[ad_1]
When Jennifer Sopko contracted COVID-19 at the end of December, she mostly experienced mild symptoms, a bit of congestion, a bit of sniffling, and a headache that came and went. By the fifth day, however, she lost her ability to smell. On New Years Eve, she ordered takeout and noticed her boneless wings didn’t taste exactly the right way.
“Anytime I smelled them, you know the Buffalo sauce, it was like a sharp, weird sensation in my nose. I knew something was going on, ”the 38-year-old Pittsburgh historian and writer said today. “It really is the most bizarre experience. It’s hard to describe to someone who hasn’t experienced it.
A few weeks later, she thinks she has recovered some of her smell and taste, but that’s not what she remembered.
“I don’t think I really taste or smell the flavors of food,” she says. “I ate a bowl of chicken noodle soup. I couldn’t taste the flavor, but my tongue could tell it was salty.
The impact of COVID-19 on smell and taste
Sopko is not alone. Experts believe that a majority of people with COVID-19 will experience “measurable odor dysfunction.”
“It’s more common with COVID than with any other viral disorder. It often happens that many people lose their sense of smell and say their sense of taste, ”said Pam Dalton, faculty member at the Monell Chemical Senses Center in Philadelphia today. “But usually it’s the flavor that wanes when you lose your ability to smell.”
Anyone who has had a bad cold knows that it can affect both smell and taste. But the reasons differ. When people lose their ability to smell when dealing with a sinus infection or a cold, it is often because mucus is preventing the nose from doing its job.
“Part of that with the common cold is really due to nasal congestion,” explained Dalton. “The molecule just can’t get into the nose where the receptor is.”
But what’s happening with COVID-19 seems different: Experts believe it targets the neurons responsible for smell.
“Infection and loss of supporting cell function results in the loss of olfactory sensory neurons,” Dr Claire Hopkins, professor of rhinology at King’s College London, said by email. “Fortunately, these have a unique ability in the nervous system to regenerate – and most patients still recover, but that can take months.”
But for those like Sopko or 18-year-old Avery Brennan, not being able to smell is frustrating and upsetting.
“Oct. 3, I tested positive. I lost my taste and smell three days later,” a freshman from the University of Florida at Gainesville said today. “I don’t know how to describe it It’s like I have this taste in my mouth that when I eat food everything tastes like this Everything smells like that It’s just a bitter taste.
Hopkins said that while it could be painful, it could be a positive sign.
“Many people who lose their sense of smell develop parosmia during their recovery, a distorted sense of smell that is often smelly or unpleasant. We believe this reflects the improper functioning of recovering sensory neurons, ”she said. “In general, it’s a positive predictor of long-term recovery, but it can last for months and have a major impact on appetite and quality of life.”
Odor training offers hope
People who lose their sense of smell can help strengthen their senses by trying something called scent training, which involves sniffing scents to stimulate the senses. Dalton said a dozen articles looked at odor training before COVID-19 and found it to work.
“Odor training is actually effective,” she says. “There was just one recent study of post-viral olfactory loss therapies. Of all the things they looked at… the only thing they recommended was scent training.
Researchers have looked at other therapies – including vitamin A, omega-3 supplements, antibiotics, or various steroid treatments – with mixed results. Odor training remains easy to do at home with an added expense: Dalton recommends that people choose four or five different scents that smell different but are easily recognizable.
“You have to remember what it felt like before you lost your ability to smell. It’s very useful, ”she says. “You can choose your shampoo. You can choose any scent you like. You can go to your kitchen cabinet and take out some spices.
How to regain your sense of smell after COVID-19
Hopkins, who has worked with UK nonprofit AbScent, an organization that supports anyone affected by anosmia or smell disorders, says research shows four scents work well:
“(They) cover four of the major different scent groups,” she said. “You can use other things – but coffee is a common parosmia trigger and 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. Scent has a strong relationship with memory, so thinking about the scent of lemons while imagining their scent strengthens the process.
“Smell and memory are very closely linked in the cortex, the part of the brain that deals with emotion and memory. It is actually physically connected to the main areas of scent processing, ”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. “The smells can evoke very strong memories,” she says. “One of the biggest losses reported by some of my COVID patients is not being able to smell their newborns.”
The only thing Brennan can smell is the scent she’s worn for years. But it could be because she remembers it so strongly.
“I wore it everyday,” she says. “I don’t know if it’s just because I’ve worn it so regularly, but for some reason it’s the only scent I can smell.”
While people feel distressed that they cannot smell or even smell and taste something dirty or metallic, there is hope. Experts believe people can regain their scent, it may take time.
“It can be very difficult for patients because the loss of smell has a significant impact that can be difficult to understand,” Hopkins said.
[ad_2]
Source link