I believe this condition is called parosmia. I had a mild version for four years. It’s finally resolving (except shampoos and some sodas smell really strange)
> The dad-of-two, from Litchfield, Staffordshire, could eat the spiciest curries with no effect
I know this is probably just a bit of "editorial spice" because it's an obvious example for "what would you do if you could eat anything" I guess, but I thought capsaicin/spicyness was NOT a taste-perception thing. Isn't more of a pain feeling? I would've assumed you would retain that, while losing the olfactory perception you need for flavours.
I am no expert in this sort of thing, so if anyone knows I'd be genuinely curious about why COVID would affect both of those senses.
Anecdotally, when my best friend first caught covid, his sense of smell was heightened, but his ability to perceive spiciness from both capsaicin and radishes (e.g. wasabi) completely disappeared. I just went back to check the messages he sent me to make sure I'm not spewing nonsense, and sure enough: "I didn't even have that nose feeling from wasabi."
Covid is a weird virus. I'd be really curious about the mechanism behind this. I'm sure it's nothing great, like some sort of nerve damage, but at least in my friend's case he and his senses made a full recovery as far as he can tell.
I don’t mean to say you’re wrong, but the “spice” due to wasabi is a different thing, not due to capsaicin at all. Same with mustard, it’s a similar thing. And then there’s yet another “spice” from the Sichuan peppercorn, again not due to capsaicin. It’s possible that COVID masks some of these but not others.
Anecdote from my second COVID infection: Lost my sense of smell (anosmia) for about 2 weeks. That also killed my sense of taste.
The heat sensation from capsaicin was unaffected. I was eating a lot of vegetable bowls at the time. Adding spiciness was the only that kept them palatable.
There were a few tastes that I could dully perceive but, stupidly, I didn't make notes about what they were.
I can recall one thing that I didn't like: I tried peanut butter, which I typically find delicious, and found it a horrifyingly disgusting soulless paste. It made me wretch. It was awhile, even after I got my sense of smell back, before I could eat it.
I don't believe my sense of smell has recovered to my pre-COVID capability. This story is very interesting to me.
Interesting. I lost 100% of taste and smell months. I never found anything I could taste. Spicy has zero effect. I could cut onions with no tears. Literally nothing with any food
The only “sensation” I had eas texture which I found very gross without flavor.
It was like that for about 2 months and it slowly came back over another 5 maybe 6. Salty was the first thing I noticed.
5 years later and I still don’t smell coffee, gas or a few other things. It’s weird walking down the coffee isle at the store and not smelling it at sll
> The only “sensation” I had eas texture which I found very gross without flavor.
It's powerfully off-putting, isn't it? I had no idea tasteless texture would be so upsetting.
I hope this treatment becomes something I can partake of personally. I find that I'm using a lot more salt than I used to trying to make up for lack of taste. I switched to a potassium salt substitute to try to reduce my sodium intake.
the damage seems to be neurological / local nerves, I haven’t tried chewing gum but the best/fastest results I’ve had for this so far has been lions mane + micro dose of other mushrooms, smell therapy has been reported to show benefit also which probably matches the chewing gum thing, rebuilding/recalibrating the nerves slowly over time
I developed tinnitus on one side after covid, anecdotal but it slowly went away after I started taking a b complex daily, apparently it can promote nerve repair.
Not totally sure I fully believe it; but it seemingly worked for me.. shrug
I had my fourth Covid infection just a month ago. Fully vaccinated, and having had it three times before, it still hit me like a brick.
It took 10 days to get rid of the flu like symptoms, two weeks to get to semi normal, but my taste hasn't been the same since. Not entirely gone, but very muted.
If these gums were available off the shelf I would buy them in a heartbeat!
I remember losing sense of smell, and one thing that was interesting was being able to perhaps train it back by sniffing different essential oils, and writing a note about what I was able to smell.
Hard to say without more info but most at-home COVID tests have a very high false negative rate due to the virus mutating and generally how the test is designed.
I believe this condition is called parosmia. I had a mild version for four years. It’s finally resolving (except shampoos and some sodas smell really strange)
> The dad-of-two, from Litchfield, Staffordshire, could eat the spiciest curries with no effect
I know this is probably just a bit of "editorial spice" because it's an obvious example for "what would you do if you could eat anything" I guess, but I thought capsaicin/spicyness was NOT a taste-perception thing. Isn't more of a pain feeling? I would've assumed you would retain that, while losing the olfactory perception you need for flavours.
I am no expert in this sort of thing, so if anyone knows I'd be genuinely curious about why COVID would affect both of those senses.
