COVID INFECTED SUFFER MAYBE PERMANENT NEUROLOGICAL DAMAGE, SENSE OF SMELL
So I don’t know if I had Covid. But I and a few members of my family sure did come down with a bad case of the flu back in March of 2020. As you may remember, there was little available Covid testing at the time. The pandemic was just beginning, in terms of our awareness. Days after we were sick, the world went into lockdown. Well, except for communities that watch Fox News, of course. But we didn’t suffer any of the common issues of the Covid infected, like losing your sense of smell. And back then, that was supposed to be temporary! So much for that reality. New research shows that as many as 1.6 million Americans may have lost their sense of smell, for as long as 6 months and even longer. That’s neurological damage.
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NEUROLOGICAL DAMAGE FOR SMELL INCLUDES ANOSMIA, AND PAROSMIA, MAYBE PERMANENTLY
Scary, indeed. The medical term for losing your sense of smell is anosmia. And 1.6 million Americans have endured chronic anosmia after getting infected with Covid. Usually, mild cases of Covid included a loss of smell, sometimes with a loss of taste as well. But smell and taste go hand in hand. But there’s another medical term to know here as well. And that’s parosmia, which is when your sense of smell goes out of tune. So smells like tomatoes suddenly smell like raw sewage. And yes, this neurological damage is also sometimes to blame on Covid.
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THE NUMBERS WITH NEUROLOGICAL DAMAGE ARE SCARY AND ONLY GOING TO GROW
So here are some more numbers. Experts say that 30-80% of people who had Covid lose their sense of smell to some degree. And yes, that’s quite a percentile range. But it looks like 90% of those suffering anosmia get their smell back on as quickly as two weeks later. So what’s can people with anosmia do? Well, pray, for one. But there’s also something called smell training. And yes, that’s a thing. But for all those with smell loss neurological damage that goes on for months, we just don’t know. It may not ever come back, not completely. And that stinks.
