[bodono]

I had a mild case of covid and the loss of smell and taste was unlike anything similar I've ever experienced. It's not like having a stuffed nose or just being less sensitive to smell. For me I could breathe just fine but could not smell or taste anything, literally zero. Even very strong smelling things did nothing for me, and food had zero taste. It's a very unusual experience and I think a dead giveaway that you had the virus (it appears near the end of an infection typically).

[aPoCoMiLogin]

My girlfriend had that symptoms for few days, so I've told her to make the test, she got back and told me that the test was positive and we've got 2 weeks quarantine, it was august 26th.

The very next day I got really painful arthralgia (august 27th). The next day was fever that lasted till the thursday (august 29th). On the next day (30th august) I was feeling good, though that that was the end. Oh boy how I was wrong. Later on the same day I've had issues with breathing, friday night was nightmare with short shallow breathing and fever, that scared me a lot, never feel that way. I've gad few times pneumonia when I was a kid, but this was next level. The next day was better, so I didn't call an ambulance as they were already overwhelmed, but got to the hospital by myself and did the test with positive result. On the monday (september 2nd) I started coughing a lot, but the next day was much worse. With tuesday I started having headaches, dizziness and ear ache.. Coughing, headaches and dizziness lasted more than a week, with better and worse days.

It was the worst experience of the last few years, and it started with loss of smell an taste.

[jhardy54]

arthralgia = joint pain

[Red_Leaves_Flyy]

Thank you.

[econcon]

Here's what happend to me:

Day 1: Fever, chills. I slept under 2 blanket and after 4 hours I started sweating so I threw off all the blankets.

Day 2: Took the test and came out positive but I started feeling good.

Day 3: I completely recovered. Got back to normal just like I was before

Day 4: fever back, wtf?

Day 5: cough started, lost taste

Day 6: Breathing difficulty, feeling pressure on chest

Day 7: joint pain started

Day 8: everything back to normal

Day 9-15: normal

I never lost my sense of smell. I am so sure about it because I was working on a DIY project at home where I was smelling distillate.

I had flu worse than this, if severe flus I experienced in paste were 90/100 then this would be at best 10/100 in severity, pain, discomfort.

I managed to work at home on my projects from my list and ate a lot and drink tons of water and slept peacefully.

[Zardoz84]

lucky I don't experience respiratory problems but I got a false recovery like you, this last Tuesday. Before I had some fever and headaches for four days.

I had some fever this two last days. and I'm experiencing weird tastes with a few good ingredients. Today, I don't had fever but nearly all day I feel a lot of sluggishnes.

[aPoCoMiLogin]

False recovery is the worst thing, when you think that this is the end, then sluggishnes and headaches comes to remind you that you are still sick. Headaches and sluggishnes with dizziness still keep coming back, like last monday it was bad to the point I though that I'll lie down on the floor and won't get up. From what I've found, every time when I feel sick, my blood pressure is above 140/90. Check yours It may be the case.

[mancerayder]

So you've had symptoms for 30 days ?

[aPoCoMiLogin]

Yes, and they are gone mostly now.

[varrock]

How are you feeling now? I hope you are doing better. It's hard to read your experience. These are very unfortunate times.

[aPoCoMiLogin]

I'm doing much better now, thanks! Yeah I was a bit skeptical about covid, thought it was exaggerated, but when you go trough all of this by yourself, then you realize that it wasn't.

[vecinu]

If you don't mind sharing, how old are you and did you have any pre-existing conditions? (You mentioned having pneumonia when you were younger).

[aPoCoMiLogin]

30ish, one condition that I can think of is sinusitis, which I always have when I have the flu, with swelling of the eyes and stuffed nose. But this time there was no swelling nor stuffed nose.

also my brother when he was a kid, had pneumonia few times as I did, and when he's sick (mostly flu) he has the same issues that I've got.

[lordnacho]

My wife was ill earlier during the first wave. She literally gargled TCP (the chemical, not the protocol. Handshakes are illegal.) and couldn't taste it. If you've ever been around this chemical you know how strong it smells, people can smell it across the house. That's when we suspected Covid. Couldn't get a test until months later, and it was negative. But still suspect it.

[dekhn]

Why would you gargle TCP? [edit: this was a confusion between an antiseptic whose name is TCP, and a chemical which is acronymmed as TCP. The former is mostly phenol (which I wouldn't recommend drinking, but apparently has been approved for that), the latter is a dangerous industrial solvent which you should not drink.

[chrisseaton]

That's what it's for.

https://www.medicines.org.uk/emc/files/pil.3917.pdf

[dekhn]

Is that the same thing? I'm talking about this: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1,2,3-Trichloropropane

you're talking about this: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/TCP_(antiseptic)

Based on the context, I now think the person was gargling the antiseptic called TCP, which is really phenol (a totally different chemical from TCP). So I think I understand the confusion now.

