4 ms·

I've now had Covid 3 x times. The first time I had incredible taste and smell loss, taking in excess of 4-5 months to recover, perhaps not even fully. The oth

by Daviey 3y ago

I've now had Covid 3 x times. The first time I had incredible taste and smell loss, taking in excess of 4-5 months to recover, perhaps not even fully. The other times, I had no loss of taste or smell. I do wonder why it only impacted me the first time. Different Covid variant, or something biologically changed in me, causing it to impact me differently?

amluto 3y ago
IIRC there’s decent evidence that the incidence of anosmia from Omicron is much lower than from earlier strains.
MisterBastahrd 3y ago
I've been buying "test bags" of mandarins every 4 months or so since I contracted it for a second time around Christmas 2021. Yesterday was the first time that I was able to taste any of the background notes you would normally associate with orange flavors. Before it was like just taking a concentrated spray of orange oil to the mouth. I was so excited I ended up eating half the bag, lol.
- fgsfds028374 3y ago
  [dead]
- Baeocystin 3y ago
  That makes me happy to hear! I have a couple of friends who have been affected by this, and their loss of food enjoyment has genuinely hurt them. Here's hoping they get theirs back soon, too.
- ralusek 3y ago
  I mean, that's also to do with seasonality. Citrus is horrible outside of winter. I recently started noticing the oranges starting to taste much better, but that's the same as every year around now.
emchammer 3y ago
The first time I contracted COVID, the other symptoms were wild, and I gave myself even odds on dying. However I did not lose my sense of smell or taste. The second time I contracted COVID, it was mostly just a miserable fever but I lost my smell and taste, and they still have not come back completely almost a year later. My theory is that COVID does a random walk when eating away the brain from wherever it enters.
- hanniabu 3y ago
  Maybe it matters if when you originally contracted it you were breathing in through your mouth vs nose?
  - soco 3y ago
    And those many who didn't lose either smell or taste were breathing through...?
    - superb_dev 3y ago
      Not to get technical, but you can breathe through your butt (kinda…) https://www.cnet.com/science/scientists-say-mammals-can-breathe-through-their-butts-in-emergencies/ https://www.cnet.com/science/scientists-say-mammals-can-brea...
      - Smoosh 3y ago
        Interesting. I've had several managers who could talk in a similar way.
piuantiderp 3y ago
Likely your body had built up immunity. It's unclear if later strains had less of an effect on taste or people were just better prepared.
- saalweachter 3y ago
  Can we get that data from China's experience after dropping the zero-COVID policy in Dec 2022? If I understand correctly, at that time, only a tiny slice of the population had been exposed to previous COVID variants, and something like 80% has since gotten it. It looks like the vaccination rate was something like 90% at the time, but that should still be a pretty large naive population to look at, of people who were exposed to Omicron & later with no original/Delta exposure.
  - piuantiderp 3y ago
    "to Omicron & later with no original/Delta exposure", unless they were in the ISS during Delta and then landed, this is practically 0.
arrosenberg 3y ago
Different variants may selectively target the common binding site in different areas of the body.
Baeocystin 3y ago
I am reasonably certain I had covid in January 2020; felt like I had been hit by a truck, and recovery took weeks. As far as I know, I haven't had it since, but did get the vaccinations. Do you (does anyone here) know if there is a test to see if you did have it, or does the vaccine response swamp that signal?
- orra 3y ago
  Some blood antibody tests can distinguish between viral induced antibodies versus infection induced antibodies. However, antibodies decrease with time. (We have memory T-cells etc for long term immunity). Whilst I am not an expert, I would be very surprised if virtual induced antibodies were still detectable. What you describe: it is very possible you had COVID, but it is also very possible you had a bad flu. There are other viruses too, like RSV, which used to be rarely mentioned, but at times can be nasty.
  - Arete314159 3y ago
    Do you have any more info on this? I have not heard of such a test.
    - orra 3y ago
      Here is an example test which checks specifically for virus induced antibodies: <https://monitormyhealth.org.uk/covid19-antibody-test/ https://monitormyhealth.org.uk/covid19-antibody-test/>. Non-profit Testing for All also used to sell similar tests, but they have stopped operating. In contrast this test does not distinguish between virus and vaccine as the cause: <https://onlinedoctor.superdrug.com/coronavirus-antibody-test.html https://onlinedoctor.superdrug.com/coronavirus-antibody-test...>. I don't have a better approach than checking the descriptions of individual antibody tests. But I know the distinction is real, because IIRC the ONS (statistics body) used tests which distinguished, when they ran their ongoing study.
    - boring_twenties 3y ago
      Back then the Red Cross would do free antibody tests for anyone who donated blood. There were two. One could not distinguish between antibodies from an infection vs. vaccine, and came back in a day or two. The other did, and took longer.
soco 3y ago
It's weird how different it goes for each person. My little family got it the summer of 22 (tested positive too) and while I felt like flu for about a week, my wife was completely out for two days with very high fever then nothing, and the daughter only lost smell and taste for two weeks.
Podgajski 3y ago
Did you take any supplements after your first infection?
- jamespo 3y ago
  I tried taking regular zinc + other vitamins before, during and after covid. Did nothing from what I can tell.
  - Podgajski 3y ago
    Well if your loss of sense of smell went away after your first infection how can you say the zinc did nothing? You could say the zinc cured your sense of smell.
    - simondotau 3y ago
      He could also say the peanut butter sandwiches he eats in the morning cured his sense of smell. I mean they probably didn't, but there's as much evidence either way.
      - Podgajski 3y ago
        That is just ridiculous. There is a viable mechanism why zinc might have helped. You will not see the evidence if you do not look for it. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7781367/ https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7781367/ There have also been multiple reports linking the loss of taste or smell to zinc deficiency, either due to chemotherapy and metal chelating agents [38–40], or due to nutritional deficiencies, especially in older populations [41,42], also caused by medical procedures such as dialysis [43]. As a result, zinc has been proposed in the treatment of taste disorders [44,45]; however, zinc supplementation for chemotherapy-induced loss of smell or taste, which is often transient, has not led to improvements in this condition
        jamespo 3y ago
        Not much compelling data in that study
btbuildem 3y ago
From the article: Smell and taste problems are less prevalent now than they were at early stages of the pandemic [1] 1: https://doi.org/10.1002/ohn.384 https://doi.org/10.1002/ohn.384

