The Truth About COVID-19: Why the Side Effects Can Be the Worst Part
For the past two years, a global pandemic has taken over our lives. COVID-19 has changed the way we go about our daily routines in countless ways—masks, quarantines, testing requirements, travel restrictions—and plenty more. Aside from those things that everyone deals with, there’s something else that 22-year-old Kathleen Grega of Pleasant Valley, N.Y. has had to manage.
Grega tested positive for COVID-19 in December of 2020, “I lost my taste and smell and I had a pretty consistent fever for about 10 days. I was also so tired, I could barely stay awake,” she recalls.
These are not uncommon symptoms to go along with the virus. However, after her quarantine was up, Grega’s taste and smell didn’t come back as expected.
“I had COVID over a year ago but I still can’t eat certain foods or smell certain scents normally,” she said. Certain things such as some foods and gasoline smelled like sulfur to her until around September 2021.
This loss of smell is called “phantosmia”, meaning one is smelling something that’s not actually present, which was sulfur in Grega’s case.
Researchers first thought the loss of smell could impact the brain, but since then, they have come to a conclusion that most times the sensation only goes as far as impacting cells and neurons in the nose and usually does not reach the brain.
In addition to scent being an issue, her taste was also off, and still is. Food like chicken, peanut butter, mint, and soda have an unbearable taste.
“Today, I still can’t eat those foods without a gross taste but the sulfur smell has gone away for the most part,” Grega explained.
Researchers don’t know as much about loss of taste as they do about loss of smell. However, it has been found that taste typically comes back faster than smell, and almost always improves once scent does.
After understandably feeling frustrated by these long-term side effects, Grega wanted to do something to allow herself to taste and smell regularly once again. She tried asking her doctor if there were any solutions, but because COVID-19 is so new, there was nothing she could do and was told her senses would come back naturally.
Grega noted that her brother and a friend have had similar experiences since having the virus. Although it’s not fun to deal with these side effects, it’s comforting to know other people are going through the same thing.
Food she had never thought twice about eating, may be permanently tainted, “I can’t enjoy foods that I used to eat anymore and for a while I would have to avoid being around certain smells because it would make me so nauseous,” she remarks.
Grega’s side effects are unfortunate, but she’s holding onto hope that one day her senses will return back to the way they were before she contracted COVID-19.