When using TLAs for chemicals, it's often better to write out the full chemical name instead. When I say "IPA" I mean isopropyl alcohol but everything thinks I mean beer.

[mr_custard]

It's just one of those things where the different context between countries doesn't translate well.

In the UK, if you say "TCP" everybody knows that you're talking about the antiseptic phenolic liquid that can be used for gargling but never swallowed. It's present in most househould medicine cabinets.

It's important to note here, given that the subject is loss of the sense of taste and smell, that this stuff absolutely reeks.

[TeMPOraL]

> When I say "IPA" I mean isopropyl alcohol but everything thinks I mean beer.

Somewhere around April/May, everyone in my circles and all their dogs were suddenly talking about "IPA". I was very, very confused until I eventually figured out they didn't mean the beer.

[roywiggins]

TCP (the antiseptic) is more of a brand name. It was named after a chemical but doesn't contain that chemical at all anymore; "TCP" in this context is just referring to the brand name. If you gargle TCP you're gargling whatever whatever mixture of phenols they put in it now, not trichlorophenylmethyliodosalicyl.

[userbinator]

I thought it was this even scarier chemical, also with the same acronym: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tricresyl_phosphate

[glouwbug]

TCP is a bit easier on the throat than UDP

[jbay808]

I've done this on a dental surgeon's recommendation. It's really unpleasant and tastes revolting but it's effective.

[throwaway_pdp09]

Effective for what?

[jbay808]

Killing anything in your mouth that might try to start an infection. And making your next meal less enjoyable.

[anoncake]

To test your sense of taste?

[roywiggins]

As a sore throat remedy probably.

[arcticbull]

"TCP is recognized in California as a human carcinogen, and extensive animal studies have shown that it causes cancer. Short term exposure to TCP can cause throat and eye irritation and can affect muscle coordination and concentration. Long term exposure can affect body weight and kidney function."

Doesn't sound like something one should gargle tho.

[chrisseaton]

It's literally the intended correct medical use.

https://www.medicines.org.uk/emc/files/pil.3917.pdf

> TCP is recognized in California as a human carcinogen, and extensive animal studies have shown that it causes cancer.

They also say that about coffee in California.

[dekhn]

You don't want to drink this, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1,2,3-Trichloropropane and the data supporting it is far better than coffee. (the california law is stupid, but some of the things it lists actually are dangerous).

[foxyv]

There are carcinogens and there are CARCINOGENS. Hot water is technically a carcinogen. Drinking water that is too hot can increase the risk of throat cancer. This doesn't mean we can't use them. We just have to be aware of the risks.

https://www.nhs.uk/news/cancer/drinking-very-hot-tea-linked-...

[dahfizz]

> We just have to be aware of the risks.

No, not if the "risks" is comically small. The warning label becomes meaningless when applied to anything with an astronomically low chance of causing cancer.

[pc86]

The list of things California says doesn't cause cancer is much smaller than its list of recognized human carcinogens. And animals studies are not 1:1 to humans.

It's literally a medical antiseptic designed to be gargled after dilution.

[gmadsen]

there is confusion in this thread due to multiple chemicals having the initials TCP, one is an antiseptic the other is a harsh solvent

[qz2]

To be fair my multimeter has that cancer warning on it from California. A multimeter!?!?

[berkut]

My new Fender guitar had a warning printed out in the case saying the product contains chemicals known to cause cancer...

Titled: California Proposition 65 Warning

[arcticbull]

Probably not RoHS compliant :)

[Rebelgecko]

I would not put too much stock in Prop 65 warnings. Any restaurant with grilled or fried food is required to have them. Eyeglasses are known to cause cancer in CA. Until recently, so was coffee (buy after a long legal battle, coffee is no longer known to cause cancer here)

[gautamdivgi]

California should label things that don’t cause cancer. It’ll be a shorter list. My doormats have the same warning (at least the carcinogen part).

[exabrial]

Same thing here. Very mild case. I had a .5 degree fever for a day (normally I'm 97.5 in the morning and 98.4 in the evening). I coughed like three times. But the sense of smell was completely removed for 4ish days. I have some eucalyptus/tea tree/menthol shampoo that smells _very very_ strongly. When I couldn't smell that anymore it was the craziest sensation. No other symptoms to really speak of. This also appeared later.

[ljf]

A test months later would be negative (if it was a swab) they are only accurate in the first week or so.

The antibody tests are fraught with issues, and if you fight the virus with your T cells rather than B cells, the antibody test won't pick that up and you'll show as negative.

[disiplus]

i too had a mild case at the end of august. the smell is still not back. i have a small baby and cannot smell when the diaper needs changing.

