Losing the ability to smell during COVID – How does it feel?

Losing the ability to smell during COVID – How does it feel?

We all know at least one person who got COVID positive and even before getting it confirmed in the test, that person told ‘I can’t smell anything’! Well, why and how our sense of smell goes blank due to infection, requires detailed study. But today, let’s think about two things.

 

Do we lose the ability to smell or do we smell things differently?

When we get back the ability to smell, is it the same as before?

 

Let’s take a look at the story of Maya from Mumbai. She tested positive during the second wave of the pandemic. She had no severe symptoms of infection though, except one – she complained that her sense of smell had “CHANGED” not ‘LOST”! Many other cases were there in which the patient complained about an altered sense of smell.

For example, when they ate Chicken, it smelled like poop; while eating vegetables, they could smell a metallic fragrance; and whenever they tried a slice of fruits, it smelled like ‘NOTHING’. So, the loss of smell due to COVID is not a complete loss of all smell, but it is more like a smell disorientation.

 

Read more about - How Can We Smell Different Things?

 

Depending on the nature of the infection, other prevailing health conditions and the mental state of the patient – the ‘loss of smell’ is perceived differently. So, let’s check out how does ‘Losing the ability to smell during COVID’ feels like??

1.      It feels like Miswiring in the nose!

It feels like this because you have already known the smell of a particular thing and you are expecting it. But you end up feeling something else entirely! This gives you a feeling that there is some sort of Miswiring because the smell is ‘incorrect’.

2.      It feels like blank emptiness in head!

As discussed in another article, signals of similar types of smells are collected at one point and then they are relayed to the brain at their maximum strength. The COVID patients get the signal but as they are not strong for some reason, it feels like ‘emptiness’.

3.      It feels psychologically depressing!

Sense of smell is something that plays a huge part in our daily lives but we barely notice it consciously. And suddenly one day when you don’t have it, makes you scared and depressed because you think you have lost something very fundamental in your life.

4.      It feels like audio is not in sync with video!

By ‘audio’ we are referring to ‘smell’. Just like in a video, the sounds go along with the visuals and they both create an immersive experience. But, when your smell function is not working well, all the other senses also feel out of sync and full of glitches.

5.      It feels like compulsory smell-checks!

Once infected with COVID, people have to wait for the 14 day quarantine schedule. It makes people anxious if they are negative or still positive. So, rather than tests, people use smell-check as the testing mechanism, which makes them feel paranoid.

Losing the ability to smell things during COVID is a temporary phenomenon. Most of the people get back their ability to smell back sooner or later. Also, it is not that after COVID, our olfactory system will go haywire or we’ll have to start from scratch. Because we already have a bank of different smells in our brains, we can bounce back and get the same sensory experience again, every time! So, there’s no need to panic. Just enjoy the smell-less days. Maybe you get relief from the crazy smelling poop during these days!