Anosmia - solution/treatment

[yuneeq]

I was thinking the same - but potatoes aren't umami though...?

Do all potatoes have the putrid taste? Perhaps only ones prepared with other umami ingredients?

Yes all potatoes, kugel, cooked potatoes, fries, potato chips, etc. Could be there’s more than one bad flavor but I’ll have to look further into this umami thing.

[biobook]

Yes all potatoes, kugel, cooked potatoes, fries, potato chips, etc. Could be there’s more than one bad flavor but I’ll have to look further into this umami thing.

This list includes potato as an umami-flavored food.
https://www.rd.com/list/13-foods-with-natural-umami/

It's like your circuits got cross-wired, and stimulating the umami sense is perceived as yuk instead.  It's called parosmia ("strange and unpleasant smell distortions") and smell training might help.
https://www.usnews.com/news/health-news/articles/2020-12-01/smell-training-might-speed-the-senses-return-after-covid

[Euclid]

This list includes potato as an umami-flavored food.
https://www.rd.com/list/13-foods-with-natural-umami/

TIL thanks

[AsherO]

Sorry that you're going through this. 

+1000000

This sounds miserably awful, I hope you get it under control soon. Refua Sheleima.

[NTorch]

Would like to document what I’ve been going through recently because it seems pretty unusual, maybe others can chime in.

Had COVID symptoms almost a month ago, about 2 weeks later when I felt better, my taste was altered. Not lost; but altered in a way where I can still taste the food I’m eating, but my taste also includes an additional indescribable putrid flavor in a lot of basic foods and ingredients. And it’s always the same terrible flavor no matter the food.

More so, I can usually smell when a food has this putrid flavor, so I usually sniff to see if something is edible. But sometimes the smell is so strong that at times I have been literally gagging from shabbos cooking and the like.

The strength of the putridity depends on the food, certain foods like meat and potatoes have really strong smell/taste. Other foods might have a slight flavor that just grows with each bite until I get disgusted.

I’ve been taking 1k mg Boswellia for 10 days but haven’t seen any effect.

My list of unedibles includes::
Meat, poultry, potatoes, eggs, garlic, tomato-based sauce, soy sauce, coffee (not as bad but I force it down) and other ingredients that I haven’t pinpointed yet.

Things that taste normal:
Bread, rice, pancakes, waffles, plain pasta, dairy products, oatmeal, granola bars, candy, some vegetables.

I wish I can find a common factor within either list so I can predict what will taste good before spending time buying/preparing it and throwing it out.

Bottom line, it’s really difficult to continue like this for a long while, Shabbos is not the same, can’t go out anywhere to eat, can’t eat any meat or my favorite foods and snacks. If I lost my taste it would make things 1000x better...I really hope this goes away quickly.

Sorry to hear that you are going through this. As I mentioned when I started the thread above, my AC's issues were some sweet and some savory - pineapple, peppers, ginger, coffee, splenda, raw onions and some others that dont come to mind.

Having researched the issue quite a bit, there are some studies that suggest that the loss of taste and smell was due to the killing of cells in nerve receptors which in so doing blocked access so that the virus could not CvS reach the brain. These have been questioned as well (see article in scientific american here - https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/mysteries-of-covid-smell-loss-finally-yield-some-answers1 )

But I did want to offer some chizuk - my wife first lost taste and smell Thursday one week after Purim. BH - this past Shabbos (Parshas Vayechi) pineapple tasted normal for the first time since she lost taste and smell. We are hoping that IYH there will be continued return of normal taste and smell as the cells regenerate and I will post here as to results.

[yuneeq]

This list includes potato as an umami-flavored food.
https://www.rd.com/list/13-foods-with-natural-umami/

It's like your circuits got cross-wired, and stimulating the umami sense is perceived as yuk instead.  It's called parosmia ("strange and unpleasant smell distortions") and smell training might help.
https://www.usnews.com/news/health-news/articles/2020-12-01/smell-training-might-speed-the-senses-return-after-covid

Thanks, I think you’re into something with the umami, as the bad flavor is a kind of weird meaty flavor, I think this will help me better figure out what dishes will work.

Regarding smell training, is this something I do myself or should I visit a dr or specialist?

[yuneeq]

Sorry to hear that you are going through this. As I mentioned when I started the thread above, my AC's issues were some sweet and some savory - pineapple, peppers, ginger, coffee, splenda, raw onions and some others that dont come to mind.

Having researched the issue quite a bit, there are some studies that suggest that the loss of taste and smell was due to the killing of cells in nerve receptors which in so doing blocked access so that the virus could not CvS reach the brain. These have been questioned as well (see article in scientific american here - https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/mysteries-of-covid-smell-loss-finally-yield-some-answers1 )

But I did want to offer some chizuk - my wife first lost taste and smell Thursday one week after Purim. BH - this past Shabbos (Parshas Vayechi) pineapple tasted normal for the first time since she lost taste and smell. We are hoping that IYH there will be continued return of normal taste and smell as the cells regenerate and I will post here as to results.