[fivre]

i saw this and, echoing many of the other commenters, thought it was a _different_ TCP chemical, in this case, a relatively obscure drug similar to PCP https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tenocyclidine

i was VERY confused for a second

[secondcoming]

> Handshakes are illegal

Ha!

[iso947]

I’m glad that was picked out. So subtle yet actually maybe exclaim out loud in this hotel lobby. I have a mask on and there are very few here so hopefully I haven’t endangered anyone, but something so sublime deserves an applause.

[pertymcpert]

She took an anti-gen test?

[lordnacho]

An antibody test, yes

[qz2]

Same taste outcome here. Coffee and Coke Zero became very disappointing. I was swabbed and confirmed diagnosed with it.

It really did me in and I’m not sure I completely recovered form it yet. Took me 3 months after it was over to be able to run more than 30 seconds again. I could do a 5km run easily before. It’s a struggle now. But I’m in my 40’s so I expected a longer recovery cycle.

[Negitivefrags]

Coke Zero doesn’t need caronavirus to be disappointing. It stopped tasting good years ago.

[jghn]

Did it change at some point? Back when I drank soft drinks I had become a diet soft drink consumer and Coke Zero was a godsend as being at least somewhat like actual Coke.

[Negitivefrags]

I can't be certain if it changed, or I changed.

All I know is that when it came out 15 years ago it was awesome, and at some point probably 5 years ago I realised it tasted like crap and switched to pepsi max.

Nowadays when I do happen to drink some it tastes extremely terrible to me.

Edit: Apparently Coke Zero is no longer sold anywhere except where I live (New Zealand), so I guess nobody else in this forum will be able to check for themselves.

The rest of the world switched to "Coke Zero Sugar" and no longer has Coke Zero. In NZ the new product is called Coke No Sugar and Coke Zero continues to be sold because it was really popular I guess.

[blame_lewis]

I've noticed that Coke Zero bottles that were left out in the sun lose most of their sweetness and taste awful. Maybe there's some photosensitive compound in the sweetener.

[ThePadawan]

> Apparently Coke Zero is no longer sold anywhere except where I live (New Zealand)

Are you talking about Coca-Cola Zero? That is still very much available in Europe.

[toomanybeersies]

At least in Australia (which had the same Coke Zero as New Zealand), I believe Coke Zero and Coke Zero Sugar are the same recipe.

[qz2]

Depends where you are. UK variety is ok.

[paxys]

Also depends on what you are used to. I couldn't stand Coke Zero initially, now I can't drink regular Coke.

[qz2]

Very true. same.

[chiph]

I found the same about Diet Coke (Coke Light in some countries). Something changed about 10-12 years ago and it started tasting "chemically" and harsh and I no longer liked it. I switched to Diet Dr. Pepper which I find has a smoother taste. But with the aluminum can shortage, it's become hard to buy in stores.

[carlmr]

I had that exact experience for 12 days after a fever and a light cough in March. I couldn't even smell Thai fish sauce.

They wouldn't test me because it wasn't on their list of symptoms in Germany, even though South Korea, UK and China were already reporting it as a strong indicator for Corona.

[philippoi]

I had some symptoms in mid-March as well, and actually on my birthday noticed I couldn't smell or taste nearly as well as normal. It was very apparent because I work as a barista, so naturally I rely on my sense of smell quite a lot, and I had really enjoyed the same green tea the day before and the day of my smell loss; it just tasted incredibly flat. My birthday meal and birthday wine were just a waste on me. My wife and I were tested for antibodies about 6 weeks later, when our son was born, and neither of us was found to have antibodies. It wasn't until around the first week of April that I first heard loss of your sense of smell was a symptom of COVID19. In spite of the antibody test, I suspect I had the virus. About how quickly does the antibody count drop if you develop specific antibodies to COVID19? I read somewhere that some people recovered from their infections without developing antibodies tailored to COVID19 and it was thought that these individuals overcame the virus due to their body's already existing store of antibodies for other types of Corona virus. I can't remember where I read that article now.

[nradov]

There is a huge variance in antibody response and duration between patients. It seems to correlate with symptom severity but there are other factors still not understood (possibly genetic). In some cases the innate immune system fights off the infection before antibodies are generated. In other cases the antibodies fade away quickly, but a high level of immunity is retained through memory T cells. Unfortunately there's no quick or easy way to do a specific T cell assay.

There is a hypothesis that prior exposure to other similar viruses provides a limited degree of immunity from SARS-CoV-2. It's plausible and fits some of the case patterns but we don't know yet if it's a significant effect.

