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Comment by fragmede | Hacker News Reader

One fascinating thing about Covid is that we discovered the loss of smell that it caused wasn't just due to Sars-CoV-2 wreaking havoc in the lungs, but that it got into the brain, and caused damage there.

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Maybe it's related to the brain damage part: COVID didn't just kill my sense of taste and smell, but changed how I perceived touch too. Touch on my skin felt like I had a thin layer of something on my skin, even my teeth. It went away the same time I recovered my taste and smell. https://twitter.com/esesci/status/1608553863937921025?s=20

I didn't notice anything unusual about my hearing though.

For myself and several friends who started with poor senses of smell, covid boosted our sense of smell for a brief time after having it. My smell was easily 5x as sensitive for a month after having covid the first time. Now it's back to baseline.

I found that the lack of pollution at the beginning of lockdown increased air quality and my sense of smell became more noticeable and sensitive. Particularly in many walks around gardens and the countryside which was in spring. Or perhaps my perceptions of the smells increased rather than being able to smell more things.

Even three years later i've still a good smell sense. I love it.

It's possible that I had an early infection that triggered this response.

Yes I noticed the same, I had always thought that my hometown had very clean air (which by comparison it has) and that's why I never could smell pollution. After some staying at home during the pandemic, even the clean modern cars that passed every ten minutes or so on the calm suburb road REEKED of burning hydrocarbons. Going near the main road was terrible. Now again I can't smell the cars, the main road feels like clean fresh air (even though there are way more cars) maybe if a small motorbike drives by I can smell it

Interesting parallel with smoking ... I always had a pretty poor sense of smell, then smoked for a number of years, and for about two weeks after quitting I could smell everything. I didn't know office bathrooms were so bad...

And then similarly it went back to baseline.

This happens to me when I fast for a period or 3-5 days after becoming ill. For about a week after catching a stomach flu, the world smelled and tasted exactly as I remembered it being when I was a kid.

This isn't that surprising, is it? Influenza can do the same thing.

much more profound for covid usually https://www.bbc.com/news/health-53810610

Even so I’m not sure it’s common knowledge that influenza can do that.

No, it didn’t get into the brain and cause damage in the brain, it it affected the cells around the olfactory nerves.

https://www.forbes.com/sites/williamhaseltine/2022/02/14/los...

Yes, it does.

https://www.health.harvard.edu/mind-and-mood/does-covid-19-d...

I didn’t say Covid does not get in the brain or affect the brain. I was saying that the olfactory issues are not caused by infection in the brain, but rather infecting the nasal passage directly.

My father lost his sense of smell due to Covid and it never really came back entirely, he always complains that his food tastes nothing these days.

I sympathize, I lost my sense of smell and taste for two months, and almost two years later, coffee still tastes vastly different from what I remember.

I had phantosmia three times following COVID. Cigarette smoke each time. The first time lasted nearly a month and was very intense, with the subsequent instances lasting for shorter intervals and not being as intense. I was worried for a minute there that it was my new normal but I'm happy to report I haven't had any further instances in nearly 2 years. It was wretched.

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