My Covid test results came back negative, but I’m still struggling to smell 5 months later

In October 2020, a member of my household tested positive for Covid-19, so my family and I began our 14-day quarantine. Soon after, I developed symptoms myself (mainly a persistent cough), so I booked a test. From the moment I got to the test centre, I was coughing all the way through. And yes, it was embarrassing.

Fast forward to a couple of days later, and I received an email at 03:10 am.

“Your coronavirus test result is negative. You did not have the virus when the test was done.” I was amazed. My family and I seemed so sure that my result would come back positive. Nevertheless, of course, we were glad it was negative Alhamdulillah (Praise be to God).

In the following days, I started developing even more symptoms. I was still coughing, I had lower back pain (which others that have had Covid also said they suffered from), and I eventually started to get a fever. This was just a couple of days after I’d tested negative, so I didn’t feel the need to have another test. Besides, I was already quarantining at home.

When the 14 days were up, and our quarantine had officially ended, I still had symptoms. And I think I still had a fever. I’d read somewhere that you could finish quarantining after 14 days, even if you still had minor symptoms, as sometimes symptoms can take a while to go. However, if you had a fever, you should continue to quarantine.

Unsure of what to do or what to tell my work, I rang the doctors. The doctor suggested having another test. However, when I mentioned that I’d already had my symptoms for so many days, she decided that taking a test wouldn’t give accurate results.

In the end, I was given a sick note for a week and continued to self-isolate until my fever went away. And it did. After a few days, my fever went away, and I could go back to work. In all honesty, I can’t remember if my sense of smell was affected at this point, as there were so many other things going on. I didn’t really pay attention to it.

However, a few weeks later, I realised I had this strange smell in my nose. It was almost like a metallic smell. And it lingered.

As the weeks went on, I regularly lifted things up to my nose to see if I could smell them. And I couldn’t. Even on occasions where everyone else could smell things around us, I couldn’t. I remember once, everyone around me could smell marijuana as we turned a corner. But I couldn’t smell a thing. This experience, in particular, really shocked me.

We’re now in March, 5 months after I first developed symptoms of Covid, and I’m still having a hard time smelling things. I should add that my sense of smell has slightly improved, though, and I’m now aware of and am able to smell strong smells. Some things that I’ve been able to smell recently are tuna (lovely, I know) and strong perfumes. I don’t have that metallic smell in my nose anymore, thanks be to God. But my smell most definitely isn’t back to normal yet.

All in all, it’s pretty strange how my sense of smell has been affected, even though my test results came back negative. But there are many possible explanations. Firstly, maybe the test results were incorrect, to begin with. Maybe I didn’t do my swab properly. Or maybe I did have Covid, but it was in its early stages, so the test didn’t have a chance to pick it up yet. Or maybe I picked it up after I’d had my test. Or maybe I really didn’t have Covid, and my loss of smell is an entirely unrelated issue. There are so many suggestions about what might have happened, but I guess I’ll never really know. And to be honest, I’m kind of okay with that.

I mean, although I’ll never really know if I had Covid or not, I’m alive and well, and my sense of smell seems to be very slowly coming back, Alhamdulillah (Praise be to God). And honestly, regardless of what may have happened, that’s what really matters.