[rindalir]

Same thing happened to me -- and I also tested negative for antibodies about five weeks later. My partner (who had more of a flu-like illness) did test positive for antibodies though, so I'm very certain I had it. My hypotheses are: test was not specific enough, i fought it off quickly with t-cell immunity, or my antibodies fell off very quickly since I really was not sick (I had fever of 100 for about three hours and some burning pain in my nasal cavity and that's it)

[ed25519FUUU]

I really wish they would get in gear and start rolling out widespread serologic testing. Many people have similar stories to you. For a lot of people symptoms were before there was any testing available.

With widespread serologic testing, we can at least get some waypoint data, and for people like you some peace of mind.

[remote_phone]

Current serological tests aren’t effective after a few months because antibodies counts decrease very quickly.

[lostlogin]

What is the peace of mind aspect about? Are you meaning that a reliable test that was negative would tell people they hadn’t infected anyone?

[_jstreet]

There's currently no evidence to suggest that you're immune after an initial infection (as far as I know!?)

[nradov]

The best evidence we have indicates that most recovered patients will retain a significant level of immunity for at least several years.

https://www.jimmunol.org/content/early/2020/09/03/jimmunol.2...

As with any pandemic there will be a small minority of outliers who experience symptomatic reinfections.

[dhimes]

The paper you cited doesn't supply evidence- according to the abstract it's their best guess based on experience with other coronaviruses.

The evidence is actually scant but there's a decent discussion of it in the Guardian article I linked below and the paper linked from it.

[rootusrootus]

If you didn't gain any immunity, how would you fight off the infection to begin with?

[carlmr]

I'm not a doctor or biologist, but afaik your body has multiple possible responses to a viral infection, and not all of them end with an immunity. The second thing that a virus may mutate more or less quickly, evading your previous immunity.

[mlavin]

Is there evidence to suggest that standard immune response to coronaviruses doesn't apply to this particular strain?

[jlokier]

There was concern initially, and still somewhat, that it might not confer long-term immunity. Not everything does, even if your body fights something off in the short term.

This novel coronavirus is different enough from others, and the human body's response to it is very unusual, so it's reasonable to ask whether infection confers immunity.

People were quick to assume immunity at first, because that's what people want to be true. But it was recognised as a dangerous assumption, which has a realistic prospect of being wrong.

Some people end up with antibody levels too low to measure after infection, which adds more weight to the idea that they might not be immune afterwards. You could think of that as a level of evidence; certainly it comes under "we should take this seriously". (Fortunately the human body has other mechanisms for long-term immunity (T-cell memory), but that still needs to be studied.)

The difference between assumption and evidence on this is important because it strongly informs our models of its propagation, how many people will get it how fast, how best to contain and limit it, and whether people who have had can safely (for themselves and others) behave differently afterwards.

If you've had Covid-19 and you're still struggling with Long Covid 3-6 months later, you're going to want to know if there's a realistic chance you could catch it a second time, especially because by then you know you are one of those susceptible to awful symptoms. It's not enough to assume it's just like other coronaviruses - you will have personal experience that it isn't.

[dhimes]

I believe _jstreet is referring to the case of getting sick again if exposed to the coronavirus a second time. There are limited data, but so far it looks like the re-infection is less severe.

https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2020/aug/27/corona...

[pps]

I have something like that right now (started exactly week ago), I can't smell or taste and I can easily breath through the nose, but I also feel some pressure, like it would be a little bit swollen inside. It's cold outside and breating through the nose is mildly painful when I go out. Looks more like sinus infection without typical symptoms. I wonder if you felt it like that or the loss of smell was the only indicator of illness.

[Herodotus38]

What you have is exactly how my experience with Covid was, I recommend getting tested.

[john4532452]

Whats the point of testing anyway when there is no vaccine available ?

[Corrado]

It helps to track the virus and facilitates contact tracing.

[Herodotus38]

A couple possible reasons I can think of:

-If the person gets sicker later, you don't have to wait on another test to know the diagnosis and start treatment.

-Second is from a contact tracing perspective and isolation perspective. If this person is positive, it is that much more important that they limit contact with people.

-Third is if you are positive you can donate your plasma which *may help others (good randomized controlled trials for convalescent plasma are still pending).

-If you are positive you make not need the vaccine later, it also could reduce your risk potentially for being infected later, less stress.

-Also helps population wide to know total number of infected to get an idea of rate of spread, herd immunity, other metrics.

[autokad]

I was sick with something like that at the end of nov 2019 - end of dec 2019. normally cold air is relaxing to my lungs, but then cold air stung. no loss of taste though, does the pain feel like stinging or something else?

[pps]

Yes, stinging describes it precisely.

[autokad]

Interesting. I wonder if that's something 'normal' to getting a raspatory disease or if there is a specific kind that leads to that

[remote_phone]

This sounds like a sinus infection. Go to your doctor and ask her to prescribe medication and a covid test.

