A lost sense of smell (and sometimes even taste) has emerged as a bizarre symptom of COVID-19, occurring in about 30% of patients, according to some reports. But while it doesn’t get as much attention as more common coronavirus symptoms—like a dry cough, fever, and shortness of breath—loss of smell (a.k.a. anosmia) seems to be a distinguishing sign of the respiratory illness.
UK-based author Holly Bourne wrote in a Twitter thread that’s now gone viral that she developed a loss of smell that persisted for five days, when she finally “started getting a whiff of things.” By day 12, she was able to have “maybe at 70% capacity” of her ability to taste things back. “Still can’t smell myself, partner, or things like cleaning spray,” she wrote.
Bourne said she’s had other unusual symptoms along with her loss of smell. “No fever. No cough. Weird headaches that felt like electronic surges. And utter exhaustion on and off for two weeks,” she said.
People flooded her comments with their own stories of losing their sense of smell. “Day 15. Had a little cry yesterday because I thought I would never experience flavor fully again,” one person wrote. “Day three here and it’s driving me mad! I have a Vick’s menthol inhaler for colds that usually helps, but I get NOTHING from it,” another Twitter user added.
But some people said they haven’t been able to smell things for an even longer stretch of time. “Three weeks tomorrow, and no eureka moment of smell returning. Thanks for the thread. I hadn’t expected it to take so long to return—sort of assumed it was part of the package of main symptoms and only have a slight cough now,” one person wrote. “Going on week three. Still no taste or smell. Every morning I think I’ll be back to normal but hasn’t happened yet! It’s a bizarre experience,” someone else chimed in.
How long does a lost sense of smell due to COVID-19 usually last?
“Viruses are a common cause of changes to the sense of smell or taste that can occur with an upper respiratory infection,” explains Rachel Kaye, M.D., assistant professor of laryngology-voice, airway, and swallowing disorders at Rutgers University. “Viral infection can result in both inflammation and swelling of the nasal cavity lining, leading to nasal congestion, which in turn causes a change in smell.” She says there is also some evidence that viral infections can damage your smell receptors.
Unfortunately, there isn’t a lot of concrete data on how long this can last. The American Academy of Otolaryngology–Head and Neck Surgery (AAO-HNS) has established a reporting tool to try to gather more information, but results haven’t been released to the public yet. And, as evidenced from the people who responded to Bourne’s tweet, it really seems to vary.
“We don’t know the long-term prognosis yet about if and when people’s sense of taste and smell will return,” says Richard Watkins, M.D., infectious disease physician and professor of internal medicine at Northeast Ohio Medical University.
There are definitely people who are getting their sense of smells back, though, says anosmia researcher Eric Holbrook, M.D., director of rhinology at Massachusetts Eye and Ear and associate professor in Otolaryngology–Head and Neck Surgery at Harvard Medical School.
“Reports have been from one to three weeks, but there are other reports of longer duration of smell loss,” he says. “As more of us start studying this symptom in relation to COVID-19, we will be able to track what percentage of people with COVID-19 have smell loss above others without COVID-19, when smell loss occurs in these patients, how severe the loss is, what other symptoms are associated, and how long it lasts.”
Can you do anything to bring your sense of smell back?
For the record, it’s unclear at this point if everyone will get their sense of smell back. “We don’t know if people will have complete improvement or if some will have long-term damage,” Dr. Watkins says.
Bourne, who originally posted the Twitter thread, says she’s been doing “scent training” (find a strong smell, dab it on your wrist, and inhale for 20 seconds, focusing on what the smell would be like) and doing food challenges with spicy stuff—and there’s actually something to this, Dr. Holbrook says.
Clinical trials have not shown any medication to be effective at bringing back a person’s sense of smell after a virus, he points out. However, many studies have shown improvement in ability to smell based after patients perform smell training. “Not everyone responds the same, but in these studies, when looking at the entire group that performs the exercise compared to control, the exercise group performs better on smell testing,” Dr. Holbrook says.
Loss of smell due to a virus isn’t something new—this has been happening for years in a small portion of the population after having symptoms similar to a cold or the flu. “Of these patients, a large percentage have been observed to improve with time (often over months to years),” he says. “Unfortunately, some are left with complete loss forever.”
In the Twitter thread, others talked about how amazing it was when their sense of smell finally returned. “A joy: When my sense of smell returned I was treated with a flood of associated sense-memories. Smelling some guy’s cigarette on the train platform wasn’t gross, it was filled with memories of smoking cigarettes in high school behind the theater. Candy was Halloween-y, etc,” one person wrote.
“My loss of taste and smell lasted 12 days, oddly for me it came back overnight,” another added. “At the end of day 11, I went to bed having had another day of no taste/smell, then the next morning I was moisturizing my hands and I smelled the cocoa butter scent! I jumped in delight!”
Check out the full thread here.
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