Loss taste/smell covid

[Elizabeth86]

If you lost your taste/smell with covid, when did it return?

[AmandaVT]

I lost my smell but not my taste - 3 days I think? In fairness, I don't have a great sense of smell on a good day, so it could have been a little longer before it was fully back. 

[busymama7]

41 minutes ago, Elizabeth86 said:

If you lost your taste/smell with covid, when did it return?

Mine was only gone 3-4 days but this was in 2020. I took 100 mg of zinc a day until it came back starting the day after I lost it. 

[sgo95]

DH got it back within 3-4 weeks. A good friend of mine still doesn't have hers back 1.5 years later.

[scholastica]

I think a week to 10 days. I made sure to smell things that I knew I knew the smell of. I have some strong candles and I did some foods, like vanilla and lemons. It’s very variable and personal.

[alisoncooks]

I’m going on 10 months and I’m still not normal. I can smell…but I also smell phantom smoke. A lot. I have taste but it’s off…I used to regularly eat cucumbers but they’re absolutely foul now. 😞 

[HSmomof2]

Altered taste/smell—not completely gone, but only lasted a few days. 

[fairfarmhand]

1 hour ago, scholastica said:

I think a week to 10 days. I made sure to smell things that I knew I knew the smell of. I have some strong candles and I did some foods, like vanilla and lemons. It’s very variable and personal.

This was me. Except I still cannot eat broccoli. Just can't. Don't like it anymore.

52 minutes ago, alisoncooks said:

I’m going on 10 months and I’m still not normal. I can smell…but I also smell phantom smoke. A lot. I have taste but it’s off…I used to regularly eat cucumbers but they’re absolutely foul now. 😞 

This was my dd. We got covid in December of 2020. She had messed up taste for right about a year. Meat tasted like dead flesh. She lost about 10 pounds and when you weigh 110 pounds that's a big deal. She can finally eat most foods now, but eggs are still foul for her. She misses them so much. But she's so thankful most things are normal again. Things taste different for her but not gross. However, mustard and cinnamon are two things that still taste the same.

[AbcdeDooDah]

Going on 10 months here. About 2 months ago I had about a week or two of sudden metallic taste 24/7 then after that period I could taste many things - some normal, some bad tasting. There are still some things that have no taste or taste off but it has largely returned. 

My smell is more improved than my taste.

I very rarely smell “covid  smell” anymore. So many things smelled like it and I’m happy to say it’s almost gone.

Edited July 16, 2022 by AbcdeDooDah

[Elizabeth86]

15 minutes ago, fairfarmhand said:

This was me. Except I still cannot eat broccoli. Just can't. Don't like it anymore.

This was my dd. We got covid in December of 2020. She had messed up taste for right about a year. Meat tasted like dead flesh. She lost about 10 pounds and when you weigh 110 pounds that's a big deal. She can finally eat most foods now, but eggs are still foul for her. She misses them so much. But she's so thankful most things are normal again. Things taste different for her but not gross. However, mustard and cinnamon are two things that still taste the same.

Oh bless her heart. I’m praying mine comes back soon. I was having a hard time eating just being pregnant, now it’s super tricky.

[whitestavern]

I lost both for one week. I tried to find something - anything - thing that would break through so I could start training my smell. Pickle juice was the only thing. I just kept smelling that. I also sniffed lemon essential oil and imagined what it would smell like and taste. Lastly Google burnt Orange Covid. I tried it out of desperation. My smell and taste came back in about one week. No idea if what I did helped, but that was the advice I got from a few people so I followed it. 

[Farrar]

So, this was my fear and the subject of my question about Covid a few weeks ago. I didn't lose mine but my kid did. His was altered for like... three days tops?

One of the things I concluded after asking a lot of people and reading about it is that the smell/taste thing is really different with Omicron/BA.5. With the older variants, it wasn't uncommon to have altered taste/smell for an extended time. Weeks if not longer. With the new variants, most people have it really briefly.

Paxlovid can also cause a brief smell/taste issue.

[Pam in CT]

5 hours ago, scholastica said:

I think a week to 10 days. I made sure to smell things that I knew I knew the smell of. I have some strong candles and I did some foods, like vanilla and lemons. It’s very variable and personal.

Mine also was a week-10 days.  But as a pp noted, the Paxlovid may have affected the duration. 

For me the weakness lasted longer than the loss of smell. I was surprised and dismayed by that, but I think (two months since my RAT turned negative) I'm fully back to normal now.