Please can anyone tell me positive stories on regaining smell and taste, thanks

[Staystrong7]

I lost smell and taste after covid and this is my 8th week. I'll get a burst of smell of something but will disappear or i'll smell something up close and will only get a hint and then gone, not stable everyday.
I've read so many sad stories that has caused anxiety and not able to sleep anymore.
Please can anyone tell me only positive stories of regaining smell and taste, thanks.
Let's get through this togetherxx

I wish for no one to go through this as it can take it's toll on you mentally and physically.
Sorry everyone, I sound so silly as there is so many other worst things happening in the world but unfortunately, this has affected me:(
Anxiety is high for me and now not able to sleep anymore.

This hasn't happened to me but I am fully aware how depressing it must be as there is so much joy in smelling and tasting food. Remember that statistically you are highly likely to regain these senses so try not to get too anxious about it. Do smell training if you are not already doing this. Anecdotally, I know of one man who lost his sense of taste and smell for a year, then after a night out and a few beers he fully regained his senses the next day, who knows, maybe relaxing and enjoying himself helped.

My freind lost hers totally after covid.
She went to an alteemative health shop by chance amd sniffed lots of insence ( which she could not actually smell!) That night she had full in headache.the next am her sense of taste and smell.was fully returned ! She says water now tastes lovley and food out of this world !

{mention:Olly2021}and@Givemesunshines, thank you for the positiveness. This is silly, i cry daily. For thinking the worst, jas caused anxiety and sleeping problems that i'm not able to reverse😔
Please everyone keep sending your positive stories, thanksxxx

I sniffed peppermint oil when I lost my smell/taste with Covid - someone recommended it and it worked for me!

I lost my taste and smell in October last year and it’s almost fully back now.

I sympathise as it was really upsetting at the time. I missed everything so much and felt very vulnerable and fragile.

Even if it takes a long time, most people do get both senses back

I had original covid, which seems to be worse than omicron for damaging taste and smell. It took almost a year with no smell (taste came back fairly quickly( but then over just a few days suddenly all smell returned.

Mine took 6 months to come back (original Covid tho, not Omicron)
It's not the same as it was...things taste different and I still need strong flavours, salty is better, but it did eventually return!

Thank you everyone for your positive storiesxxx
Let's keep this going so anyone that is going through this like you did, will have a place to refer to so that they know, it will come back and not lose hopexx
Bless you all for sharing your positive storiesx

Take zinc.

I lost my sense of smell after covid in November. It upset me, more than I admitted. But worse than the loss was from January the fact that wind and running water smelled rancid. Like rancid vegetation mixed with bleach.

A relative suggested zinc, started taking it in June. I can now smell most things, and most of those things smell the way I know they are meant to smell. It started coming back in... July I think.

It could have been a coincidence, I don't think it was. I'm very glad to be able to smell again.

Did anyones taste return first before smell? Please can someone have a positive story to share on this, thanks x

Yes, my taste returned first. Slightly altered though. But it has begun to return to normal, especially in the last few months. Again, this could be the zinc, could be just time since covid.

Yes, my taste returned first. It has been 10 months since I had Covid, and my taste is fully back (although there is one type of sweetener that now tastes like rotten meat, but luckily it mainly seems to be in artificially sweetened and flavoured drinks, so easy to avoid). My sense of taste returned within a few weeks.
my sense of smell is still getting there, I say that I now get one or two smells a day!

You can try to retrain yourself. My neighbour found it helpful.
www.fifthsense.org.uk/smell-training/

Thank you everyone for your supportxxx

@ThorsBedazzler, Which zinc supplements did you take? Thanks

It took 3 months for my sense of smell to come back. Every day I tried to smell coffee beans, cut lemons, also some essential oils that I had lying around. (I had read somewhere that trying to smell strong aromas helped you to regain your sense of smell). Maybe it would have come back anyway but I'm glad I did it.

In the meantime I focussed on enjoying foods with different textures since I couldn't taste them. It was really weird as I found myself enjoying food for different reasons, eg they were super-crunchy, or satisfyingly chewy etc.

Good luck OP! Hope your sense of smell comes back very soon.

@Staystrong7 I got some from amazon! Mobu? Whatever was on offer I think.

@ThorsBedazzler, thanks for confirmingx
@stillsmilingtoday, thanks for your kind words and for sharing your story too, truly happy you regained your smellx
There has been so many sad stories that it has now traumatized me, and put me in the state i'm currently in.
I hope to see more people share more positive stories so others know that there is light at the end of the tunnelx

@ThorsBedazzler - you have shown strength going through what you did. I hope i can try do the same.

Everyone that has posted here, you've all shown amazing strength to get through what you did💪

Mind took about three months. I’d read about “smell training” kits you could buy online which were very ££, so I bought eucalyptus, clove, and lavender oils which did seem to help (and were much cheaper to buy from the pharmacy!). I started to get odd wafts of things, not always correct either - for example I was out for lunch with a friend and thought someone was eating really strong fish nearby but no-one was - and then gradually could smell more and more. Once smell came back taste was right behind it.

I found it really distressing OP. I was paranoid about smelling myself and constantly asking DP/colleagues to sniff me if I had been hot/sweaty. My DP travels a lot for work and I almost blew the house up by putting the grill on but it hadn’t clicked in properly and was just spewing out gas which I couldn’t smell. I didn’t eat meat any time he was away because I was afraid of anything being “bad” and not able to tell.

I lost my sense of smell for about 12 weeks (I think) but smell training definitely helped. It's also recommended on the NHS website. Get two bottles of different essential
oil (I had peppermint and rosemary), keep your finger on one nostril and inhale deeply and then switch sides. Do it twice a day and all being well, you'll gradually be able to start smelling again. Mine came back after the 12 week mark. 👍🏼

I lost mine completely for about 3 weeks. I too found it very distressing.

Taste came back first, very slightly, and then very gradually has returned to nearly normal. Smell was a bit weird for a while, but now ok.

Sounds like yours is gradually coming back OP? Don't despair, it does return eventually.