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Mourning the loss of smell - COVID

The night before last , so day 11, i realized i didnt smell the burning toast. I tried to just ignore it but by yesterday couldn't escape tgat i wasnt smelling anything- not the trash, or myself or any food. Its possible its been true or building for days when i look back.

Hard to just take it in stride because with cfs ive learned to get joy out of the simple things left to me and that included sense of smell which i never took for granted So one more thing gone- yuck

Its very weird and when you dwell on it you feel handicapped.

I hope like for many it returns but with cfs things i het tend to be permanent.

So far food taste saltier than usual and avocado seemed to lack subtle flavor. Probably if my eyes were closed i would not be able to tell what it was
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linusbert
on my last round of maybe corona in november last year i had the exact same problem. the first vanilla corona did not do it. (though i had vitamin D levels of over 20 back then and in november like 4ng/ml could have made that difference).
it wasnt even a big thing, i had higher pulse than usual, maybe fever?, felt cold for 1-2 days. it began with 1 week before the cold set in that i had stomach problems. got nausea from eating, could hardly eat - and 1 day of really bad head pressure, that was the worst of it.

after like 5 days in when i started to actually feel well again except a stuffed nose i realized over the like 2-3 days i was loosing sense of smell completely. could absolutely not smell damn shit. i realized this first when i did check between my legs and didnt smell anything.
made me panic a little bit, because food in my nursing home sometimes goes bad. usually i would not eat it. also food tasted basically like nothing. even the smell intense things. this only lasted for 2 days.
went on for like 2-3 days and then over a course of 3 days my smell returned , i think to the same level as before.
yikes, this was scarry creepy.

i remember while i couldnt smell anything, i had glimpses of smell in my nose of stuff that didnt exist or i never smelled before. that was a bit of annoying.

since then i take vitamin D like crazy to get me back up out of the danger zone which is below 20ng/ml. preferable i would like to get up at least to 40ng/ml, but this isnt happen anytime soon. i need to take like 100.000 ie to get it up 1-2 ng/ml in blood... sucks.
 
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V
@linusbert thanks for reminder on D! Maybe i should take some. Thing is i have an aversion now to everything did the day i got sick- i took some D (since my neighbor had covid i was trying to prevent) and that plus a movie is what i blamed my bad headache on....

Maybe D woukd help

Im so glad you said almost made you panic. Thats how i feel but cant tell anyone since thryll think im nuts. I rely on strong smelling ability Quite a lot

Glad you got yours back so fast. Was it gradual or all at once?

Feel like ive lost my super power :( [GROUP=]:cry::cry:[/GROUP]
 
linusbert
vision blue said:
Glad you got yours back so fast. Was it gradual or all at once?
Click to expand...

gradual, every day a bit more.

yea , i am also a sniffer, smelling is one thing i was really strong. could tell people apart behind doors by their smell.. cold smoke on cloth, parfums... that made me quite depri. glad it didnt last.

loosing a sense is always horrible.

i did always tests with really intense things like essential oils if i can finally realize a bit of a smell. maybe that helped. idk.

vision blue said:
Feel like ive lost my super power
Click to expand...
dont worry.
every super hero gets his powers back eventually ;)
 
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V
linusbert said:
did you recover your smelling?
Click to expand...


Not yet. If its not back in a month i will start mourning for real

Have ben trying to train with a bit of succees if i stick my nose eg in a pladtic cup filled with coffee grounds Its very nice to smell aomething , anything even if has to be at very high concentrations very close but a long long way to go


So far affecting taste for a few foods: eggs, brussel sprouts, pasta. Have to drown them in jam or salty stuff to eat.
 
linusbert
at least you start to smell something, thats the beginning of recovery!
for some its days, some need weeks or month.

did you try to rinse your nose with water? there are cans or so which you can use to shower your inside of the nose.
only use this with water you did cook (and cooled off) so no infections can occur.
and the nose should be kinda clear, not to be used with stuffed nose.
and the water need some salt in it.


like that:
 
V
@linusbert im not great with too much saltwater in nose- i get dizzy. I think the fluid goes to my ears

I stupidly used tap water last night with some salt, just lower part of nose. Theyres a recent news article of someone in florida who did a saline ribse with tap water abd got the brain eating amoeba and died. I woukd think is rare tho. Tap water here loaded with chlorine

Have to stop sticking my nose into plastic cups of lemon chocolate etc because that my be how i just got bacteria into my sinuses- i posted a new blog post about it So back to having no sensory experience of smell. Cooking brusswl sprouts which will taste like water again

Im guessing new sinus infection will be another olfactory recovery setback.
 
linusbert
vision blue said:
@linusbert im not great with too much saltwater in nose- i get dizzy. I think the fluid goes to my ears
Click to expand...
thats possible especially when nose is stuffed or your ear trumpt doesnt close correctly or you do not have the mouth open when the water is flowing in.

linusbert said:
only use this with water you did cook (and cooled off) so no infections can occur.
Click to expand...
thats the exact reason why i did write this. i read the article as well. well you got some weird corona and lemon chocolate in your nose... i doubt the amoeba will survive it.
chlorine in your nose will not help with healing i guess.


you should get a set of essential oils, something like that, and just sniff on the open bottle. but do not put those in your nose or mouth. and keep like 5 inches distance and only a few seconds. you do not want to hurt your lining.

