It is estimated that loss of consciousness affects 10 million people worldwide (Representative)
New York:
Three days after a positive test for Covid-19, “everything looks like a cardboard,” recalls 38-year-old Elizabeth Medina, who lost her sense of taste and smell at the onset of the disease. spread. A year later, she fears she will never get them back.
Medina consulted with ear, nose and throat doctors and neurologists, tried several nasal sprays, and is part of a group of patients undergoing experimental treatment who use fish oil.
To try to stimulate her senses, she puts lots of spices on everything she eats, pours fragrant herbs into her tea and regularly sniffs a bracelet in. essential oil.
But her efforts have been in vain. Medina, a guidance counselor at a New York school, says she missed many of the daily pleasures she once enjoyed, including eating and cooking.
She says she has been shouting every day for months.
Medina is one of a growing number with chronic anosmia – a misunderstood disorder that has been an undisputed result for many in the pandemic.
Most Covid-19 sufferers lose the ability to regain taste or smell “within three to four weeks,” according to Valentina Parma, a psychologist at Temple University in at Philadelphia.
But 10 to 15 percent lose consciousness for months, Parma said. She is chair of the Global Consortium for Chemosensory Research (GCCR), which was set up at the onset of the pandemic to study the problem.
‘Covid Long’
It is estimated that more than two million Americans and 10 million people worldwide will be affected by loss of consciousness, according to the expert.
Taste and smell are often seen as essential to sight and hearing, and the loss is often considered as severe as other effects of “Long Covid”; but they are a key part of socialization, Parma says, saying “we choose friends based on smells.”
Moreover, they are often exacerbated not only by nutritional problems but by anxiety and even depression, Parma added.
Like “other anosmics”, Medina found solace and loyalty in a support group organized by a hospital near her home.
Such groups have succeeded on social networks. The group AbScent, founded as a charity in Britain in 2019, has seen its members on various platforms rise from 1,500 to more than 45,000 since the outbreak began, according to founder Chrissi Kelly.
On the group’s main Facebook page, the question that Medina visits again arises: “Will I ever regain my sense of taste and smell?”
At this stage, Parma said, “it is very difficult to predict how things will turn out.”
But there’s one good sign that anosmics are on the way to overcoming it: developing parosmia, when people’s smells of familiar things are distorted, like the smell of rubbish while sniffing coffee.
There is currently no known cure, and the only recommended treatment is to avoid the smell of four different scents twice a day. According to Parma, this works in 30 percent of cases, but only after three to six months of practice.
Contrary to this uncertainty, it is perhaps not surprising that the likes of AbScent’s Kelly, which lost its taste and smell after a bout of sinusitis in 2012, and Katie Boateng, an American who lost the first -seasons in 2009, has become a celebrity.
They share their experiences, and urge the intensive medical community to study and recognize the severity of their symptoms.
In 2018, Katie Boateng created the Smell Podcast, an information mine and advice for her companions in misfortune.
Daily exercises
She is now part of a patient advocacy group that helps guide GCCR research.
While Boateng has expressed hope that she will be cured herself, “I remain hopeful that we can produce research that will heal people in the future,” she said.
While awaiting a medical break, many continue to do their daily sniffing exercises, sometimes with the help of a coach, like Leah Holzel.
The food specialist, who lost her sense of smell from 2016 to 2019, has helped six people recover from anosmia since the outbreak began.
Many sufferers also stick to messages about improvements or treatments that appear regularly on social networks, enjoying the companionship provided by the organizations.
“It’s been almost a year since I lost my scent and taste and I’m fine now,” Dominika Uhrakova, who lives in Southampton, England, wrote on AbScent’s Facebook page.
“Get in there, don’t lose hope and I wish you every success,” the 26-year-old said.
(Except the headline, this story was not edited by NDTV staff and is published from syndicated food.)