[pps]

And it feels like sinus infection, but on the other hand I can't imagine why I can't smell and taste stuff if I can easily breath. I'm taking already meds for sinus infection, will call my doctor after the weekend if there will be no improvement. Unfortunately in Poland we can't get covid test without having all four symptoms of it... I could do this myself, but it's very pricey and I'm doing my work from home and wearing a mask in shops anyway, so I'll just isolate even more.

[war1025]

This is why I think all the case count numbers are basically garbage.

For most people, going to the doctor is more bother than it's worth and half the time they'll tell you that you don't qualify for whatever test or treatment you were hoping to receive anyway.

There is a massive disconnect between how many people are testing positive and how many people are actually infected, and it's skewing everyone's perception of the virus.

[kaitai]

This seems to have huge geographic variation. Some places you've got to go to the doc & get a referral & they're screening people out of getting the test. Other places, they're having drive-through or walk-up testing for anyone, no questions asked. Of course you'll get different results in these cases.

[bookofjoe]

Please stop going into shops.

[jlmorton]

That would certainly help to stop the spread of Covid, but if everyone followed your advice, we would very quickly find ourselves with an entirely new set of problems.

You can't optimize only to stop viral spread. You have to strike some balance between maintaining normalcy and reducing the risk of spread.

Covid has killed a million, and will surely kill many more, but global poverty is going to increase this year for the first time in decades, and tens of millions are going go hungry.

[Dylan16807]

> That would certainly help to stop the spread of Covid, but if everyone followed your advice, we would very quickly find ourselves with an entirely new set of problems.

The advice of not going to a store if you're sick with something that resembles Covid? Is that such a large number of people it will have a big cost?

[kaitai]

I can manage to buy myself a three-course dinner with wine and dessert (spending a pretty $$) without going into a shop. I've managed to buy hundreds of dollars worth of books from my local bookstores without going into shops. I can lie on my floor gasping for air and get power tools delivered to my porch!

Let's be clear about what we want. It sounds like you want people to spend money, not primarily that you want them to enter shops and breathe air and touch things.

[takeda]

> (it appears near the end of an infection typically)

Hmm doesn't that contradict the article? Of it is at the end of the infection, then it feels like it isn't good as a warning to others that you got the virus, and more of an indicator that you had the virus

[bodono]

For me it was at the end of very mild flu-like symptoms (general malaise, sleeping a lot etc.). It's possible I was still contagious when I lost my smell and taste so people should probably self-isolate if they experience the same. Though my guess from personal experience is that this is a lagging indicator and possibly anyone with this has already been infectious for a while.

[makomk]

This was actually the UK government's justification for not including it on the list of symptoms that they asked people to self-isolate for initially - even though it was fairly specific to Covid, they reckoned it appeared too late in order to be all that useful as a criteria to get people to self-isolate. Notice also that the article doesn't say anything about when the symptom appears.

[Rainymood]

Same happened to me. No cold, runny nose, or any problems with airways. But my smell was just gone. I literally ground up basil and garlic and stuck it up my nose... nothing.

[kbrisso]

Back around 2010 I had this happen to me, It was so bizarre. Someone told me it was do to a sinus infection but I never had to go on antibiotics for one and no pain. I was sick that year with other things not related to the nose and it took a long time to get my sense of smell back. It never fully recovered to what it was. One thing I remember is it was like a filter and some things smelled awful and some things like nothing at all. Onions smelled like ammonia is what I remember most. I had lots of test done and never found out why. It wasn't a pleasant experience and freaked me out a little.

[DhxLgt]

In February of 2019 I flew to SF for a business trip, and a few days after my return my wife became sick with an unknown illness -- she was complaining of shortness of breath, had a cough, lightheaded feeling and migraines.

Her breathing continued to get worse over a period of days to the point where she was waking up with blue lips and would become totally winded when walking a few feet.

Eventually she decided she needed to see a dr so we went to an urgent care -- due to the fact we had no car (we were living downtown Denver at the time) we walked and only a few blocks from the house she nearly collapsed -- I had to hold her up while we walked very slowly the rest of the way to the urgent care -- once we arrived she was immediately put on oxygen and given an IV.

later that night she was sent home, but in the morning her condition was worse, so we went to the ER but she was sent home again this time with asthma medication including an emergency inhaler.

Her breathing was labored for months and she continued to use the emergency inhaler during this time.

In August of 2019 she completely lost her sense of taste and smell.

In October 2019 she got exponentially worse so we went back to the ER and this time they checked her in.

They ran loads of tests on her, checked for cancer, HIV etc. -- eventually they gave her a bronchoscopy and found lots of very thick stringy mucus all in her lungs and found that she had a collapsed lung.

During this time they treated her with oxygen and antibiotics.

