Cincinnati, Ohio. (Ivanhoe Newswire)— Researchers are still learning more about the long-term effects of COVID-19. Some people lost their sense of smell after the infection and researchers say for some, regaining that sense was an unpleasant experience. Parosmia
Many patients recovering from COVID say they’re always fatigued, or they have chest pains and memory problems and now, more people are reporting problems with their sense of smell.
“The virus that causes COVID-19 seems to have a predilection for infecting the cells that live near the smell nerves and subsequently causing secondary injury or even the death of smell nerves,” shared Ahmad Sedaghat, M.D., Ph.D., Otolaryngologist at the University of Cincinnati College of Medicine.
Dr. Sedaghat says as those nerves start to heal, about one to four months after the COVID infection, many patients are complaining of a condition called parosmia, a strange distortion of smell.
“The changes to the sense of smell are typically quite bothersome. They can be things like gasoline, smoke, fire, rotten food, rotten flesh,” continued Dr. Sedaghat.
Dr. Sedaghat says anywhere from 15 to 50 percent of all patients who lost their sense of smell may experience parosmia as the nerves in their noses start to regenerate. He says the best treatment for parosmia is a type of therapy for the nose, called olfactory training.
“Which has been described as essentially practicing smelling concentrated odors to essentially stimulate your smell nerves,” stated Dr. Sedaghat.
Regaining a normal sense of smell usually takes several months for most patients.
Dr. Sedaghat says there is no surgery or medication for the condition, so the retraining is the best avenue for patients working to regain their sense of smell.
Contributors to this news report include: Cyndy McGrath, Executive Producer and Field Producer; Kirk Manson, Videographer; and Roque Correa, Editor.
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MEDICAL BREAKTHROUGHS
RESEARCH SUMMARY
TOPIC: PAROSMIA: SICKENING SMELLS AFTER COVID
REPORT: MB #4985
BACKGROUND: Parosmia is a condition where otherwise normal smells now smell unpleasant or even disgusting. For example, to someone with parosmia, coffee or fruit smell like garbage, rotten meat or eggs, or ammonia. It’s not known exactly why COVID-19 leads to parosmia, but most people who experience the symptom also experienced a loss of taste and smell while they were sick. Currently it is not known how long symptoms from parosmia last but a current study suggests the condition can last up to six months; however the average duration is around three months. While there is no known treatment for COVID-19-induced parosmia, some believe so-called smell therapy may help by smelling strong scents such as citrus, perfume, ammonia, or eucalyptus each day to re-train the brain to “remember” how to smell.
(Source: https://healthcare.utah.edu/healthfeed/postings/2021/09/parosmia.php)
DIAGNOSING: Most cases of parosmia become apparent after you recover from an infection, and symptom severity can vary from case to case. Some symptoms include sensing a persistent foul odor, especially when food is around. Having difficulty recognizing or noticing some scents in your environment and finding scents that you used to find pleasant are now become overpowering and unbearable may be a sign of damage to your olfactory neurons. Also, if you try to eat food that smells bad to you and you feel nauseous or sick while you’re eating, you may be at risk of having parosmia. Parosmia usually occurs after your scent-detecting neurons have been damaged due to a virus or other health condition. These neurons line your nose and tell your brain how to interpret the chemical information that makes up a smell. Damage to these types of neurons changes the way smells reach your brain.
(Source: https://www.healthline.com/health/parosmia)
NEW STUDY: Smell dysfunctions are a common side effect of post-viral illness and known to impact quality of life and health status. Evidence is emerging that taste and smell loss are common symptoms of COVID-19 that may emerge and persist long after initial infection. A new study aims to document the impact of post COVID-19 alterations to taste and smell.
An analysis was done of user-generated text from 9000 users of the AbScent Covid-19 Smell and Taste Loss moderated Facebook support group from March 24 to 30th September 2020.
Participants reported difficulty explaining and managing an altered sense of taste and smell, a lack of interpersonal and professional explanation or support, altered eating, appetite loss, weight change, loss of pleasure in food, eating and social engagement, altered intimacy and an altered relationship to self and others.
(Source: https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0256998)
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BILL BANGERT
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