My C19 aftermath 13m later

ponykilr

ponykilr

Old Crow
Joined
Apr 26, 2021
Location
Lowgap
Short version is that I had covid and was very sick last April but managed to stay out of the hospital. I lost taste and smell for aprox 11 weeks and it came back gradually although things are not the same. Food isn't as flavorful overall and spicy foods seem more spicy than before.

Since it came back, I very regularly "smell" or sense cigarette smoke. It is pungent and very overwhelming. I hate smoke and avoid it which makes it absolutely suck.

I can be at home, where there has never been any cigarettes, and it will smell like 3 people are smoking in the room. I can be in a car and it begin to almost insane levels. Heck even mowing my grass or pasture it has happened and I wear a RZ mask to keep allergies at bay.

I will mention I have very mild adult onset asthma as well although it theoretically isn't related to smell.

The smell of smoke had sort of waned from Jan to this past April but here in May it has been awful again. It seriously is about to drive me nuts. I have done sinus rinses with no effect.

Here is the part I'm wondering about. I have been fighting some kind of head cold since before Easter along with seasonal allergies. I wonder if like I have read, that the lining of my sinuses was damaged or altered such that anytime they are irritated I will have this phenomenon get worse for a time.

I am NOT a doomer, not at all. I do wonder however how rare my experience is and if it is permanent. I don't believe the long term effects of C19 are or will be fully known for a long while.

Had anyone else experienced this or heard of someone with a similar issue?
 
Certain things that I used to love are now meh. I had something last night I had not had in a good while that I used to enjoy. It was so bland I didn't finish it.

Bourbons changed for me for sure and any spicyness in a good bourbon is too much now. I have to either mix in something or it has to be a particularly sweet whiskey. I used to adore dark and spiced rum but now I like milder gold rum much more. Weird.

The smoke smell however is getting maddening. I am sitting here now and it's like I'm in a scene of SOA.
 
So this is weird...
Friend of my son was a college football player. Major athlete, on NFL draft boards etc. Got it last year and it wrecked him.
I mean he said walking up stairs hed have to sit down to catch his breath. Had suffered from mild asthma since high school, occasionally he'd have to hit an inhaler they kept on sidelines etc. After covid said inhaler didnt work.
He gave up football because post recovery said he just couldnt get his air. Walking aorund laughing jokeing fine. Start straining and gasping for breath.

The reason I share is he said the same thing. He smelled cigarette smoke all the time. Said he was raised by his granny who smoked in the house - and he hated cigs as a result.
He said some bro science about the cig smoke being embedded in his lungs and being released due to coivd. whatever.

Anyway he relocated to Raleigh and changed doctors. His new doc is in the Duke University med system. He urged him to get vaccinated. Which he was reluctant to do because he'd already had it and such.
Anyway he reluctantly went and got the vaccine. Said day after he woke up feeling like a different dude. After second shot he said it was like he never had covid. re-enrolled in college and is back to lifting and trying to get back to football shape. This is all in 60 days since vaccine. And said since the first shot he hasnt smelled the cigs at all.

Now maybe its all placebo. Im not encouraging you to get vaccinated. I havent been.
I just fidn it odd Id never heard anyone have the cig smell other than you and he.
 
I had the Covid last June and lost all taste and smell. Both came back a few months later but I still on occasion get the nasty smell of old burnt rear end grease. Being a life long mechanic, this is one of my most hated smells.
 
These stories are all super weird but 100% believable since so much is still unknown about the long term affects.
 
One thing I have read over and over is the phantom smells people experience after covid is “something they hate”.

I have also read these smells might be a result of changes not in the nose but in the brain.

Weird indeed.

I know I hate this smell. It was suggested elsewhere to try AYR aloe nasal moisturizer and that it was able to relieve the symptom so I am on the hunt.
 
Well an update.

I have used aloe saline spray regularly for a while and it seems the cigarette smell has been gone for a while. I have not had it at all for weeks so there must be something to the healing power of aloe.

I still think my overall lung function had never recovered. I take Breo for my slight asthma in the warm months and I do not have the coughing fits in dust like I did but my stamina, my wind, isn’t as good as pre-covid.

I believe we will look back in a few years after we know more about the long term effects and realize this was man made.
 
Back
Top