When Jennifer Sopko contracted COVID-19 in late December, she had generally mild symptoms, a little congestion, a little sniffle and a headache that “came and went”. On the fifth day, however, she lost the ability to smell. On New Year’s Eve, she ordered take-out food and noticed that her boneless wings didn’t taste exactly right.
“Whenever I smelled them, you know, that Buffalo sauce, it was like a sharp, strange feeling in my nose. I knew something was up, ”the 38-year-old Pittsburgh historian and writer told TODAY. “It is truly the most bizarre experience. It is difficult to describe to someone who has not been there. “
A few weeks later, she thinks she has recovered some of her smell and taste, but it is not what she remembered.
“I don’t think I’m really experiencing the flavors of the food or smelling it,” she said. “I was eating a bowl of chicken noodle soup. I couldn’t taste it, but my tongue realized it was salty. “
Impact of COVID-19 on smell and taste
Sopko is not alone. Experts believe that most people with COVID-19 will experience “some measurable olfactory dysfunction”.
“It is more common with COVID than with any other viral disease. It is common for many people to lose their sense of smell and say their taste, ”said Pam Dalton, a professor at the Monell Chemical Senses Center in Philadelphia, at TODAY. “But it is usually the taste that diminishes when you lose the ability to smell.”
Anyone who has caught a bad cold knows that it can affect smell and taste. But the reasons are different. When people lose their ability to smell when they fight a sinus infection or cold, it’s usually because the mucus prevents the nose from doing its job.
“Part of the common cold is actually due to nasal congestion,” explained Dalton. “The molecule just can’t get to the nose, where the receptor is.”
But what happens with COVID-19 looks different: experts believe it targets the neurons responsible for the smell.
“Infection and loss of support cell function leads to loss of sensory olfactory neurons,” said Dr. Claire Hopkins, professor of rhinology at King’s College London, in an email. “Fortunately, they have a unique ability to regenerate the nervous system – and most patients still recover, but it may take months for that to happen.”
But for anyone who likes Sopko or Avery Brennan, 18, not being able to smell is frustrating and disturbing.
“October 3, I tested positive. I lost my taste and smell three days later, ”the freshman at the University of Florida in Gainesville told TODAY. “I don’t know how to describe it. It’s like I have a taste in my mouth that when I eat, everything tastes the same. Everything smells like this. It’s just a bitter taste. “
Hopkins said that while it can be distressing, it can be a positive sign.
“Many people who lose their sense of smell develop parosmia during recovery, a distorted sense of smell, which is often unpleasant or unpleasant. We think this reflects the recovery of malfunctioning sensory neurons, ”she said. “In general, it is a positive indicator for long-term recovery, but it can last for months and can have a major impact on appetite and quality of life.”
Smell training offers hope
People who lose their sense of smell can help strengthen their senses by trying something called smell training, which involves people smelling scents to awaken sense. Dalton said that about a dozen newspapers have examined pre-COVID-19 olfactory training and found it to work.
“Smell training is really effective,” she said. “There was only one recent study of therapies for post-viral olfactory loss. Of all the things they looked at … the only thing they recommended was the smell training. “
The researchers looked at other therapies – including vitamin A, omega-3 supplements, antibiotics or various steroid treatments – with mixed results. Smell training remains easy to do at home with an additional expense: Dalton recommends that people choose four or five different smells, but they are easily recognizable.
“You need to remember how you smelled before you lost the ability to smell. This is very useful, ”she said. “You can choose your shampoo. You can choose a fragrance that you like. You can go to the kitchen cupboard and get some spices. “
How to recover your sense of smell after COVID-19
Hopkins, who works with British nonprofit AbScent, an organization that supports anyone affected by anosmia or olfactory disorders, says the research shows that four scents work well:
“(They) cover four of the main groups of different smells,” she said. “You can use other things – but coffee is a common trigger for parosmia and it may not be ideal.”
Dalton recommends that people smell each scent for 10 seconds with a few “slow, deep breaths” while thinking about what they are trying to smell. AbScent recommends that people do this twice a day for four months. The smell has a strong relationship with memory, so pondering how lemons smell while imagining their scent reinforces the process.
“Smell and memory are closely linked in the cortex, the part of the brain that deals with emotion and memory. In fact, it is physically connected to the primary olfactory processing areas, ”she said. “The phenomenon of smelling something and feeling like you’ve been taken back in time travel … is a very common experience.”
Hopkins agrees. “Smells can evoke very strong memories,” she said. “One of the biggest losses reported by some of my patients with COVID is the inability to smell their newborn babies.”
The only thing Brennan can smell is the perfume she has used for years. But it may be because she has a very strong memory of it.
“I used it every day,” she said. “I don’t know if it’s just because I used it so consistently, but for some reason this is the only smell I can smell.”
As long as people feel distressed that they cannot smell or just smell and taste something dirty or metallic, there is hope. Experts believe that people can recover the smell, but it can take some time.
“This can be very difficult for patients as the loss of smell has a significant impact that can be difficult to understand,” said Hopkins.