(edit: i do not recommend this company at all, just a illustration how these products look like. use a non-chinese product, organic and food safe. also those oils tend to go sour pretty soon. throw away when them are cheesy and after a few months even when only opened once i would toss them away)
1677949084349.png

do you have a infrared lamp? shining it on your face might help with the sinuses. close your eyes and wear protection goggles thou.


what also helped me when i could do it was a hot bowl of water, a towel. put your head over the bowl. put the towel over your head to close off. and inhale the hot water. this gets the stuff really flowing.
you can put salt into the water / or not. or even ONE(!) drop of essential oils if you tolerate this. that way you can combine it with your smell training.
some put sage tea leafs into the water.
careful with the hot water to not burn yourself. when the nose is hurting its too close to the water.
 
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V
@linusbert
Thanjs much for the suggestions. I guess matter of adapting and seeing what might work with assorted constraints

Do you recommend that company shown in the left for essential
Oils? I know one is supposed to choise high quality ones. Been meaning to do that but had one bad experience and it slowed me down. Long story but one of two possible causes of an a ute sinutits i had years ago that required antibiotics (one of two in my life) was snoffing an essential
Oil for vertigo/motion sickness. It was great stuff but wondered if it having been open for a week or two and frequentky sniffed from caused bacteria to grow

Infrared sounds too scary. Id blond mysekf. However i rememver peiople on this list talking about different wavelength LEDs foe different purposes and its something ive wabted to look into

Sage is something infind vile and cant go near (along with celery...go figure...). I see your point. I think im hard to help because so many things contraindicated
Sio even stram which the rest of world finds comforting seems to set off my mast cells. I cant win.

What you say about ears is interesting. Is bet mine doesnt close properly. Never heaed that about mouth being open!


Hooefully the one day of tap water didnt do any further damage tho given how my luck is going...


Ive abandoned the olfactory training because of bacteria concerns , but noticed something good today. Its very very faint but i think i was able to smell line.
I also used an slcohol wipe. Normally those things smell unbearably strong and aversive . I did not smell it so i held it right up to my nostril and thought maybe something very faint?

Thanks again. It helps.
 
linusbert
vision blue said:
Do you recommend that company shown in the left for essential
Oils?
Click to expand...

i do not recommend that company at all. i just choose the first picture to give you an impression in case you wouldnt know what i mean.
i really stress to use best quality organic oils - not anything from china. their "organic" isnt organic that much.

vision blue said:
possible causes of an a ute sinutits i had years ago that required antibiotics (one of two in my life) was snoffing an essential
Oil for vertigo/motion sickness. It was great stuff but wondered if it having been open for a week or two and frequentky sniffed from caused bacteria to grow
Click to expand...
thats a real issue. essential oils are good for a few month. you maybe can store them cool in the fridge. but you basically have to handle them like any other oil.
and if your vendor has stored them for long they might be already be bad.

and yea, they tend to smell cheesy fast, thats when i would throw them out!
do you have a person in your household with functional smelling?

i would wipe the bottle of any residues on the top after dropping droplets out. those residues are not inside the bottle but outside and start to smell cheesy soon.

vision blue said:
I think im hard to help because so many things contraindicated
Click to expand...
vision blue said:
Sio even stram which the rest of world finds comforting seems to set off my mast cells. I cant win.
Click to expand...


same for me, i cannot do anything i suggested to you (anymore)
its what annoys me the most with this disease... it strikes in a way a strong-willed person cannot do anything against it. i was a "fighter" before i got thick when it came to pain and enduring through it , in sports for example. if i could do training i would overcome any issue. but thats whats taken from us, the ability to exercise! all we can do is nothing - literally.
really gruesome. i sometimes imagine this disease being a Demon, trying to destroy me slowly but effective taking away one ability after the other.
thats the one thing i didnt try yet, a exorcism...

well, maybe its bonkers, but when i was a kid i played with books of black and white magic. also with auto suggestions.. i wanted to die because i couldnt get the girl i wanted so badly. maybe i got my wish in a slow and painful way.
was a stupid child like 10 yo back then... but maybe exorcism isnt soo stupid afterall?
i stopped to believe in this kinda thing when i grew up... but did i?

i always tell people i do not believe in ghosts and demons... but i believe people can see them and be hurt by them (through their own beliefs). so ghosts and demons are real individually but not collectively. question is, what does my brain belief?

vision blue said:
I did not smell it so i held it right up to my nostril and thought maybe something very faint?
Click to expand...
thats how my recovery started! i smelled those alcohol wipes, not enough to actually notice much of a smell.. but i could tell when it was under my nose and when it wasnt.
lets take this victory home! this is a fight we have a chance. lets beat the fck'ing crap out of those malfunctioning nerves and smell that shitty wipe again!


vision blue said:
What you say about ears is interesting. Is bet mine doesnt close properly. Never heaed that about mouth being open!
Click to expand...
its a medical known condition. it can either not close good enough, or it does close too much.
if you get better when head is lieing down = its too wide open
if you get better when sitting up / or get worse when lieing down = its too closed
both conditions can be treated with either the doctor forcingly widen the muscle ... or injecting some substance to make it narrower.

i fear for me its not possible, as i suspect my muscles there are like my others, like butt... its either too wide open or too closed. switching states. in that case i guess we are just fucked.
 
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linusbert
vision blue said:
https://www.nbcnews.com/health/health-news/ba5-symptoms-loss-smell-common-rcna37961
Click to expand...

article also says:
"While many Covid patients regain their ability to smell within three months, some recover more slowly, Bankova said. If people are still having trouble with smell after six months, she said, they usually see little improvement until they hit the one-year mark, when they tend to improve..."

so lets go with that. you are still in just a few weeks, and you can already smell those lillies.

i still think its a matter of your congestion going away. my congestion only lasted a few days. could be coincidence but the smelling recovered when congestion was going away.

long covid studies
https://vitamindwiki.com/Long-COVID...y+studies#Long-COVID_symptom_chart-_Sept_2022
 
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