All of the tests they ran came back negative -- she remained in the hospital for a week and eventually recovered. I was in close contact with her during this time I even laid next to her in the hospital bed but did not contract her illness.

After 7 days the doctors concluded that she must have developed asthma and sent her home with an inhaler which she relied on daily until around February.

She is now able to exercise on a treadmill without ill effects. However if I cook things on the stove and it produces smoke this seems to trigger mild issues, and occasionally she has a stuffy nose that seems like allergies.

I'm not saying she had covid-19 but she had many of the symptoms. She had no fever during this time.

[dTal]

I'm sorry to hear your wife has been ill.

>I'm not saying she had covid-19 but she had many of the symptoms.

What are you trying to say? If she got ill in Feb 2019 it's definitely not covid-19.

[randycupertino]

Have you guys gotten antibody tests?

[kstrauser]

Did that include tongue-based tastes, too, like sweet / salty / sour / bitter / umami, or just olfactory ones? Like, if you ate an orange would it be sweet and sour at all?

[arronax]

I had experienced loss both of smell (completely, kitty litter smelled like nothing) and taste (not completely). You still sense if something's salty, for example, but it's very remote. As an anecdote, the aubergine paste, which is usually off-putting and bitter to my taste (but smells nice) started tasting like nothing, really, so I happily ate my wife's supply. Soy sauce also seemed far less salty than usual. Taste remains, but very far, and smell is just lost. Very bizarre experience, would not recommend.

[thedrbrian]

For me yes. Couldn’t taste anything for about a week so I just ate soup and toast. After that the sweet , salt ,fatty etc came back so I swapped to lasagna and cannelloni as it was the most normal tasting food.

Couldn’t even smell the alcohol in a bottle of whiskey.

Only symptom I had.

[kstrauser]

Wow! Thanks for the info. I couldn't imagine what that would be like. Here's to hoping for a speedy and complete recovery!

[thedrbrian]

Very weird how much smell/taste means to us but how do you don’t notice it going. In our house no one noticed their sense of smell going yet it was a massive impact to me when I was eating flavourless food for two weeks. It was incredibly depressing not being able to go outside and being stuck in eating gruel. The only reason we got tested was because someone wanted a sick note from the doctor and she asking everyone what they’re sense of smell was like.

[jiggawatts]

Just to be pedantic: You can never smell the alcohol (ethanol) in any alcoholic drink. It's a tasteless and odourless chemical. What you taste or smell are the congeners, which are other organic molecules that are the byproducts of fermentation. In the case of whisky, you also have the additional flavour and odour chemicals leached from wood barrels.

You're basically smelling "charred wood extract" when smelling Whiskey.

[abduhl]

Ethanol has a distinct smell. It is neither tasteless nor odorless.

[Karunamon]

If you pop open a bottle of Everclear or IPA, what is it you're smelling?

[supernova87a]

That's not totally accurate. Alcohols do have smells, but true, for drinks it's probably not the dominant thing you remember.

It's quite obvious how different ethanol versus isopropyl alcohol versus methanol smell (former chemist) when pure.

[jiggawatts]

You're almost certainly smelling the denaturing agent in the alcohol, the vast majority of commercial sources add something to it, even for "technical" grades.

[xenospn]

I would be very confused if I couldn’t smell whisky.

[rindalir]

I kept a bottle of Caol Ila by my desk and sniffed it every few hours so I could detect when my smell start coming back. I accidentally did it on a few work calls...

[kstrauser]

It's too late to edit the above comment to clarify it, but could the downvoters please explain why I was downvoted? I'm genuinely curious: what does "loss of taste" mean here? I'd like to know in case I encounter it.

For instance, if I have sinus congestion so that I can't breathe through my nose, I can't experience the olfactory component of tastes. If you gave me orange juice and lemon juice, I'd be able to tell that both were sweet and sour but might not be able to distinguish between the flavors.

So when I've read about losing taste, I've wondered if this was like all the prior times when I've lost the sense of smell, or if this was something new and my taste buds would also stop working so that I couldn't experience "salty" anymore.

When people discuss taste, it's not always clear whether they mean the sensation you experience in your tongue or in your nose.

[pps]

Good question, I'm also interested. In my case (more covid-like symptoms than anything else, but no confirmation) I can feel difference between lemon and banana. But the sourness doesn't bother me at all. Also onion doesn't work anymore, normally I would cry like crazy, now I can keep it under my nose and feel only a little bit of pain inside the nose.

[zobzu]

This has happened to me countless times with the flu where i can't smell or taste anything at all.

[Red_Leaves_Flyy]

I've suffered reduced smell and taste from colds, though I've never entirely lost either. Even with the worst colds I could still clearly identify the acrid smell of smoke from idling diesels from 50 yards away at work.

