When you have Covid, you think once you test negative it's all done and dusted and life gets back to normal. Only it really isn't like that for a LOT of people, and I'm not talking about Long-Covid, which affects a small percentage of people. I'm talking about anosmia (absolutely NO smell, at all) and Parosmia (a distortion of the olfactory chemical process). The whole weird, broken nose thing.
Photo by Anne Nygård on Unsplash
I tested positive here in Thailand on March 6th, after 2 days of a scratchy, hoarse throat and body-head aches. It wasn't till about the 3rd day after relentless sneezing that I one morning discovered anosmia. Everything I tried to smell or eat was, err, nothing. Most disturbing, really, to crave a coffee and then feel unsatiated cos you didn't SMELL it at all and it had basically the same vibe as drinking plain hot water.
I was sick for about 12 days - 8 of those feeling MOST unwell at home with flu symptoms, sneezing, mild laryngitis and just the worst headache ever. I used only a bit of paracetamol when the headache was so bad I couldn't sleep, and other than that I used home-brewed probiotics, a Thai herb (andrographis paniculata) which even the Thai hospitals here recommend, and supplemental zinc.
It wasn't till after I tested negative finally on Day 12 that I swapped the anosmia for parosmia - a distortion of my olfactory process. Suddenly, all I could smell, most of the day, was the smell of bakery in the oven that is just getting a little too brown. Now, a month later, I have that overwhelming smell about 20 hours/day. It's the FIRST THING I become aware of on waking. And yesterday, for the first time, I became aware of a second smell "stuck in my nose" for literally hours - the smell of meat being browned, Dutch style, in butter.
It's been affecting my appetite and leaving me with the feeling that I've already eaten. It's also weird to eat spicy mushrooms and broccoli stir fried with brown rice and to SMELL and TASTE about-to-be-just-too-brown freshly baked cookies.
Clinical studies show 65.7% of recovered covid patients present with some level of parosmia, and some 10% showing severe symptoms and altered quality of life. As many as 50% of patients present with a foul odor or metallic smell. Average duration is 3-6 months, and treatments for parosmia (from smell training to topical steroids) have not proven very effective. Over 73% of patients reporting parosmia are female.
How grateful and lucky am I that I'm smelling only about-to-get-too-dark bakery and browning meat.
We talked about it at the office today and how weird it is, and one of my Thai staff commented very matter-of-factly that it's because I'm a good person.
"When your nose stops working, your brain smells your heart and what you eat a lot in your life. If your body is dirty inside, you smell yourself from the inside. You lucky that you detox and smell only nice things from when you were young."
I kinda really LOVE this explanation, but suspect that if I was smelling rotting fish 20 hours/day, I might have a different response. 🤣 And I LOVE the way Asian health folklore comes into being.
So, have YOU ever had Covid and suffered with weird smells during your recovery? How long did it last? Did anything particularly help?
Hit me up in the comments below? There's so little written about this and I'm really curious if others have theories about how and why this phenomena occurs, and how long it took to regain "normal" smell. I have read a few reports of people regaining a much more acute sense of smell after their full recovery, and am curious to know how widespread that is - cos heck, that could be GREAT in my Thai herbal products business and TERRIBLE at the Thai fresh market on a really hot day. 😆
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