SurvivingInfidelity.com^®

Hi SI peeps,

So the VID got me last week. I was fully vaccinated late May (Moderna). Got it from the grandkids. Negative rapid test followed by a positive PCR two days later.

I was surprised when I got the call that it was positive - I felt great. Until 2 days after the call. Stale headache, low-grade fever, super tired. No trouble breathing, sat levels perfect.

Then Sunday, goodbye taste and smell. JUST. LIKE. THAT. GONE. I cannot smell ANYTHING - not even the dog poo I pick up! I can "taste" sweet, salty, sour, spicy, but no flavor. It's really hard to explain.

It sucks and TBH, I'm scared and a little depressed. This is awful. I know it could be worse, but of course I HAD to look up how long it takes to get your sense of taste and smell back and I read everything from a couple weeks, to a month, to months, to never, and then when it does come back, everything smells awful.

For those of you who have had COVID and "took leave of your senses" - what was the outcome? Honest answers even if not good, please and thank you.

[This message edited by Lalagirl at 2:40 PM, Thursday, September 9th]

I’m s long hauler b/c I had no COVID in March 2020 with very mild symptoms. Toes hurt, tired, loss of taste and smell. Hair loss too.

It’s now Sept 2021 and the taste and smell are more normalized. Some things I still cannot tolerate — they just taste bad.

I had to change soap, shampoo, cleaning products etc due to smell.

I’m telling you this b/c if it takes a long time to return I don’t want you to be discouraged. IF is the key word. Most people I know who had COVID far worse than me had no lingering taste or smell issues.

Hang in there. Hope you recover quickly.

I had Covid January 2021. Completely lost my sense of taste and smell. The only thing my tongue could process was a slight bitterness when I would eat a lemon wedge (yes, I was eating ridiculous things like lemons and spoonfuls of cinnamon... Just to test the severity of the loss, lol). It was definitely depressing. I caught myself eating chocolate one day, which I couldn't taste. And I stopped myself. Not worth the calories if I can't even enjoy it 😂.

It took about 2 weeks for the senses to begin to come back. I would say within 6 to 8 weeks they were back completely. From what I hear, this varies person to person.

[This message edited by WhoTheBleep at 4:01 PM, Thursday, September 9th]

I had COVID in February. I felt pretty flu-ish, but it wasn’t too terrible, thankfully. I did lose my sense of taste and smell, which honestly bothered me the most 😂. I only experienced it for a few days. Same thing with my husband who had it at the same time.

Hope it comes back soon for you!

I did lose my sense of taste and smell, which honestly bothered me the most

Glad I'm not the only one feeling all sorry for myself when others have fared much worse with COVID.

Today, I've been huffing essential oils straight from the bottle (peppermint, lemon, frankincense,cypress - any of the strong/fragrant oils) and I'm starting to get a tiny hint of scent. An aromatherapist suggested this to me - something about retraining my olfactory nerves or something....

I had COVID twice last year, first in March and then in July. Did not lose taste/smell the first time but did with the second bout. It took 3 months before I could smell or taste anything. Then it was random stuff and some of my favorite things tasted horrible. Now am almost back to normal but still have a hard time with tart flavors. Cheesecake, yogurt, vinegar based savory foods have a persistent unpleasant taste, a mixture of soap and spoiled food taste, which is not at all what cheesecake is supposed to taste like.

I just returned from the hospital getting a contrast CT scan on my lungs due to long Covid complications. I had Covid in January and I continue to have pain when inhaling and I still do not have my sense of smell and taste back completely.

I can taste most foods, however it’s duller than it used to be. Some spices overpower rather than compliment now. Today I ate a cracker and it tasted like mildew. I can usually smell citrus for a hot minute. Mrs. Meyers makes a basil scented cleaner that I can smell faintly.

Prior to Covid I loved to bake. I was even dabbling in starting my own small business. I don’t enjoy it the way I used to. Cooking is challenging. I relied heavily on instinct by the way foods smell, which I can not do anymore. I burn food frequently. I have to rely on timers (when I remember to set them). I can’t just taste something and judge whether it’s in need of more seasoning. I used to be very confident in my skills in the kitchen. Not so much anymore.

