The bizarre COVID side effect no one is talking about

AJ+ ^ | 8/7/21 | AJ+

[DallasBiff]

A subset of COVID survivors are suffering from an unexpected side effect known as parosmia, a condition that causes their sense of smell to go haywire. Coffee smells like sewage and chicken smells like rotting garbage. Yara set out to learn how COVID is doing this to people, and what life is like when you smell and taste all the wrong things with no end in sight

[frogjerk]

I never lost my sense of smell but did have a weird feeling in my nose like chlorine up your nose from pool water for about 5 days when I had the Szechuan sniffles.

[toast]

You mean my farts don’t really smell like roses?

[Stravinsky]

Video may or may not be good (haven’t seen it), but that’s definitely a clickbait title. Loss of smell/taste for a potentially significant amount of time is one of the major things discussed about COVID.

[al baby]

Everything is chemical

[Magic Fingers]

I got it from taking Diamox to prevent altitude sickness. Beer tasted like soapy dishwater (like dishwater smells - I never drank any).

[TexasCruzin]

Must be dain bramage.

[DallasBiff]

I still smell cigarettes after a year and a half,

I do also. I'm in a smoke free place and it all of the sudden smells like my Aunt's 1975 Buick Riverea.

[glimmerman70]

Thanks. I am starting at this point to worry. It’s very strange.. Sometimes I smell weird smells I remember but has nothing to do with where I am.

[glimmerman70]

Thought about it.

[ifinnegan]

No one’s talking about it because it’s rare.

I’m not saying it’s not real. The loss of smell is an interesting symptom of Covid and this would seem related.

[Mr Fuji]

I’m six months post-covid and my sense of smell hasn’t fully returned. At first, I couldn’t smell anything at all for several weeks. When my sense of smeel started to come I wanted to puke on some of the scent of certain “normal” things.

The things that smell normal, I can’t smell as well or I should say it isn’t as strong.

Here are some things that still don’t smell right, which affects the taste of the edible items.

Coffee grounds, garlic, peanut butter, grilled foods, flowers and soap.

I’m really starting to wonder if I’ll even fully recover.

[DJ Frisat]

Over the years, I’ve had several episodes of this, lasting for a few days to a few months. I couldn’t get over the fact that one of life’s most pleasant aromas - that of freshly-ground coffee - smelled absolutely awful during these periods. And most other things had no smell at all.

I have not had Covid, and have wondered if it would trigger a similar, or worse, occurrence. Hoping not to find out…

[TexasCruzin]

There’s plenty of NAC available on Ebay. I just recently ordered a new bottle. 600 mg.

[Mr Fuji]

I still smell nasty, damp cigarette smoke on occasion. Also, at certain points I thought things were on fire in the house and office.

[Robert DeLong]

Interesting indeed.

[digger48]

I haven’t been able to drink my usual coffee for 3 months now

Just now getting taste back after weeks of little food

Started with a minor stroke in April and lack of food threw me into ketosis, I believe

Dr tomorrow for antibody test results

[MHGinTN]

One caution: if you take N-A-C supplements, take four times the dose of NAC in vitamin C also.

[digger48]

Not enough carbs can do this

[entropy12]

I believe it was mild covid infection in February 2020 when I had a dry cough and loss of smell. I still have not recovered my sense of smell completely.

[Jamestown1630]

I lost interest in food only a few months into the whole lockdown (I haven’t had Covid, and didn’t get the vaccine until almost a year later.)

I spent a small fortune buying food I thought would be interesting, and after a few bites threw it out; nothing tasted good. I even had an antibody test, because I’d heard about loss of taste, and wondered if I’d had Covid with no symptoms. But no Covid.

My brother went through this too - no Covid there either - and again, long before taking the vaccine.

There may be loss of taste and smell for some people who have had Covid, just as people sometimes experience that with the ‘flu; or as a reaction to the vaccine; but I think a lot of it is due to lack of usual exercise, and a degree of depression caused by everything that has happened, the uncertainty, confusing ‘news’ and ‘advice’ we’re given, etc.