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

@LynetteScavo I'm just eating my usual diet really, with a bit more spice added in. I think I'm tasting and smelling a tiny bit now, but it's so minimal that I can't tell if it's actual taste and smell or just my brain playing tricks, IYSWIM. Is your taste back now?

DH has Covid and hasn't lost his taste/smell. He's a lot worse in terms of other symptoms than me though.

@justbananas42 Yesterday I had about 10% taste, today even more, I'd say about 30%. I've been taking high doses of zinc, shoving vitamin a drops up my nose before eating (these really do seem to work!) and sniffing things a lot. I think smell training says four smells,but I'm doing all the smells. I've been through my complete herb and spice collection. I decided to eat as normal and imagine the taste, and I think it's helped somehow.

I first tested positive on 21 Oct.

I can smell a little now but it's the overwhelming waves of phantom chemical smell that are getting me down most.

Can't smell cat poo though 🤣

I had covid in sept and my taste and smell is pretty much back to normal except I can't smell bad smells, I can't smell if the litter tray needs cleaned or the bathroom or the if the dog needs a bath. In some ways it's great but I do wonder how bad my house smells 😂

My taste came back after about 8 days smell took ages but that's a bit annoying but OK if you can enjoy food and wine.

My taste seems to be best in the morning and get worse as the day goes on, unless I’m imagining it. I’ll see how I get on with my dinner tonight.

[quote justbananas42]@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 [/quote]
Tell yourself in 6 weeks you'll be back to normal, anything earlier will be a bonus. Try and keep a bit of positivity.

My taste came back fairly quickly (though not convinced its 100%). Sadly my smell is not right after 6 weeks. I can smell some things vaguely, like the vanilla airfreshener. But mostly i smell smoke. Whatever my husband and house smelt like before now smells of smoke. If i leave the house it stops. We only realised something was weird when i kept shouting my husband that something was burning and he'd rush to me and couldnt smell smoke at all. (Still its vaguely better than the day where all i could smell was poo!). Heres hoping your smell returns without too much issue.

Hang on in there - I had it a year ago Nov7th 2020 - thought taste would never come back but it did. One night we had fish and chips, like eating cardboard, couldn't even taste a pickled onion...but then...I bit into one of those big, chip shop gherkins - and I could taste it ! I don't know if it was the combination of sweet and sour stimulating my taste buds but it worked. Also found Bendicks Mints, the really strong ones were the next thing I could taste . I remember reading somewhere it's as if your taste buds have been sunburnt - you have to wait for them to heal. On top of this, I used to get this strange smell, oily/petrol/burning/chemical odour that would appear under my nose for a few seconds then go, that was in the first few weeks of covid and eventually stopped.

''Still its vaguely better than the day where all i could smell was poo!).''
Yes! I had this too - had forgotten that as it was mainly chemical smell....

I’m not getting bad smells now - just… nothing

@userxx Going to try and get into that mindset it’s a positive way to try look at it

Isn’t it strange we all have that chemically/smoke smell

I'm mid Covid and my taste and smell abilities disappeared a few days ago. SO peculiar and horrid.
Taking hope from others that it doesn't last long!

I used to come regularly sniff the vinegar, coffee and coconut shampoo as this supposed to be an easy aroma indicators.
Eventually , slowly day by day my smell and taste come back completely.

@RosieRoww how long would you say from first loosing your smell and taste to getting back completely would you say?

I got a proper whiff of cigarettes from someone..... except they don't smoke! Weird :)

Today I've got even more taste and smell back - I'd say
60%. I've been brewing coffee just to smell it, but today I've been drinking it. It tastes like weak coffee, but I've brewed it quite strong.

I'm still sniffing lots of things, and sticking Vitamin A up my nose.

[quote Isla3354]@RosieRoww how long would you say from first loosing your smell and taste to getting back completely would you say?[/quote]
I would say one week.

I would say one week.

I lost my sense of taste and smell a week ago today. I’m now getting very faint smells of certain things if I hold them to my nose, but still no taste. It’s a small improvement I suppose.

I had Covid first week of Oct, I still can't smell or taste anything yet 😔 I'm remaining hopeful it will come back!

@justbananas42 - I am the exactly the same as you. Love cooking and eating - at Christmas it is a huge part of the celebrations and preparations for me. I am one day in and really really sad about it. How long did it take for you to get it back?

I lost mine in October too, it was actually starting to come back, then I got my booster 🙈 almost instantly I had a horrible acidic taste in my mouth and after a week it’s still there. It’s altered everything again for me. So frustrating!!

@LynetteScavo - can I ask what strength the zinc supplements you took were? I am on day 2 of no taste or smell and feeling so sad. I feel like I am missing out on a huge part of Christmas.

Do none of you lose your sense of taste and smell when you have a cold? I always do for several days, but it does come back. May be linked as the common cold is a coronavirus.