There are some benefits. Unpleasant smells are not an issue.

I’ve started to give up hope on getting my smell back. I think with the holidays coming up it will be harder for me. I would give anything to smell a pumpkin spice latte or just coffee in general. I love the scent of pine and Christmas cookies baking.

The sad thing is that with the loss of one of my senses, no other senses have become more enhanced. I thought that was how it was supposed to work.

((((Walkin)))) I'm so sorry; this whole COVID shit sucks.

Had Covid mid August. Taste and smell was completely gone for about a week and slowly came back, it’s definitely not all the way back. I have food texture issues, so I would gag trying eat with no taste. I lived on protein shakes and lost 15 pounds.

I have covid now and I definitely struggle the most with the loss of taste and smell. I was fully vaccinated too (Pfizer) so I've only been sick for 3 days. The fever, violent sneezing, runny nose are all gone now. I'm still coughing so I'm quarantined untill that's over. And a little tired so I sleep a lot.

The weird thing is that I could taste and smell perfectly fine for the first two days that I've had symptoms. Only on the third day, the evening AFTER I found out I had covid, did it start to disappear. It took 3 days I guess?

I hope it will come back after a week, like some of you guys said!

It's funny when it's not dangerous. I ran out of milk the other day and obviously I can't just run out to the store to get some. but then I realized I might as well drink the coffee black because I can't taste it anyway? Whether I'm drinking black coffee, coke zero, water or tea, it's all the same! Also, I burnt my toast the other day because obvi I couldn't smell it burning. Then I ate it before I saw that it had burt, because I couldn't taste it either! I don't snack as often anymore because what's the point?

Last night I did have a nice stir-fry though. Not because of the taste, but because of the texture I guess? Would be funny if the taste was hooorrible.

I can't taste anything at all! No salt or bitter or anything. I cracked open a clove of garlic and inhaled as deep as I could. I got the faaaintest whiff of garlic. Could also be my imagination...

Also, do you guys still taste spicyness? I don't, unless it's a lot and then my mouth just feels a little warm. Which is weird, because I thought spicyness wasn't connected to tastebuds?

The weird thing is that I could taste and smell perfectly fine for the first two days that I've had symptoms. Only on the third day, the evening AFTER I found out I had covid, did it start to disappear. It took 3 days I guess?

My sense of taste/smell went kaput about seven days post my positive test.

I had the test done on Sunday, 10/29 - rapid was negative, they sent it out for the PCR.

They called me on Tuesday to tell me the PCR was positive - I was taken aback because I had no symptoms.

On Thursday, I had some mild body aches (mostly in my feet), was sneezing a little, had a constant stale headache and was pretty tired. I thought these symptoms were psychosomatic because I was told I had a positive test.

I made dinner Saturday night - everything was fine. I woke up Sunday morning (one full week post the day I was tested) - went to drink my coffee and noticed I could not taste it. I quickly figured out that I lost everything.

As far as taste, I could always taste salty, sweet, sour and spicy but zero flavor. I could not smell anything no matter how strong.

Two days ago, I started getting a hint of smell with strong essential oils that I have been sniffing.

Yesterday, I started being able to smell/taste strong odors/tastes (garlic, hot peppers) faintly.

Today, I can taste my coffee very faintly. My smell has improved a lot - I could smell my dog's poo when I scooped it this morning (I know, that's a terrible gauge, but I'll take any smell at this point)

Given the feedback here and hearing from others IRL, I'm lucky. It's been one week and I'm improving.

I lost my smell before I even tested positive although I knew that it was most likely the case having kids in the house who were sick with it too.

I'd have to say that it took several months for my sniffer to be back in business . It was frustrating when I couldn't taste nor smell certain types of chocolates, but it was a blessing when the dog cut some cheese and while everyone else's eyes were watering I was sitting there eating my chips as usual!

It has been a year since I had it, and I don't think I have any issues now although sometimes I smell things others don't. For example, I could smell Pine Sol down the hall for days but no one could smell it. Weird things like that. My friend who got it last fall still can't taste soda.

If I get it again I'll see if the symptoms are any different than before the vaccine.

[This message edited by scaredwoman at 12:18 AM, Tuesday, September 14th]