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Comment by Ajay-p | Hacker News Reader

The saddest burrito in my life was when I had COVID. My doctor said I should take Zinc but that did not make it come back any faster.

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I was cooking tacos for my family knowing I had COVID (we all had it at the time). I remember not smelling the seasoning, and threw a small handful of chopped raw onions in my mouth to confirm the bad news...

Luckily it came back in about a week. Beer and wine tasted awful for a few weeks, and I am a fan of both. Luckily a year on, and all seems well for now.

Yeah I had a dram or so of cask strength (60% iirc?) whisky per day when I had no taste just because I wanted to have some kind of taste-adjacent feeling even if that was just a bit of burning. I was so happy when I realised it was coming back slowly every day. Nose is still not 100% but I am fine with that, I can enjoy food and drink so I'm lucky and thankful

Years later, I'm still registering new scents that I haven't smelled since before my first COVID infection. For a hearing analogy, it's not like the volume is turned down, it's like some frequencies are missing entirely. And then one day, suddenly, it's back. Freshly ground coffee is an especially rich source of new odors. It turns out coffee isn't just one smell, it must be dozens.

I hate zinc! I wish God had never made this cursed element!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U1iCZpFMYd0

Weird, I remember when there was an epidemic of anosmia caused by zinc containing nasal sprays/gels: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/16467707/ Guess oral supplementation is ok?

No.. I got Zinc toxicity from taking it. I do not know its efficacy but it made me vomit when I got too high of levels and stopped.

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