Thank you to Portia for holding the fort last week. I’m back and feeling better. But my last week’s malaise brought us this topic.
Saturday Question #258:
Have You Ever Lost a Sense of Smell?
If yes, how long did it last? Did you keep wearing perfumes? If you were to experience these for a prolonged period of time, do you think you would keep applying perfumes?
My Answer
Last week I got sick. It was some type of a virus that goes around. Several of our friends got it, then my vSO followed them. I was the last one to finally succumb to it. I thought I escaped it, but almost a week after my vSO got sick, I eventually followed him. Not a fun experience. Do not recommend.
One night, feeling feverish and thirsty, I took a sip from the bottle of Smart Water on my night stand and in half-dream thought: “So, now they decided to reformulate this water as well?” Water didn’t taste the way I remembered it. The next thought woke me up: “Wait a minute… It’s not a new bottle, I had some water from it the day before, and it tasted fine…” I immediately picked up my Vicks VapoInhaler – just to confirm my suspicion: I couldn’t smell neither menthol nor camphor, both of which are very well represented in that inhaler. “Can it be that I do have Covid?” – I thought and went back to sleep, since there was absolutely nothing I could do at this point.
It wasn’t Covid after all, and a day later, as the inflammation in my nose subsided, the sense of smell came back. But before it restored, I was extremely upset thinking that it would have been quite unfortunate if I were to lose my sense of smell for any prolonged period of time (I didn’t even consider a possibility of a permanent loss!). I didn’t wear any perfume while I was sick (I couldn’t get out of bed, so perfume wasn’t a priority), but I was thinking that once I feel better, I would put something on – even if I can’t smell it for a while. Luckily, I didn’t get a chance to live through wearing perfumes without being able to smell them. But the thought was scary.
Undina's Looking Glass 
Glad to hear you are feeling better! I had Covid in July 2024 and ended up losing my sense of taste and smell for 3 to 4 days. It’s a very strange thing since your brain has memory of what things should smell or taste like but your nose or taste buds don’t cooperate. As strong as the Vick’s vaporub smells, I could not smell it (thankfully) but it also meant I couldn’t smell any of my perfumes, body wash or lotions (bummer on all fronts). Had no appetite for anything since all food tasted the same – like nothing. Luckily my sense of taste and smell started coming back slowly at about day 4. I can’t imagine going through life without being able to smell, especially with my love of perfume and scented body wash/lotion.
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Without a smell, food doesn’t taste the same. It might have some short-term positive effect, but it would have been very boring to live with.
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Good question & Im pleased you’re feeling better. Even more I’m pleased your sense of smell & taste have returned.
I cannot remember ever losing my sense of smell completely. However, I used to suffer from hemiplegic migraines (they almost completely stopped at menopause) & they made things smell wrong. I remember Dove soap used to smell of stale onions. Gak!
They also occasionally gave me phantom smells but as someone who occasionally dreams in smellovision that may not have been the migraine.
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Hmm… I think I would have preferred no smell at all to a foul smell from mundane objects. But I’m glad to have it back, normal.
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I am glad you have recovered! I have lost my sense of smell twice, both during Covid. The first time it took quite a while, a fortnight or so, and then I came across a very simple way to restore it. It didn’t work immediately but it did after a few days, the second time as well. What a relief! I would be very sad to lose it forever, so I am grateful everyday for its presence.
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Wait… Are you not going to share with us that “simple way”?! :)
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I am always a bit careful to not give unsolicited advice ;-), and I am not sure if a youtube link is ok here. This is the link, and it really worked for me twice. You need someone else to help you but nothing complicated!
https://youtu.be/p04A4yocEPU?si=i-FXk1V1QF8I2Rio
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Glad you are better – that virus sounded miserable! I had a diminished sense of smell for about 3 days when I had Covid in 2022, and lost my sense of smell for a few hours after getting a Covid vaccine one year (but not the years before or after). I’ve written about both of those experiences. I would probably still wear perfume so that others could smell it, but would stick with ones I already know well to avoid any reactions from others that I couldn’t interpret.
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I think I remember reading your post about it.
The virus was quite nasty on its own, and the scare of loosing my sense of smell didn’t make it any better.
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Oy! Glad you’re feeling better and the lost senses lasted for 4 days! I have never lost my sense of taste and/or smell and I hope to keep it that way.
A friend of mine and I went town hopping 2 years ago and we happened upon this crafty place. The owner was very accommodating as we were there to ask questions and not necessarily buy. Anyway, she told us she had COVID-19 the previous year and her senses had not yet come back! We asked for examples and she told us that she used to love smelling wood and since the incident, it smelled like nasty 🗑️.
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After reading comments and thinking about it, I concluded that loosing the sense of smell completely, though uncomfortable, might be still preferable to having it “misfiring” and registering foul scents instead of other mundane ones.
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I’m delighted to hear that you’re feeling better, Undina. Personally, I’ve only ever experienced the loss of smell due to the common cold. However, I do have a friend who lost her sense of smell as a result of COVID-19. Although her sense of smell has improved, there are still certain scents that her nose and brain can’t process. My friend mentioned that some scents she used to love now smell like garbage.
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That is a scary prospect. I hope to never experience those phantom unpleasant smells.
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Glad you are feeling better! I have never lost my sense of smell, thank goodness. That would be really upsetting if it were for a long period of time.
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I’m also happy it was a false alarm. And now i enjoy my perfumes even more than before :)
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Pleased to hear you are the other side of your pesky virus, more or less. For some strange reason, I used to often get sick around the times the clocks changed, though not for about ten years now, touch wood.
To answer your question, no, I haven’t lost either my sense of smell or taste, despite having had Covid twice. I was so relieved!
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Out of all the nonsense changes that we’re subjected to in our country, I really hoped for the dropping of the daytime saving routine. But the term is young…
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So glad you’re better and can smell again!
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