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Comment by MrDresden | Hacker News Reader

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!

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The thing that helped me is "smell training". At random moments throughout the day try and sniff things that are just beyond your ability to smell. When I was fully in covid I could just barely perceive some sensation when sticking certain bottles of spice up to my nose.

I last had Covid 2 years ago. My sense of smell came back to about 25% of what it used to be. I describe it to people like distance. Like when a neighbor a couple floors below in an apartment building is cooking tomato sauce and you can smell it a bit by your apartment door. That's what it smells like when my face is over it cooking.

I'd definitely try this gum.

> Fully vaccinated

How long ago? Covid vaccine efficacy drops significantly over time so if you haven't had a booster recently, you are not vaccinated: https://www.nih.gov/news-events/nih-research-matters/why-pro...

Which that reminds me, I should schedule a booster since I'll be attending a party and a wedding soon.

If it's been a while you lose the active antibodies, but your immune system still knows whats up and can generate them when exposed. If you're lucky they do it fast enough that the virus doesn't get time to gain a foothold and you never experience a symptom. More likely though you get sick, but your body has a head start fighting off the infection so you don't get as sick. That's why the vaccines help people from severe illness even after a few months.

The bad news is that there are strains out there now that are different enough that even our trained immune systems won't recognize them. That's why it's good to get a booster when updated vaccines become available.

People are still doing this. Unreal.

When did you get your last tetanus shot?

I'm not sure what you mean, tetanus shots actually last 30+ years.

You need a booster every 10 years to maintain immunity.

No, there's quite a bit of evidence that they last much longer than that.

You may not have complete immunity beyond 10 years though, so the recommendation is that you get a booster every 10 years.

But I don't see your point? Are you arguing that the COVID vaccine grants immunity for much longer than advertised? That seems unlikely given the mutation rate of coronaviruses.

Doing what, getting vaccinated against infectious diseases?

People have been getting flu shots yearly for decades at this point. There's this weird delusion or socially-induced amnesia that comes with COVID.

I got COVID maybe a year ago, and I stayed home from work for a week. One of my friends couldn't believe it. He said "wow you're really gonna stay home for an entire week just because you have COVID?"

Uh... yes? Isn't that how we have always done things? If you're sick, you don't go to work because you'll get others sick. I recall being a kid and getting strep and flu many times and yup - the school nurse would send me home.

But something about the political environment around COVID has caused people to refuse to believe things that they know to be true. It's fascinating.

Yeah if I’m sick, I’m gonna stay home if I can help it. Doesn’t matter what is is or how innocuous I think it may be, what gives me the right to spread it around and multiply the misery?

Smart people are, yes.

>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.

My younger sibling, elderly mother, and I never vaccinated or caught covid, but my two older siblings both vaccinated and both caught covid several times each. My cousin is a nurse, vaccinated, caught covid, and lost hearing in one ear. Apparently hearing loss is a rare side effect of covid... I guess count yourself lucky that you didn't lose your hearing.

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