Ask Lemmy

I've had it twice. Got my 2 vaccine doses and I think we're up to 4 boosters? I work in a hospital in the cousin-fuckingly deep south, so I'm pretty much permanently in the middle of a plume of that shit.

Anyway, kept my sense of taste and smell both times, My symptoms were sore throat, fatigue, and horrific sneezing fits... like 10 mins straight of sneezing every couple seconds. Got to the point that it triggered nose bleeds and felt like I got punched in the sinuses.

Relatively mild compared to what covid has the potential to be, but still not a good time.

No. I’ve had it twice and have had no long-term effects (that I know of). I’ve been vaccinated twice and gotten a booster. I didn’t even lose my sense of taste while experiencing symptoms.

I caught Covid in Feb 2020, so I was part of the first wave when they weren’t sure it was a thing yet. I lost my sense of taste and smell for almost a year, to the extent I could stand next to a pan of frying onions or a trash can with rotting garbage and not smell it. It never fully recovered from that - I couldn’t say whether is 50% back or 30%, but it also still goes out sometimes. I’ve had every shot and booster available and have had a few influenza like illnesses since but with different levels of severity.

I’m going to hazard a guess here based on some related studies I’ve seen about the effects of covid and say that there’s likely a genetic component. I probably have a gene variant that makes this outcome more likely. I’m saying that because I’ve seen at least preliminary studies that looked at the severity of covid symptoms and found a genetic correlation.

For the majority of people who do lose their sense of taste and smell, they recover within a few weeks to a couple of months, but I am unaware of studies that show the degree to which they cover sensation. I know from my own experience that “recovery” can mean getting a fraction of your previous sensation back.

I remember someone I know who had COVID didn't lose sense of taste, but, rather, they felt that everything tastes awful.

Nope, I could still smell and taste, although it was perhaps slightly diminished. I wish I would have lost my sense of taste briefly because the cough medicine I was taking tasted absolutely disgusting.

Maybe not totally related, but I think my sense of smell has always been not as great as other people, even before COVID. People will sometimes complain about a specific smell and I don't always notice it.

I even got Long Covid, but I never lost my taste or smell. I kind of wish I did. Because I'm too weak to brush my teeth regularly.

No.

No one is saying it explicitly below so I will. Loss of taste is a VERY low chance with current variants, albeit possible when getting Covid.

I got COVID 2-3 times IIRC and lost my sense of smell one time. It came back after a few weeks

When I had COVID, I couldn't taste anything, but I attributed it to my stuffy nose. It went away once the stuffy nose went away.

My wife and I have had it 2 or 3 times. We have never lost taste. My wife lost smell the first time briefly, but it came back after she was covid free. Other than that, we only had headaches and fatigue. Super mild. Never had vaccine.