[delayed]
Anecdotally, when my best friend first caught covid, his sense of smell was heightened, but his ability to perceive spiciness from both capsaicin and radishes (e.g. wasabi) completely disappeared. I just went back to check the messages he sent me to make sure I'm not spewing nonsense, and sure enough: "I didn't even have that nose feeling from wasabi."
Covid is a weird virus. I'd be really curious about the mechanism behind this. I'm sure it's nothing great, like some sort of nerve damage, but at least in my friend's case he and his senses made a full recovery as far as he can tell.
I don’t mean to say you’re wrong, but the “spice” due to wasabi is a different thing, not due to capsaicin at all. Same with mustard, it’s a similar thing. And then there’s yet another “spice” from the Sichuan peppercorn, again not due to capsaicin. It’s possible that COVID masks some of these but not others.
> the “spice” due to wasabi is a different thing
But also, outside of Japan, 95% of the time the stuff with your sushi isn't wasabi, it's green-colored horseradish-and-mustard paste.
> 95% of the time the stuff with your sushi isn't wasabi
so unexpected that i had to look it up; turns out you're right: https://chefcoca.com/blogs/food-service-equipment-resources/...
That's also true inside Japan. True wasabi is really hard to grow commercially and thus very expensive.
Anecdote from my second COVID infection: Lost my sense of smell (anosmia) for about 2 weeks. That also killed my sense of taste.
The heat sensation from capsaicin was unaffected. I was eating a lot of vegetable bowls at the time. Adding spiciness was the only that kept them palatable.
There were a few tastes that I could dully perceive but, stupidly, I didn't make notes about what they were.
I can recall one thing that I didn't like: I tried peanut butter, which I typically find delicious, and found it a horrifyingly disgusting soulless paste. It made me wretch. It was awhile, even after I got my sense of smell back, before I could eat it.
I don't believe my sense of smell has recovered to my pre-COVID capability. This story is very interesting to me.
Interesting. I lost 100% of taste and smell months. I never found anything I could taste. Spicy has zero effect. I could cut onions with no tears. Literally nothing with any food
The only “sensation” I had eas texture which I found very gross without flavor.
It was like that for about 2 months and it slowly came back over another 5 maybe 6. Salty was the first thing I noticed.
5 years later and I still don’t smell coffee, gas or a few other things. It’s weird walking down the coffee isle at the store and not smelling it at sll
> The only “sensation” I had eas texture which I found very gross without flavor.
It's powerfully off-putting, isn't it? I had no idea tasteless texture would be so upsetting.
I hope this treatment becomes something I can partake of personally. I find that I'm using a lot more salt than I used to trying to make up for lack of taste. I switched to a potassium salt substitute to try to reduce my sodium intake.
the damage seems to be neurological / local nerves, I haven’t tried chewing gum but the best/fastest results I’ve had for this so far has been lions mane + micro dose of other mushrooms, smell therapy has been reported to show benefit also which probably matches the chewing gum thing, rebuilding/recalibrating the nerves slowly over time
I developed tinnitus on one side after covid, anecdotal but it slowly went away after I started taking a b complex daily, apparently it can promote nerve repair.
Not totally sure I fully believe it; but it seemingly worked for me.. shrug
I had my fourth Covid infection just a month ago. Fully vaccinated, and having had it three times before, it still hit me like a brick.
It took 10 days to get rid of the flu like symptoms, two weeks to get to semi normal, but my taste hasn't been the same since. Not entirely gone, but very muted.
If these gums were available off the shelf I would buy them in a heartbeat!
Multimodal Chewing Gum Flavour Training to Aid Flavour Perception Recovery - a Pilot Study
https://clinicaltrials.gov/study/NCT07498062
looks like it uses flavorings from these folks https://www.tastetech.com/
I remember losing sense of smell, and one thing that was interesting was being able to perhaps train it back by sniffing different essential oils, and writing a note about what I was able to smell.
Where can somebody with regular taste senses buy these specially formulated chewing gum to try and develop super senses?
I wonder if it dulls other senses the opposite of blind people who develop more sensitive hearing.
I lost my sense of smell from a minor virus I caught a couple years ago. It probably wasn't COVID (I tested negative at least).
It came back very slowly, and unevenly. My coffee/chocolate taste is still quite dim.
Of all the possible smells to lose, why did it have to be those?
Hard to say without more info but most at-home COVID tests have a very high false negative rate due to the virus mutating and generally how the test is designed.
> “The chewing gums were specially formulated to keep their flavour for longer, and actually change flavour as you chew.
Sounds like an amazing product that I would want to buy. I probably chew 20 sticks of gum a day.
How it feels to chew 5 gum
Does it work for people who aren't dad's?
It's too early to tell if it worked because he was a dad or because he was once a mama's boy.
"dad's" is possessive not plural