Thanks for the article.
I'm glad to hear your wife's taste is finally returning. Though I won't bother to envision dealing with this for 10 months...

[yuneeq]

https://www.nytimes.com/2021/01/02/health/coronavirus-smell-taste.html

[biobook]

Thanks, I think you’re into something with the umami, as the bad flavor is a kind of weird meaty flavor, I think this will help me better figure out what dishes will work.

Regarding smell training, is this something I do myself or should I visit a dr or specialist?

I really don't know, but I've remember reading a few posts by people who've tried it themselves.  Maybe on imamother? or some blog posts?

[biobook]

Thanks for the article.
I'm glad to hear your wife's taste is finally returning. Though I won't bother to envision dealing with this for 10 months...

This article just came out with a report about a couple thousand people with covid-induced smell dysfunction. 
Average time to recovery was 22 days.
75% say they're better by 60 days.
95% recovered by 6 months.
https://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2021-01/w-srp010421.php

[NTorch]

This article just came out with a report about a couple thousand people with covid-induced smell dysfunction. 
Average time to recovery was 22 days.
75% say they're better by 60 days.
95% recovered by 6 months.
https://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2021-01/w-srp010421.php

This article seems to be discussing loss of taste and smell, not distorted taste & smell.

All four of my kids lost taste & smell and BH all got it back over the first 30 days after onset. It did lead to some humorous dinner conversation where they would compare food taste, either by ranking on ability to taste of 1-10 or just saying - this tastes sweet, even if it did not taste specifically the way it used to.

My AC and many others like her who I have been following and networking with have had a distorted taste which unfortunately lasted quite a while.

As far as the smell retraining, all the articles I have read seem to indicate that you do it on your own.

There is also a clinical trial that has been run out of Mt Sinai using omega-3 supplements - https://clinicaltrials.gov/ct2/show/record/NCT04495816?view=record

(No my AC did not want to do the retraining, or the fish oil, but BH some things are returning to normal).

[biobook]

This article seems to be discussing loss of taste and smell, not distorted taste & smell.

The article I posted was a press release, based on this scientific article, which I just glanced through. 
https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1111/joim.13209
They wanted to figure out the prevalence of olfactory dysfunction, and how long it lasts.  They did include different types of dysfunction, but it looks to me like there's overlap between their categories.  They include anosmia (no smell) and hyposmia (reduced smell).  "Dysgeusia, defined as the impairment of salty, sweet, bitter and sour", cacosmia (sensation of a bad smell), phantosmia (perception of a smell when none is present) and distortion (can't tell if this is a new category or includes some of the others).
I don't see anywhere that they analyzed how long it takes for recovery from each type of dysfunction, but overall, it's reassuring that 95% recovered by 6 months.  They looked only at 2 months and 6 months, so many of those recovered in less than 6 months.

[NTorch]

The article I posted was a press release, based on this scientific article, which I just glanced through. 
https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1111/joim.13209
They wanted to figure out the prevalence of olfactory dysfunction, and how long it lasts.  They did include different types of dysfunction, but it looks to me like there's overlap between their categories.  They include anosmia (no smell) and hyposmia (reduced smell).  "Dysgeusia, defined as the impairment of salty, sweet, bitter and sour", cacosmia (sensation of a bad smell), phantosmia (perception of a smell when none is present) and distortion (can't tell if this is a new category or includes some of the others).
I don't see anywhere that they analyzed how long it takes for recovery from each type of dysfunction, but overall, it's reassuring that 95% recovered by 6 months.  They looked only at 2 months and 6 months, so many of those recovered in less than 6 months.

You are becoming a real Buckee in this :-)

[yuneeq]

Thanks, I think you’re into something with the umami, as the bad flavor is a kind of weird meaty flavor, I think this will help me better figure out what dishes will work.

Regarding smell training, is this something I do myself or should I visit a dr or specialist?

Bh my taste has been returning closer to normal the past couple days.

[Euclid]

Bh my taste has been returning closer to normal the past couple days.

Bh good to hear

[Ellen]

Anybody else have their smell distorted while it is returning?
i.e. All shampoo, deodorant, hand soap, dish wash soap, (different flavors) etc. have the same terrible smell...

[yelped]

Anybody else have their smell distorted while it is returning?
i.e. All shampoo, deodorant, hand soap, dish wash soap, (different flavors) etc. have the same terrible smell...

My smell has mostly returned (some smells only if I concentrate, and all smells only a whiff, not the full blown sensation), and the one thing that I have noticed smells bad is cloves. Anything else smells the same, just weaker. I don't smell any shampoos for some reason.

[Lou Bob]

Anybody else have their smell distorted while it is returning?
i.e. All shampoo, deodorant, hand soap, dish wash soap, (different flavors) etc. have the same terrible smell...

I had this back in March.

[yuneeq]

Not a big deal at all but feel like I lost tolerance to spicy foods. Either that or suddenly red hot chips are a lot spicier than ever.

[grodnoking]

I cant stand boiled eggs anymore. Hard boiled or even egg drop soup. But fried eggs taste just fine . Haven't noticed anything else and it's been almost 10 months.