Loss of smell and taste getting me down

[Isla3354]

Tested positive 14 days ago. Lost my smell and taste completley 6 days ago. It’s really getting me down, I feel so fed up. And looking online is making it worse as there all stories of this lasting months. Any tips on returning these sooner? Or anyone have this and it didn’t lass long. Thank you in advance

I had a hopeful moment where I thought I could very slightly taste my wine earlier, but I think it was just my brain playing tricks

Tobchette- I really hope you have a fast recovery and can smell your little baby! And that is so wierd about the cigarette smoke! I have the exact same.
@justbananas42- I can’t normally drink wine it is too strong for me and DH bought me some, drank most of the bottle 😬
Still absolutley nothing for me!!

Smell training may be helpful for those who have lost their sense of smell. It's basically smelling the same 4 smells every day and really concentrating on doing it. There's info here from Fifth Sense, who have a lot of resources on anosmia and parosmia. www.fifthsense.org.uk/smell-training/

The chemical/manmade smells of parosmia are just a thing I believe, rather than any insight into Covid particularly. I know a few people who had it long before Covid and they all ended up smelling either diesel or poo.

The info on Covid smell recovery on the Fifth Sense page is also pretty encouraging for recovery: www.fifthsense.org.uk/covid-19-introduction/

Go on to the website Abscent.
There are loads of resources around as contrary to what most people think loss of taste or smell was around pre Covid so there's plenty of stuff out there about it and what you can do.
You need to start treatment as early as possible for the best chance of recovery.

I had Covid in October and completely lost my sense of taste and smell. It was the most weird symptom for me and I found it really distressing. It started to come back after about a week and a month on has come back loads but not 100% yet. I agree with taking zinc as apparently that helps with sense of smell which I did and also keep trying to smell really strong smells like olbas oil which at first I couldn’t smell at all and then after about a week I could get a hint of it until it eventually improved.

I’m on day 4 with no smell or taste now. Am trying to stay positive but it’s totally miserable.

Smell is now back, lovely smell of washing powder in the supermarket isle started it off. That's 4-5 days for taste and just over two weeks for smell. Hope it comes back for everyone quickly, it is quite stressful.

I've been taking zinc and sniffed Tiger Balm for 20 secs x2 each day. At first I couldn't smell the Tiger Balm at all. No idea if it helped.

I miss nice smells. Almost 5 weeks of nothingness, apparently the bin reeked the other day, don't miss that.

@kessiebird that’s brilliant! So happy for you.
I had pickled onion crisps last night and I could taste them! Was very faint but I could. I would say both my smell and taste is around 20%. Can’t wait for it to fully come back I want to taste my Christmas dinner!

I'm on day 6 of loss of smell and taste and its definitely slowly coming back. I could smell just the vaguest hint of bacon cooking last night and I can taste that something is sweet or salty but can't quite catch the flavour yet.

Mine was a couple of weeks. I kept smelling lots of different strong things and that seemed to help when the smell was coming back.

It will come back OP.🌸

Lots of positive stories! So happy to hear. It really can be so distressing. X

Day 5 with no taste or smell here and still nothing! Starting to panic

@justbananas42 mine is far from 100% yet! It will happen don’t worry.

May sound strange but my nose constantly feels blocked, but it’s clear. It’s weird, but really not a nice feeling it makes me feel suffocated. Does anybody else have this?

Things don’t taste as distorted anymore - so when I drink a glass of wine I don’t get a chemical/fumes taste now, I just get nothing. I’m hoping that’s a good sign?

Well I've been taking zinc and sticking vitamin A drops up my nose today and yesterday, and I'm starting to taste a bit. Fingers crossed!

@justbananas42

Me too OP - lost mine yesterday. It’s devastating.

No it's not, it's just bloody irritating! I lost mine for 6 weeks. Pain in the arse.

No it's not, it's just bloody irritating!

Maybe not for you, but it’s devastating to me. I adore food, cooking is my hobby and brings me a lot of pleasure.

Some good news - I think I got a very faint taste of the jam on my toast this morning! I’m still not convinced if it was real or if my brain was playing tricks though.

@justbananas42 so sorry! I can see why it would get you down then.

@Unreasonabubble thank you. It's the not knowing how long this could last that I'm finding particularly hard. If I knew it would definitely come back in a week's time I could deal with it better, but there's no end date

@justbananas42 what have you tried so far to regain your smell and taste?

I'm hoping mine comes back soon, I've lost weight as no interest in food. I've literally been eating plain spaghetti with olive oil and chilli flakes just to fill my tummy! Everything else tastes like cardboard or too sweet.

Husband said his returned after a few days.

On the plus side, I was able to clear up cat sick without gagging.

Silver linings.