Lost Smell and Taste after COVID

Yes! I keep bleaching my garbage can and disposal in kitchen. Then I wondered if I am smelling my own breath and began gargling Listerine,etc. no changes.
I just came across a long Covid article this morning in publication
UC San Diego News Center June 15 about my ongoing neurological symptoms.....yay, finally getting experts to pay attention to us!

I got COVID early in March 2020...I was NOT hospitalized and my PCP called me 2x a day on face time to ensure I was breathing well and resting. Per my PCP I had an extreme case of COVID and was remained at home and isolated for 4 + weeks. I am 60 very fit and have never been sick and or hospitalized. I still have persistent problems with my sense of smell and taste. Does any one else have similar issues and if so how if this bent addressed ?

Thank you

Hello @rmfe my COVID positive test was the first week of July. Unfortunately COVID affected to be able to taste. Dairy foods tasted bitter but the ability to taste is slowly returning. At this my inability to smell continues. I get tired easily.
I have posted information about my peeling and blister skin condition on my hands. I understand it can also effect your feet.
I hope this information will help.
I hope you feel better soon.

Hi @rmfe - you'll notice that I moved your question about persistent problems with taste and smell post-COVID to this existing discussion posted by @seanc6437:
-Lost Smell and Taste After COVID: https://connect.mayoclinic.org/discussion/smell-and-taste/

This way you can read responses from others who are experiencing this, like @strongevergreen and @chrissy188.

I'm sorry to hear that you're dealing with these lingering COVID symptoms, I know that can be frustrating. Are you experiencing a complete loss of taste and smell, or are the senses back but not feeling quite right?

I lost my sense of smell in July 2021 associated with a bad case of Covid. It still has not returned and I have had physicians tell me it may not.

My taste is mostly back but sometime I taste nothing, other times what I taste is bad and sometimes it is muted but okay. as for my smell...I smell nothing unless it is right under my nose. Then most of the time I can smell what it is...but sometimes it is an off smell or I will smell it the first time and then bring it to my nose again and smell nothing. it is so dang frustrating! it is also very hard to explain to someone my symptoms. I feel bad for those that everything smells and tastes bad so I don't share much...just go on about my day feeling alone in all this. while dealing with recurrent thyroid cancer without thyroid and unknown location so just monitoring and again not sharing because with no plan people question why I am not pushing to do something about the cancer. ugh. I wish doctors knew more so I could get past one of these issues that effect daily thoughts and experiences. thanks for the vent.

I have lost my taste and smell with just a tiny bit of taste returning. I had Covid in November. Recently I’ve been able to taste something I’m eating but only briefly and not every time. Smell has not returned but I have phantom smells of garbage or a dead animal smell. I can’t stand the smell of blueberries, dish soap or scented candles. When I stand by sinks I get a bad smell also. Like a sewer. My ENT suggested a CT scan to look at my sinuses but I’m not going to do that.

To those reading my other post, guess what? July 10th 2022, my poor body is so weak, I got Covid again for the 5th time. This one is the highly contagious and nasty BA.5 and it is vary dangerous for me. It’s bad enough I still suffer as a long hauler, losing my sense of taste and smell, on only day 3, I lost my hearing in my right ear, yep, I’m now deaf in that ear. It quickly started as earaches in both ears, and then I heard a popping sound inside my right ear, then nothing. Nearly two weeks later , it popped loudly and muffled hearing returned but I still have earaches in both ears with sharp pain occurring in the right ear. The regular symptoms weren’t to bad, just this ear problems.

I’ve had Covid twice and both times has lost my sense of taste. I’m not sure if it will ever return because there just not enough known about this virus. And new variants keep cropping up. Since 2020 til today my taste has been impaired.

I’m in the same place you are. I lost my taste in 2020 and it has never returned. I can only taste Italian food. I drink Hint water. I miss tea more than I thought I would!