So scared my taste/smell won’t come back

[justbananas42]

I’ve got Covid. I started feeling unwell on Wednesday then lost my sense of taste and smell yesterday. Symptoms are otherwise mild (like a very minor cold) at the moment.

To anyone else who’s experienced this - how long did it take for your taste and smell to return?

It’s miserable getting no pleasure out of eating and drinking!

Im one day behind you and lost my smell and taste today. Hoping it returns soon

I'm 35 weeks pregnant and have Covid, lost taste and smell. I'm really worried I won't be able to smell my baby when he's born.

DS3 tested positive mid-August.
can't smell or taste any flavours, he can taste sweet/salty/sour but that's it.

he is 16.
I get upset every time someone brings it up because I worry that this is it.
But he says he doesn't mind, he's used to it now and he's actually happy he can't smell bad smells.
He never used to eat eggs as he hates the smell & taste but now he eats them everyday to up his protein intake because he can! 🤣
bless him

Caught it in January, still hasn't gone back to normal (I can smell some things, but most things taste very very wrong).
Sorry, not what you want to hear but you did ask!

My nephew had covid back in August. The day he got it my sister cooked chicken for dinner. He now says everything savoury tastes like chicken. Very odd!

Any positive stories? Could it come back after 5 days or so?

Took 10 days to get even a slight smell back, lost 6lbs (good thing!) as eating with no taste is miserable. But by a month after initial infection it was normal

Mine came back after about 4 weeks, but still not 100% - getting there though.

I lost mine yesterday and I'm already miserable about not being able to smell or taste anything. I reckon I could eat a lemon no bother

I'm on day 11 since covid symptoms started and my usually acute sense of smell has disappeared completely. Makes emptying cat litter trays much less unpleasant! Food and drink don't taste right either. Sweet things are better than savoury, but I have no appetite or enjoyment of food at the moment.

Mine stared to slowly come back after 3 or 4 days. Wasn't quite right for about 2 weeks but back to normal now.

I've not had it (yet) so I can't advise on how long it might take to come back, but I did have another completely unrelated virus in the past which left me with some permanent effects. At the time I was told I had made this worse by over-exerting myself.

It's pure guesswork but based on my experience the best thing you can do is to make sure you rest properly and not throw yourself back into work etc., make sure you get a full 8 hours sleep per night, eat healthily but most of all rest, to give your body the best chance of recovery.

Fingers crossed for 4 weeks. My morning coffee was not pleasant and that's my favourite part of the day before the kids get up.

I was like you. Very scared it wouldn't come back. But as @DialSquare it was all back to normal within 2 weeks.

DH and Dd had it in August. Took about 4 weeks, but back to normal now.

Thanks. I’m really freaking out

Had it January, taste and smell came back slowly starting at 3 weeks, both at different paces. Smell wise in recovery a weird burning smell took over for weeks, then a weird sweet but horrible smell. It mostly evened out after 3 months, but then came changes to smell.

I can't eat onions or eggs as they don't even smell like them, I could vomit, and have, at the smell of them, they were some fave foods previously. I still have weird phantom smells, sometimes even fresh air smells bad, my body smells weird. Town centres smell like death (maybe cigarettes, food cooking? Exhaust fumes?).

Some people just get over it though, my partner had it at the same time and his recovered completely with zero issues. Don't worry, just see what happens and know that it takes time for some people to recover/heal. I'm sure we'll all get there eventually, but it can take time.