by Daviey 3y ago

amluto 3y ago

IIRC there’s decent evidence that the incidence of anosmia from Omicron is much lower than from earlier strains.

MisterBastahrd 3y ago

I've been buying "test bags" of mandarins every 4 months or so since I contracted it for a second time around Christmas 2021. Yesterday was the first time that I was able to taste any of the background notes you would normally associate with orange flavors. Before it was like just taking a concentrated spray of orange oil to the mouth. I was so excited I ended up eating half the bag, lol.

fgsfds028374 3y ago
[dead]
Baeocystin 3y ago
That makes me happy to hear! I have a couple of friends who have been affected by this, and their loss of food enjoyment has genuinely hurt them. Here's hoping they get theirs back soon, too.
ralusek 3y ago
I mean, that's also to do with seasonality. Citrus is horrible outside of winter. I recently started noticing the oranges starting to taste much better, but that's the same as every year around now.

emchammer 3y ago

The first time I contracted COVID, the other symptoms were wild, and I gave myself even odds on dying. However I did not lose my sense of smell or taste. The second time I contracted COVID, it was mostly just a miserable fever but I lost my smell and taste, and they still have not come back completely almost a year later. My theory is that COVID does a random walk when eating away the brain from wherever it enters.

hanniabu 3y ago
Maybe it matters if when you originally contracted it you were breathing in through your mouth vs nose?
- soco 3y ago
  And those many who didn't lose either smell or taste were breathing through...?
  - superb_dev 3y ago
    Not to get technical, but you can breathe through your butt (kinda…) https://www.cnet.com/science/scientists-say-mammals-can-breathe-through-their-butts-in-emergencies/ https://www.cnet.com/science/scientists-say-mammals-can-brea...
    - Smoosh 3y ago
      Interesting. I've had several managers who could talk in a similar way.

