Anosmia is a bigger battle for avid survivors

Three days after a positive Covid-19 test, “everything tasted like cardboard,” recalls 38-year-old Elizabeth Medina, who lost her sense of taste and smell at the beginning of the pandemic. A year later, she fears she will never get them back.

Medina is part of a group of patients who consult with an otolaryngologist or neurologist, try various nasal drops, and receive treatment with fish oil.

To stimulate her senses, she puts a lot of spices in everything she eats, pours aromatic herbs into her tea, and regularly sniffs bracelets soaked in essential oils.

But her attempt was in vain. Medina, a school counselor in New York, says she has lost much of the everyday enjoyment she once enjoyed, including eating and cooking.

She says she has been crying every day for months.

Medina is one of more and more people with poorly understood anosmia, which has resulted in underestimation for many people in the pandemic.

According to Valentina Palma, a psychologist at Temple University in Philadelphia, most Covid-19 patients who have lost their taste and olfactory abilities will recover “within 3-4 weeks.”

But 10% to 15% lose sensation for months, Parma said. She chairs the Global Consortium for Chemistry (GCCR), which was formed to study problems at the beginning of the pandemic.

Experts estimate that sensory loss affects more than 2 million Americans and 10 million people worldwide.

Taste and smell are often considered less essential than sight and hearing, and their loss is often considered less serious than the other effects of “long covid”. But they are an important part of socialization, Parma says, “we choose our peers based on odor.”

In addition, their disappearances are often exacerbated not only by nutritional problems, but also by anxiety and depression, Parma added.

Like other “anosmics,” Medina found comfort and solidarity in a support group organized by a hospital near her home.

Such groups thrived on social networks. According to founder Chris Kelly, the AbScent Group, formed as a charity in the UK in 2019, has seen a surge in membership on various platforms from 1,500 to over 45,000 since the pandemic began.

The organization’s main Facebook page repeatedly asks questions that plague Medina. “Can I regain my sense of taste and smell?”

At this stage, Palma said, “It’s very difficult to predict how things will evolve.”

However, there is one good indicator that anosmic is in the process of recovery. It is the onset of parosmia, which distorts the smell of familiar things, such as smelling garbage while smelling coffee.

Currently, there is no known treatment and the only treatment recommended without an appointment is to smell four different scents twice daily. According to Parma, this works in 30% of cases, but only after 3-6 months of practice.

Faced with this uncertainty, things like AbScent’s Kelly, who lost her taste and smell after a sinus attack in 2012, and Katie Boateng, an American who lost sensation in 2009, became celebrities. That’s probably not surprising.

They share their experiences and encourage the medical community to strengthen their research and recognize the severity of their symptoms.

In 2018, Katie Boateng created the Smell Podcast, a mine of information and advice for unfortunate companions.

She is currently part of a patient advocacy group that helps guide GCCR research.

Boateng gave up hope of healing himself, but “I’m still very much looking forward to leading to research that can cure people in the future,” she said.

While waiting for medical progress, many continue their daily sniffing exercises, sometimes with the help of coaches like Leah Holsel.

Food experts who lost their sense of smell between 2016 and 2019 have helped six people recover from anosmia since the pandemic began.

Many patients also enjoy the friendships that the group offers, clinging to messages about improvement and healing that regularly appear on social networks.

“It’s been almost a year since I first lost my sense of smell and taste, and now it’s almost okay,” Dominican Uracova, who lives in Southampton, England, wrote on Abcent’s Facebook page.

“Do your best and don’t lose hope. Good luck to you,” added the 26-year-old woman.