[john4532452]

> I had a mild case of covid and the loss of smell and taste was unlike anything similar I've ever experienced.

Very much true. Usually when you bite a lemon you feel a strong sour taste followed by involuntary movement of hands tightening towards the chest and shivering briefly.

With covid's loss of taste, i felt no taste at all when biting a lemon, but the body wants to shiver which i could control easily but was very confusing experience i never felt before. Very unique experience.

Also realized the appetite falls rapidly. Without taste i had to force feed myself. During normal illness your are tired and don't want to eat, but this is very different experience.

[ctdonath]

That was how I knew. Had a vague sense of coming down with something; smelled a scented candle which I KNEW i could smell (normally), didn’t sense it at all. Test followed.

Strange that this was known early, yet never was considered an indicator easily tested.

[baryphonic]

Thank you for posting this. I've never been able to tell what "loss" meant in media reports. I've had instances where I don't have much of a sense of smell, but I can still smell certain strong odors.

[disillusioned]

This was my exact presentation of the virus. A deeply profound loss of smell and taste, with an otherwise clear nose. I did develop some significant fatigue and fogginess and a slight cough, but the complete loss of smell and taste was upsetting. The early articles about this connection back in March is what prompted us to get tested. In our cases, though, this symptom appeared almost immediately and stuck with us throughout the infection, so I don't think it's fair to generalize about when anosmia is likely within the course of the virus.

[danso]

How long did it take to recover your senses, and do you feel that their recovery has been 100%?

Edit: nm, I see it was answered: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=24665323

[rindalir]

When this happened to me I recovered my senses within about two weeks, but coffee smelt like a combo of burning plastic and rotting flesh for several weeks after. To this day (six months later), certain things smell different than they did before: low tide, poop, some foods when heated. [edit: and they all smell like the same thing]

[dTal]

Wow, that's weird. Can you describe the "new" smell?

[rindalir]

Not particularly well - it's ... less offensive, and sort of a combo of fishy, oily, and vegetative?

[gdsdfe]

I have the same questions ... I heard reports of people that didn't recover their senses weeks after recovery

[andrewla]

My wife lost her sense of smell and taste, likely from COVID, back in March and has not yet recovered it. She has recovered "impressions" -- things smell or taste bad or good, but can't distinguish an actual identifiable odor.

[rodolphoarruda]

In my case the symptom lasted for 3 days. In my wife's case, 1 week. In both cases the recovery was 100%.

[sparkie]

I had an almost complete loss of smell, unlike anything I've experienced before, but could still smell some aerosols like air freshener. My sense of smell was back to normal in about 3 days.

[thomasahle]

I had covid three weeks ago, but I never noticed a lack of smell and taste.

I had all the other symptoms, including some of the post effects, but not this particular one.

[whoisburbansky]

Did this apply to everything? Could you taste spiciness, for instance, from really hot peppers?

[kyleashipley]

I currently have this symptom. I ordered extremely spicy Thai food last week. I could feel the heat, but not taste anything at all.

After about 4 days, I regained some ability to differentiate between salty/sour/sweet, but it’s been in and out for the last 2-3 days. I accidentally poured too much mustard on a sandwich at lunch today and could not have told you there was any mustard on it at all in a blind test.

[deadmetheny]

I mostly ate spicy food during my time with it due to the fact the physical sensation of spiciness being one of the only things that made food interesting. Same with saltiness. I actually ate a lot less during that period due to not having much drive to do so with a lack of taste.

[exabrial]

I could still "taste" the burning sensation, but the "flavor" (savoriness?) was gone. Hard to explain.

[bodono]

Not sure, I don't recall trying spicy food. I had sensation in my tongue so any physical harm I would feel no problem, just no taste.

[Lich]

Did your sense of smell and taste come back? How long did it take to recover?

[bromuro]

To me it lasted 3 days. I felt so happy when I could smell again. It was a bit scary.

[autokad]

how did that effect your eating? were you able to eat much?

[bodono]

I ate a little less, mostly because the lack of taste made it less interesting. I felt fine otherwise and my smell was back in about 4-5 days.

[8note]

Whole growing up, we had a dog that I was allergic too, and I could barely smell/taste anything

It made for a very picky eater, since all that I cared about was the texture

[mderazon]

How much time did it take to gain it back ?

[adventured]

With a mostly mild case, it took me three weeks approximately, for my full sense of smell to return.

I lost maybe 85% of my sense of smell, and 1/2 the sense of taste. I could no longer smell anything in the air, atmospheric scents. Like if you walk into a restaurant you might be able to smell food broadly in the air; I couldn't smell what was cooking on the stove six feet away. I could only smell something if it was right under my nose (within ~20-30cm). A lot of people seem to totally lose the sense of smell, I didn't reach that level (and it still took most of a month to return).