piuantiderp 3y ago

Likely your body had built up immunity. It's unclear if later strains had less of an effect on taste or people were just better prepared.

saalweachter 3y ago
Can we get that data from China's experience after dropping the zero-COVID policy in Dec 2022? If I understand correctly, at that time, only a tiny slice of the population had been exposed to previous COVID variants, and something like 80% has since gotten it. It looks like the vaccination rate was something like 90% at the time, but that should still be a pretty large naive population to look at, of people who were exposed to Omicron & later with no original/Delta exposure.
- piuantiderp 3y ago
  "to Omicron & later with no original/Delta exposure", unless they were in the ISS during Delta and then landed, this is practically 0.

arrosenberg 3y ago

Different variants may selectively target the common binding site in different areas of the body.

Baeocystin 3y ago

I am reasonably certain I had covid in January 2020; felt like I had been hit by a truck, and recovery took weeks. As far as I know, I haven't had it since, but did get the vaccinations. Do you (does anyone here) know if there is a test to see if you did have it, or does the vaccine response swamp that signal?

orra 3y ago
Some blood antibody tests can distinguish between viral induced antibodies versus infection induced antibodies. However, antibodies decrease with time. (We have memory T-cells etc for long term immunity). Whilst I am not an expert, I would be very surprised if virtual induced antibodies were still detectable. What you describe: it is very possible you had COVID, but it is also very possible you had a bad flu. There are other viruses too, like RSV, which used to be rarely mentioned, but at times can be nasty.
- Arete314159 3y ago
  Do you have any more info on this? I have not heard of such a test.
  - orra 3y ago
    Here is an example test which checks specifically for virus induced antibodies: <https://monitormyhealth.org.uk/covid19-antibody-test/ https://monitormyhealth.org.uk/covid19-antibody-test/>. Non-profit Testing for All also used to sell similar tests, but they have stopped operating. In contrast this test does not distinguish between virus and vaccine as the cause: <https://onlinedoctor.superdrug.com/coronavirus-antibody-test.html https://onlinedoctor.superdrug.com/coronavirus-antibody-test...>. I don't have a better approach than checking the descriptions of individual antibody tests. But I know the distinction is real, because IIRC the ONS (statistics body) used tests which distinguished, when they ran their ongoing study.
  - boring_twenties 3y ago
    Back then the Red Cross would do free antibody tests for anyone who donated blood. There were two. One could not distinguish between antibodies from an infection vs. vaccine, and came back in a day or two. The other did, and took longer.

soco 3y ago

It's weird how different it goes for each person. My little family got it the summer of 22 (tested positive too) and while I felt like flu for about a week, my wife was completely out for two days with very high fever then nothing, and the daughter only lost smell and taste for two weeks.

Podgajski 3y ago

Did you take any supplements after your first infection?

jamespo 3y ago
I tried taking regular zinc + other vitamins before, during and after covid. Did nothing from what I can tell.
- Podgajski 3y ago
  Well if your loss of sense of smell went away after your first infection how can you say the zinc did nothing? You could say the zinc cured your sense of smell.
  - simondotau 3y ago
    He could also say the peanut butter sandwiches he eats in the morning cured his sense of smell. I mean they probably didn't, but there's as much evidence either way.
    - Podgajski 3y ago
      That is just ridiculous. There is a viable mechanism why zinc might have helped. You will not see the evidence if you do not look for it. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7781367/ https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7781367/ There have also been multiple reports linking the loss of taste or smell to zinc deficiency, either due to chemotherapy and metal chelating agents [38–40], or due to nutritional deficiencies, especially in older populations [41,42], also caused by medical procedures such as dialysis [43]. As a result, zinc has been proposed in the treatment of taste disorders [44,45]; however, zinc supplementation for chemotherapy-induced loss of smell or taste, which is often transient, has not led to improvements in this condition
      - jamespo 3y ago
        Not much compelling data in that study

btbuildem 3y ago

From the article: Smell and taste problems are less prevalent now than they were at early stages of the pandemic [1] 1: https://doi.org/10.1002/ohn.384 https://doi.org/10.1002/ohn.384