Long Covid permanent smoke smell inside nose

[Diedrewas]

Has anyone has this? I don’t know if I have long Covid but I have ongoing debilitating fatigue and arrhythmia after Covid infection.

I constantly have the smell of strange chemical smoke inside my nose, sounds stupid but so fed up.

I have this. Mine is sort of like chlorine mixed with smoke. Very odd. Started in holiday. Felt fine then 2 weeks later I have what I guess is covid and it's awful now. Can't smell or taste anything. When were you ill op?

@shewolfmum July! Sorry you have it too.

It lasted a long time for me. Many months, but not all the time. The gaps between episodes gradually increased. Catching a cold, or any illness really, triggered it every time. Overall, I think maybe 2-2.5 years. But not constantly! And since the last episode I've had a couple of colds without it coming back. 🤞

I have this. A bonfire smell but not all the time, exactly as Dilbertian says. It's been 18 months now and episodes are less frequent. I also have problems with my hearing due to the same bout of covid, which don't seem to have improved.

Strange isn’t it. I wonder what causes the Smokey smell? Nerve damage?

I had this after Covid, it started about 5 months after infection. The smoke smells started when my smell started to return, I had no smell before that. My smell mostly returned to normal after about 9 months, but I still struggle to identify if meat is off now nearly 4 years on.

Abscent helped me get my smell back by using their smell training advice

https://abscent.org.uk/about-smell-loss/

With the other symptoms it got better over time, I still have to pace around my fatigue but it is so much better now. How long has it been since your infection?

I had exactly that same horrible burning smell for months after covid and it really depressed me. Smell training quickly got rid of it in the end. You need to buy 4 essential oils - lemon, cloves, rose and eucalyptus and sniff them in turn up each nostril 2 or 3 times a day. Works like magic.
Googling Smell Training tells you various methods to do this, some involving diluting the oils with water in jars, using cotton pads etc. but just sniffing direct from the bottles worked for me.
Good luck.

I did this too and it really helped, I found no sense of smell really alarming /depressing.

Hi @Diedrewas I don't actually have the smoke thing now (though have had it in the past when fannying about with HRT. Couldn't relax in bed- kept checking smoke alarm!)
However, I do have the fatigue and I think arrhythmias you mention- at any rate horrible palpitations that wake me in the night and I only sleep in 2-3 hour bursts- having taken aaages to fall asleep- also pronounced nightmares
My mood has plummeted as well and it feels more than just because of fatigue
I'm feeling quite desperate to be honest!
I'm def not as physically ill with it though- rough first 4 weeks or so, then gradual improvement
Like you I've had symptoms since July- mine started 26th July to be precise
Is this long covid? I'm really scared of having that- when does covid become long covid, I wonder
I do hope you're feeling better and that your sense of smell returns quickly

The first time DH had covid he couldn't taste properly for about 9 months afterwards. It did get better and is back to normal now just might take time, horrible though

Thank you! Your username made me laugh 🤣 I had the arrhythmia and fatigue before and it got better. Plenty of good sleep is key and all the usual stuff fruit and veg, water, avoid big stressors. Not exactly easy! My worst thing is post exertional fatigue. It’s like mind games because I look fine and I’ll be fine and so I’ll try to undertake a normal day and then I get awful crashes of fatigue like low blood sugar feeling crossed with sedative.

thank you very much- glad fatigue/palpitations are no longer a feature for you- gives me hope. Hope your crashes rectify too :)

I only sleep in 2-3 hour bursts- having taken aaages to fall asleep

This was a nightmare (ha ha) for me. The best thing that helped me was to buy a Pillowtalk speaker and listen to audiobooks with my eyes shut. But they had to be very specific books: firstly, the narrator's voice had to be very soothing, secondly, they had to be either books that I already knew well, or books where not much happens, so that I would not get too interested and find myself staying awake for FOMO. A perfect example is The Remains of the Day narrated by Dominic West.

I'd set the app to switch off after 1hr, and would just switch it on again if I woke in the night.

It has made an amazing difference. As I remember from when my dc napped, it's actually easier to go to sleep if you are not over-tired. If you are chronically exhausted, your unconscious mind is constantly fighting to stay awake. Then you go to bed, but nobody has told your unconscious to stop fighting. Listening to an audiobook gives your mind something to do instead of fighting to stay awake, and gradually becomes a sleep cue.

That's my theory, anyway.

@BustyCrustacean thank you, there are more and more developments every day in treating this so don’t suffer alone, I would see your gp if things persist.

I had covid badly in 2021for about 3 months and the phantom smoke smell was my only long term symptom. It eventually wore off after about a year.
I got it again this year and the smoke smell came back but disappeared after about 6 weeks.

Mine is sort of chemical not really smoke ammonia or I am not sure quite what....