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New symptom! bizzare smell and taste developed 2-3 months post covid
I had covid again around Aug 1 - I took paxlovid and recovered very quickly and actually while on paxlovid had best energy ever, no headacches, and back pain significantly reduced.
However about 2 months post covid I started to develop a weirdness in my sense of smell where certain smells were enhannced and changed. Dawn dishsoap smelled disgusting.. at 3 months post, this increased to the point that anything savory smelling smells disgusting and the taste of it is also reduced and worsened.
I can taste salty and sweet things, they taste ok, but cant eat anything savory or fruity. so I'm reduced to very bland foods - cottage cheese for example.
The rest smells strongly like a mix of rotting and smoky. My sense of smell is also very strong for some things like bleach is overwhelmingly strong.
have others had this? I had long covid previously but this is the only symptom I have had since the recent covid infection. I'm planning to get the most recent vaccination and hope it goes away.
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I had covid last September and subsequently got various symptoms.( I won’t list them here.) I was diagnosed with post covid syndrome, but still am not certain which symptoms it caused. However, I did lose most of my sense of smell and some taste for almost a year. (Discovered by tests.) It did return. I also simultaneously got a constant metallic turned bitter taste, which remains. And, I got a recurring phantom smell of a sweet smell like fabric softener. It was very pleasant, but came out of no where and was intermittent. I don’t use fabric softener. It stopped after about 6 months.
I fear the constant bitter taste is indefinite.
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3 ReactionsHey SSLariz, I had COVID a 2nd time in October 2023. I completely lost my taste for coffee. I always looked forward to it in the morning. It tasted so bitter to me that I could no longer drink it. My first round of COVID in 2022, I did not have this with either taste or smell.
After a year, my taste for coffee is coming back......not 100% yet.
Definitely COVID can affect your sense of taste and smell. I am praying you get yours back because as I know what you are experiencing is difficult.
Blessings....
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3 ReactionsSSlariz, After developing LC, I periodically got an unexplainable garbage dumpster smell. It was faint and took me a while to figure out it was a LC symptom. 9 months into LC and it comes and goes - still usually faint. Frankly, I’d happily live with it forever if I could trade it for the fatigue. Hang in there.
I have read your story and can somewhat relate. I contracted Covid in December of 2022 and lost my taste and smell on day 2 of the virus. I still don’t have it back, but have done 6 Stellate Ganglion Block injections and they have brought back some taste to my tongue on some days, like sweet, salty and bitter, but still, no flavors. I can’t smell anything and have been to an ENT and had all the CT’s and X-Rays I could have, even a brain MRI and nothing was found. The doctors say it’s long Covid, but I also have Hashimoto’s and am wondering if that is really the cause. I’m at a loss right now as to where I should go next, as these injections aren’t really doing it for me, it’s just a tease and then after about 4-5 weeks, it goes back to nothing again. Life is quite dull these days, needless to say. I wish you well and hope that in time…we will be normal again.
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1 ReactionYes coffee is one of the things that smells most disgusting. but tea is fine so I'm drinking that now, but I do miss coffee.
I did find that if I try really expensive good coffee its not as bad. I think my sense of smell has gotten stronger - but especially for bad smells.
this is definitely the smell sickly sweet and garbagey. started faint, but got stronger.
Related discussion:
- Horrible Taste and Smell (burning garbage) post COVID: Anyone else?
https://connect.mayoclinic.org/discussion/garbageburning-taste-and-smell/
@covidstinks2023
I am 4+ years LC. One day about 6 months ago I drank (or tried to) my regular cup of morning coffee and it tasted so bitter, I stopped cold turkey without regrets. I have been a coffee drinker since about the age of 6 when my mom put a dribble of coffee in my mug of milk. Loved the smell. Loved the taste. It's getting better, but I was so disappointed! With multiple other COVID symptoms still plaguing me, it had to take my coffee away? You're right, COVID stinks!
I have had long COVID for awhile. After my most recent bout of COVID this Spring my long COVID got worse. I can no longer eat spicy foods ( my tongue actually burns) and most other foods are basically tasteless. At times this seems to be fading, then like a wave the symptoms hit again.
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1 ReactionI too have lost my taste and smell to Covid. It will be 2 years in December. My question to you is that Metallic taste, bitter taste you described, was that after the Covid Vaccine or with the actual Covid Virus? I distinctly remember having a Metallic taste in the back of my throat pretty much immediately after getting the first Covid Vaccine. I also have Hashimoto’s. Do you have Hashimoto’s or any other Auto Immune Disease? Just curious as I’ve met a few other people who have lost their taste and smell and they also have Hashimoto’s.