[deadmetheny]

For me, it started to return a bit over a week after it was first lost, and recovered to mostly normal after about three weeks.

[chadash]

Same here. What's was funny about losing my sense of smell is that unlike vision or even hearing, it's hard to remember how strong things were supposed to smell before, so it was also hard to know when it was fully back. But at around 1 week I smelled a raw leek and got a whiff of something and then within about 2-3 weeks, it wasn't noticeable anymore.

[deadmetheny]

Absolute same - a vague whiff, tastes coming back to food with varying strengths depending on what it was, then a return to normalcy. I'm still not sure if it's back to 100%, simply due to the fact I also never really had a mindful baseline of what was normal.

[bodono]

It took about a week to be back fully.

[saturn_vk]

I wonder if that loss of taste is at least a good way of quitting something like sugary foods

[fn1]

When you're sick you should take care of yourself, not push yourself harder.

[drdeadringer]

Yes, but when one is sick should sugary foods be on the top of the menu?

Granted everyone's different, but I'd rather soup than gummy bears if I'm unwell.

[cft]

Did it come back? How soon?

[raducu]

I probably had decreased smell, and it felt like I was tasting with the sides of my tongue and cheeks(2 weeks later the middle of my tongue peeled off almost looked like I was getting a snake tongue).

I did test multiple times and I could still smell and taste, though it felt like maaaybe my smell was decreasing, but every article I read said completely gone smell and taste.

I realises my smell was reduced when I was in the hospital and I suddenly could smell how stinky the room and I were, then it hit me "yeah, my smelling was probably bad untill now.

My wife "realised" she lost her smell and taste right after her test came back positive. But she most likely lied for the attention(I know this sounds harsh, but I have goos reasons to think so).

So I wouldn't call this reliable.

[dustinmoris]

Same here, although I also had a cough and fever. My wife is a doctor and got infected at work, she suffered only a mild illness with mild fever on day one and then a cough for the rest of the week. After 7 days she went back to work (according with gov guidelines) and was never unwell again. When she was self isolating at home I looked after her and must have been exposed to huge viral loads as I was obviously in very close contact and didn’t change my behaviour at all. I was just there as if she had a normal flu or cold, so warm hugging her at night, still giving her kisses and going normally about life. 5 days into her isolation I got a fever as well and I had a very high fever for the first two days. Then it disappeared like it normally would and I just had a cough left for the week and felt a bit tired obviously. After roughly 10 days I felt like I was all good again and even started to go for runs in the park again and to work out at home again. Weirdly we lost our sense of taste and smell entirely towards the end of the first 7 days and it lasted for about 5 days in total despite all other symptoms having disappeared. It was a complete loss, like nothing I had ever had before. All in all the loss of smell and taste was literally the most annoying about it, otherwise it felt like an extremely mild flu like not even worth talking about. Luckily smell and taste came fully back, just suddenly one day it was back and that was the end of story. This happened in early April in the UK. Since then we felt great, no lasting symptoms whatsoever. I’m not a super athlete or anything, but I do enjoy sports and I have maintained a great condition and actually even feel a lot stronger than before. Probably because due to the extra work outs I get from all the extra time. This virus is just a regular respiratory illness and it’s honestly so mild I cannot believe how the world is going bonkers over this. I actually hope that the more people get it hopefully they will realise like me that this whole reaction to COVID is massively over the top. There will always be some people with complications and some who die. But that is literally just like with other viruses which we don’t care about. If you’re in normal health, are not fat and not end of life, then there’s nothing to worry about.

EDIT: I’m 33 and my wife is 32 btw.

[underwater]

You can't take two cases and extrapolate any meaningful conclusions from it.

On top of that, hand waving away the death of people because they are fat or elderly is both incorrect and pretty fucking callous.

[dustinmoris]

Of course I can, I just did make a conclusion because of my own experience and the experience of dozens of other people who I know IRL. Many staff at my wife’s work got infected. 0 deaths of those and 0 “long covids”.

I’m just saying that like with the flu, everyone around me who had COVID finds it laughable because it was actually milder than the flu. Feels to me like the people who get critically ill must be some really badly unhealthy people with some bad existing health issues. I’m not hand waving it, I’m just not very surprised and not freaking out when someone tells me that extremely unhealthy people have health issues. I mean that’s kind of what unhealthy means at the end of the day, when your body is much weaker than the average person and vulnerable to benign viruses.

We had someone die in our family presumably from COVID, but that person was 94 and we were told that she probably won’t make this year already in November 2019, which was before COVID. It’s a perfect example where she ends up in the COVID statistic, but she didn’t die from COVID. She died because she was 94 and her body gave up no matter what she would’ve had.