'Tastes like COVID, smells like COVID': 10 per cent of coronavirus patients have long-lasting loss of smell: study
A loss of taste and smell has been reported in about 70 per cent of people who get COVID-19, and in some cases, they don’t fully recover those senses.
According to Dr. Marc Tewfik, a rhinologist in Montreal, about 70 per cent of patients who get COVID-19 will lose their sense of smell as an initial symptom and about 70 per cent of those people will make a full recovery. However, 20 per cent will have a partial recovery and 10 per cent will have a long lasting-loss of smell.
“The sense of smell is really an important part of our everyday life,” Tewfik explained. “So much of our lives are dependent on that and for people who don’t have symptoms we take it for granted,” Dr. Raiyan Chowdhury, an ICU doctor and ENT, added.
“I just find that people brush it under the carpet as smell and taste and they don’t understand the anguish,” Lori McCoy, a COVID-19 long hauler, said.
Both doctors told CTV News Edmonton both scent and memory are intertwined, and while patients typically recover from the onset of symptoms from COVID-19, it can take time to fully regain the senses.
“If your neuron is still intact you can still recover it just might take a long time,” Chowdhury reassured.
As for McCoy, she was diagnosed with COVID-19 back in November and lost her ability to taste a few days later.
“I’m eight months in and it seems to be getting worse, not better,” McCoy said.
'WE CALL IT THE COVID SMELL AND TASTE'
McCoy told CTV News she’s now on a “safe foods” diet. She can only eat white rice, white bread, white fish and vanilla protein powder without getting a foul chemical taste in her mouth.
“I can eat lettuce and I can’t eat cucumbers. I had one a little while ago and it tasted like a garbage compost,” she said.
“We call it the COVID smell and taste. Tastes like COVID, smells like COVID.”
According to Tewfik, the nose is unique in the sense that it regenerates cells. To retrain the patient’s nose and their brain to detect smells again, he suggested olfactory training techniques.
He recommends patients find four or five odorants around the home or kitchen, like, cloves, coffee, lemon juice and cinnamon, put them in a small mason jar and smell them twice a day for three months. The success of this method isn’t guaranteed but Tewfik said it doesn’t hurt to try.
McCoy said she’s tried everything to retrain her senses including vitamins, saline rinses, and smell training but so far nothing has worked.
“Food is most people’s joy. You eat it because it makes you happy in the moment,” she recalled.
“Imagine craving something like McDonalds or whatever it is that’s you’re guilty pleasure and you can’t eat it because it tastes like chemical garbage.”
'IT WOULD BE NICE IF YOU HAD A TIME FRAME'
Both Chowdhury and Tewfik said some of the long-term symptoms of not regaining these senses is depression, weight loss or gain and malnutrition.
“If you can’t enjoy the food it’s hard to enjoy that social interaction,” Chowdhury said. “There is some hope for these patients, it may not be permanent.”
McCoy told CTV News her loss of taste and smell has been the most frustrating symptom but she’s also dealing with chronic fatigue, hair loss, migraines and heart palpitations.
“It’s really depressing because you don’t know how long,” she said. “It would be nice if you had a time frame.”
While the symptoms are persistent for a number of patients with long COVID, Tewfik and Chowdhury both said research is continually being done to find out what’s causing it.
“It’s hopeful we’ll have more treatments for these disorders,” Tewfik said.
“The far majority of people who have had COVID have recovered,” Chowdhury added.
With files from CTV News Edmonton’s Touria Izri
CTVNews.ca Top Stories
DEVELOPING Man sets self on fire outside New York court where Trump trial underway
A man set himself on fire on Friday outside the New York courthouse where Donald Trump's historic hush-money trial was taking place as jury selection wrapped up, but officials said he did not appear to have been targeting Trump.
BREAKING Sask. father found guilty of withholding daughter to prevent her from getting COVID-19 vaccine
Michael Gordon Jackson, a Saskatchewan man accused of abducting his daughter to prevent her from getting a COVID-19 vaccine, has been found guilty for contravention of a custody order.
She set out to find a husband in a year. Then she matched with a guy on a dating app on the other side of the world
Scottish comedian Samantha Hannah was working on a comedy show about finding a husband when Toby Hunter came into her life. What happened next surprised them both.
Mandisa, Grammy award-winning 'American Idol' alum, dead at 47
Soulful gospel artist Mandisa, a Grammy-winning singer who got her start as a contestant on 'American Idol' in 2006, has died, according to a statement on her verified social media. She was 47.
'It could be catastrophic': Woman says natural supplement contained hidden painkiller drug
A Manitoba woman thought she found a miracle natural supplement, but said a hidden ingredient wreaked havoc on her health.
Young people 'tortured' if stolen vehicle operations fail, Montreal police tell MPs
One day after a Montreal police officer fired gunshots at a suspect in a stolen vehicle, senior officers were telling parliamentarians that organized crime groups are recruiting people as young as 15 in the city to steal cars so that they can be shipped overseas.
The Body Shop Canada explores sale as demand outpaces inventory: court filing
The Body Shop Canada is exploring a sale as it struggles to get its hands on enough inventory to keep up with "robust" sales after announcing it would file for creditor protection and close 33 stores.
Vicious attack on a dog ends with charges for northern Ont. suspect
Police in Sault Ste. Marie charged a 22-year-old man with animal cruelty following an attack on a dog Thursday morning.
On federal budget, Macklem says 'fiscal track has not changed significantly'
Bank of Canada governor Tiff Macklem says Canada's fiscal position has 'not changed significantly' following the release of the federal government's budget.