I Recently Tested Positive for COVID. I’m Worried I’ve Permanently Lost My Sense of Smell.

Is this an irrational fear? Not entirely.

It’s day 5 of me testing positive for COVID, although day 9 of me having symptoms. I’m watching the light mist of my essential oil diffuser, the translucent tendrils pushing up through the air and disappearing. On a normal day, this sight would give me peace and joy. Today, it feels like false hope.

This is my secret test. I’ve been running this diffuser for back-to-back days now, wondering if I’m going to be able to smell it again.

In today’s refill, I even tripled the amount of essential oil, hoping desperately that I would smell anything. Any hint of lavender, patchouli, or sandalwood.

And I’m disappointed again.

My History With COVID

During quarantine, I was one of those unicorns who managed to avoid COVID completely. Granted, I masked heavily in the beginning, socially distanced, and took the vaccination and its boosters. So either the multiple tests I took weren’t working, I was asymptomatic, or I managed to avoid contracting the virus altogether. At this point, I feel confident it’s the latter.

One of the baselines I used to double-check whether I had the illness (although probably a silly experiment since I have no medical training) was testing my sense of smell. Before the latest widespread omicron BA.5 variant, the loss of sense of smell was a likely indicator you were positive with COVID.

I’ve pretty much never lost my sense of smell in my entire lifetime, even through bad colds and sinus infections. And definitely not in the past 2.5 years of the pandemic. However, this is no longer a top symptom with this new contagious version.

So imagine my surprise.

COVID and Loss of Smell and Taste

At first, it scared me when I heard about this symptom. I’m a foodie by nature and my sense of smell is one of my only physical gifts. I have a rather acute olfactory sense. I can scent things that my friends and family can’t.

I once competed in a family game where you had to guess exotic spices in unlabeled bags. I was competing against family chefs who had been cooking with them for decades. I came in second place.

So to say that this side effect scared the crap out of me is an understatement. I initially did some light research to understand if people were temporarily or permanently losing their sense of smell as a result of COVID. It turns out that most people infected with COVID temporarily lose this sense, at least with early versions of coronavirus. However, a percentage of humans (5-12% based on one article I read), permanently lose this ability or have a permanently impaired ability.

I also tried to understand why this happens. After reading countless articles with lots of technical jargon, the simplest explanation came from here. Apparently, the virus attacks and kills the supporting cells of your olfactory system. This is why it can take 3–4 weeks for your sense of smell to return. The cells have to regenerate.

So when I tested positive for COVID for the first time ever recently, I worried about whether or not I would be impacted in this way. At first, I was pleased to see that this new BA.5 version seems to have dropped this side effect.

And yet, here I am, unable to smell.

My Experience with COVID

In case you’re curious, here’s a run down of my daily symptoms:

Day 1 — mild sore throat. All smell sense intact. Tested negative for COVID, although my spouse has tested positive.

Day 2 — medium sore throat, hot eyes, headache. Spouse is laid up in bed with body aches, chills, and a sore throat.

Day 3 — this sore throat is going to kill me. Congestion, hot eyes, non-stop headache, sinuses ache. Tested negative for COVID again. Spouse has tested positive again and is still in bed.

Day 4 — the continuation of the sore throat from hell. Everything hurts. Tired. Slight chills. Spouse is starting to show signs of recovery.

Day 5 — tested positive for COVID — a faint line appeared. My symptoms are changing. Now I have cold-like symptoms. Sore throat waning, finally.

Day 6 — really bad cold. Sore throat is nearly gone. Oh no. I can’t smell anything. I can’t taste any specific flavors, just sweet, salt, and bitter. Spouse almost seems back to normal.

Day 7 — continuation ofbad cold. Still can’t taste flavors. My at-home COVID test is now screaming that I have it. Bold line, appeared super fast, and darker than any other test that my household has taken thus far. Spouse’s test is now showing a faint positive line. I still can’t taste anything specific. What the freak? I’m eating a kabob sandwich and there are pickles and onions that I can sense by their texture, but all I taste is sour, sweet, and salt. This is awful.

Day 8 — much of the same, but cold feels like it’s letting up a bit. Still can’t taste flavors nor smell anything. When will this go away? Spouse seems completely back to normal.

Day 9 — rinse and repeat. Still testing positive for COVID, but now it’s a faint line. Smell and taste please come back!

COVID Omicron BA.5 Smell Loss Information

I looked up the current information about BA.5. As expected, information is still being gathered about it. Although fewer people are losing their taste and smell, it’s still an issue. It’s usually a temporary loss. Most folks recover their senses within 4 weeks.

I keep staring at the white mist emitted by my essential oil diffuser. I run it all day long now.

Here’s to hoping I make a full recovery.

Update December 2022: The day after I published this story, I gained back part of my sense of smell. That was just over 2 weeks after developing the initial symptoms.

The next day it got better. And it continued to get better.

It’s now December and I’m adding this footnote in response to a reader’s suggestion. My sense of smell fully came back within 2 weeks of initially writing this article. There is hope. 🙂

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