John T. writes about his experience with COVID-19 in this St. Louis Post-Dispatch column: It's been almost 8 weeks since I tested negative for COVID-19, but I'm a little worried because my loss of taste and smell hasn't recovered. Will this pass over time or should I be concerned? Any ideas or suggestions would be appreciated. Regarding this matter, I have scheduled a meeting with an otolaryngologist in mid-February. ”
Yes, John, I will definitely keep my appointment with my doctor! I'm not a doctor, but I can provide information that I've sniffed out from research reports.
First of all, you are not alone in this. One in five people who recover from COVID-19 continue to have problems with their sense of smell and taste for more than eight weeks, according to an article on the subject published by the National Library of Medicine.
Experts say our sense of smell is directly related to our sense of taste. And we need both to make the food we eat appealing. When your sense of smell or taste is lost or distorted, the way you eat can be greatly affected.
Are there any good treatments to restore this precious sensation? So far, the evidence is weak but hopeful, according to a systematic review of 38 studies on the topic published in the BMC Infectious Diseases journal in 2023.
For example, physical training and breathing exercises can help improve your energy and quality of life. But scientists say there's still a lot of uncertainty about how useful they are in helping people regain their sense of smell and taste.
What intrigued me the most were treatments that attempt to retrain the olfactory system, which controls our sense of smell. Although still in the theoretical stage, hope rests in the fact that these nerves have the unique ability to regenerate or heal if they are damaged. However, we have numerous receptors to detect hundreds of odors. Therefore, retraining your brain to correctly identify odors can be a painstaking process.
This “olfactory retraining therapy” involves having patients relearn their sense of smell by smelling at least four different odors twice a day for several months. In a multicenter, randomized clinical trial, patients were exposed to each odor for 15 seconds twice a day, separated by 30 seconds. They reported that their olfactory abilities improved after four weeks of this process.
In the process of restoring your sense of smell and taste, something surprising may happen. Some scents can be distorted, such as coffee that smells like gasoline or a favorite food that tastes rotten.
Still, most researchers express hope that retraining the sense of smell could be possible. Please let me know, John!
(Barbara Intermill is a registered dietitian nutritionist and syndicated columnist. She is the author of Quinn-Essential Nutrition: The Uncomplicated Science of Eating. Email barbara@quinnessentialnutrition.com.)
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