’s a new thing that they just not sure of how to resolve it but I hoping if it is nerve damage then it might just take time….I bloody hope anyway!!

I can't stand the smell of bread being toasted now. I used to love it and yes bread in general tastes 'wrong'. I found that brown bread actually wasn't too bad so now I eat that (before I wasn't a big fan of brown bread, oh the irony..)

I also contacted the GP back in January 2021 (by that point it had been 7 months since my sense of smell and taste returned but weren't 'right') and I was basically told 'oh yeah, probably was covid, just have to wait it out or do some smell training' . It's been now over a year since senses came back and still not 100% to where they were before all this happened. If your doctor has any better suggestions of how to resolve this, please can you report back?

It's been very frustrating, my favourite foods and flavours I now can't stand. It took me months to come to terms with it. I am now used to the 'awfulness' and I don't notice as much how odd everything smells.

I'm having new windows put in at the moment and the sealant they are using is making me gag. It's really really strong and giving me a headache. I thought it was just normal until my dh has just told me he can barely smell it.

I'll be sleeping in the garden tonight if it doesn't get any better

I also had a burning sensation in my nose when I had covid, I thought it was because I'd used a new nasal spray

TrussonaBus try not to panic! People who click on this thread are probably those with longer lasting issues to be honest. Most resolve within weeks.

I’ve heard of a few people with covid say that they smell smoke/just nasty smells constantly. 4 weeks on I still don’t really have a sense of smell. I know in the scale of long term problems it’s not the worst but you don’t realise how important your sense of smell is until you don’t have it anymore. Hoping your issues resolve soon!

I had this. I drove myself mad for MONTHS thinking I could smell petrol fumes, thinking my baby was unwell because his nappy smelt so bad, and food smelling almost like chemicals. It was terrible-onions and garlic were almost toxic! It lasted a few months, and I'm mostly back to normal now.

My dd (had covid second half of September) had no smell until last week and now describes a lot of smells as being 'like a roast chicken smell'. She says there is also a smell that makes her think of covid that she gets every so often too.

Op I had covid in May and half of the food and smells I experience I either can't smell them or they smell and taste of bananas (I hate bananas so it's every depressing and im sick of it it's like everything's contaminated by it). It's a strange thing isn't it.

I'm slowly regaining some taste though now.

I can't smell foul smells like peoples trumps, sweat or toileting though so that's a bonus!

I've gone off I'd say about 75% of the foods I used to eat. I'm living off potatoes peas and peanut butter because I can't stomach much else.

11 months here, no sense of taste other than sweet and salty. I can smell a few things but v faintly. Some smells are distorted. There is a support group in FB if you want to join just to meet others in similar situation. Smell training is supposed to help. I didn't find a major improvement though: abscent.org/learn-us/smell-training. I also saw a ENT privately and tried some steroid treatments but it made no difference.

Covid at the beginning of July.. can only sense strong smells, which all smell the same... faintly bleachy/ chemically type fragrance.

This is really worrying me. My taste and sense of smell have been gone for two weeks now. Really pray there is no long term impact

I was hospitalised in August with covid and pneumonia.

I often smell smoke or poo! Some things just don't taste right and I've gone off chocolate!!

I had a few days of my sense of smell being almost back to normal, but today all I can smell is really strong burnt toast. It's awful, like being in a closed room after burning toast, I feel like my hair and clothes must smell too but my dh says it can't smell a thing.

I could have throttled him earlier as he made himself some toast and it's even worse now! I know in the grand scheme of things there's a lot worse to have, but I didn't realise just how much it would get me down

I had covid over a year ago and my sense of smell and taste is still not right. Diminished sense of smell, things smelling wrong eg water smells of bleach, coffee smells of fish and I get weird chemical taste with certain flavours. It’s horrible but I have noticed some recent improvements that coincided with my booster vaccine (Pfizer - I had AZ first time)

Can nolonger eat anything with onion or even a trace of onion powder

I’ve gone from eat anything anywhere to being a bloody fussy eater

My 20-something colleague had Covid at Christmas and still can't really taste or smell much. Hopefully as yours is post-vaccination it won't last as long, but it can be really, really long-lasting.