Is this permanent -lost sense of smell??

amother

Cobalt

Tue, May 12 2020, 10:39 am

My smell never came back fully 2 months later
I can only smell things if its intentional and even then I have to try.
I had very good sense of smell before... thinking when I get pregnant one day again it'll come back

amother

Tue, May 12 2020, 11:12 am

amother [ Cobalt ] wrote:

Lol, I'm pregnant now!!!

amother

Tue, May 12 2020, 12:31 pm

flowerpower wrote:

It will come back. It can take a long time for some people to get their sense of smell back.

I hope so!!
I now appreciate the sense of smell which I always took for granted...
-I'm burning food left and right Banging head

-I don't know when my toddler has a dirty -daiper until someone else lets me know Can't Believe It

-I can't tell if the kids clothes(that they pile out when deciding what to wear) is clean or smelly...
-The other day, one of the burner's gas was on without the flame and luckily my husband smelled it upstairs...
- I can't tell if milk is spoiled...

The list goes on

Chayalle

Tue, May 12 2020, 2:56 pm

I got my sense of smell back B"H. It took about 2 weeks for me.

I heard that the brain cells that process smell can "forget" how to smell or atrophy...and right from the beginning, I tried to smell a few things every day, even if I couldn't smell anything at all. And little by little, I began to smell some things very very slightly...and then my smell came back very very gradually.

Try to practice smelling...the hand soap in your bathroom, your hand lotion, your shampoo bottle...those are all good things to try. If you can smell something, then keep smelling that item more and more to help your smell come back.

I was able to smell citrus first, before I could smell other stuff, and I practiced trying to smell the citrus hand soap in my bathroom. I was able to smell that before a different, minty soap in another bathroom. Try to smell the smells you can smell first, and do it often, and it may help.

Hope this makes sense (no pun intended).....

thunderstorm

Tue, May 12 2020, 2:58 pm

amother [ OP ] wrote:

I hope so!!
I now appreciate the sense of smell which I always took for granted...
-I'm burning food left and right Banging head

-I don't know when my toddler has a dirty -daiper until someone else lets me know Can't Believe It

I literally had your entire list of issues when I lost my sense of smell. Hope you get it back soon

FranticFrummie

Tue, May 12 2020, 3:04 pm

It seems to be one of the very LAST things to come back to normal, according to everything I've read.

It took me well over 2 months, and some things still smell or taste a little bit off. I can't tell if they are slightly spoiled, or if it's just me, so now I'm paranoid about food poisoning.

Chayalle

Tue, May 12 2020, 3:08 pm

penguin wrote:

Any of you tried zinc? Supposed to help restore the sense of smell.

I took 1 zinc tablet every day from when I got the virus for several days. Gave everyone in my family, too.

Then the bottle I had in the house used up, and couldn't get any more.

Maybe it helped....I did get my sense of scents back B"H.

amother

Wed, May 13 2020, 1:27 pm

Chayalle wrote:

Thanks for the suggestion!
PSA: when trying to smell coffee and you don't smell anything, bringing it closer to your nose won't help, you'll just end up breathing in coffee!! Wink

amother

Oak

Wed, May 13 2020, 2:04 pm

You can try zinc.
I took it daily since I started showing symptoms, and bh got my sense back after 4 days. My husband who doesn't take vitamins, took lot longer to get it back.
Heard from others that it helped them too.
I have a much greater appreciation for something I always took for granted till now. Food and even coffee tasted so bla.
#TYH

ra_mom

Wed, May 13 2020, 6:22 pm

It's been 8.5 weeks and I still cannot smell a thing. I've been taking zinc the whole time.
I read an article from Stanford University that it could be permanent for some people, and needs to be addressed right away, but my ENT won't see me until the second week of June! Said it can wait and he is only allowed to see real emergencies. Crying

https://scopeblog.stanford.edu.....mell/

Last edited by ra_mom on Wed, May 13 2020, 6:29 pm; edited 1 time in total

chanar

Wed, May 13 2020, 6:29 pm

My DH and I both lost our sense of smell like 7 weeks ago... right now we can both take say the cinnamon or coffee and we get the smell on the first try but after that, nothing. I don’t smell burning, cooking, Cholent nothing! Today one of my kids had accident and there was no smell at all 😂 made changing him a breeze! I do hope it comes back soon though.. the thought of it being permanent is a little frightening. And we both had the mildest covid symptoms.. like 2 days of body aches, no fever no coughing nothing.. oh well!

amother

Wed, May 13 2020, 6:30 pm

ra_mom wrote:

Oh my, I am freaking out!!

amother

Honeydew

Wed, May 13 2020, 6:34 pm

FranticFrummie wrote:

You tested positive for COVID?

amother

Maroon

Wed, May 13 2020, 6:34 pm

I also gradually getting smell and taste back. It’s so weird and it comes in steps. I can taste most food. Chocolate I still can’t taste for example. The real taste of meat and steak which I love I also can’t taste.