Coming Back to My Senses

It all started...

So, I am currently recovering from the "Rona" that plagued my home these past couple of weeks. I don't mind telling you that I was not vaccinated, even though that is going to invite a TON of backlash. But here's the thing, my symptoms were not too severe. I had a temperature of 99.5 for 24 hours, then I was sleepy and congested for a week and I lost my sense of taste and smell. (It's still gone.)

My husband, on the other hand, is a government employee. He had no intention of getting vaccinated until he received a letter basically saying he can get the jab or lose his job. So out of his love for our family and not wanting to risk our only source of income, he went and got the vaccine. Three weeks later, he was diagnosed with covid 19 pneumonia. He was the one who needed a week of breathing treatments and steroids and antibiotics to get well. I started feeling bad a few days after he did. Then our daughter got sick also. 

No one in our house got sick the entire year of 2020. And no one got sick the entire year of 2021 until a few weeks after my husband was forced to get vaccinated. I know people are going to say, and I don't think the usual arguments hold much water in my opinion. I am not a doctor, I have no medical expertise whatsoever. Our situation is anecdotal at best. So I'm just telling you what happened and you can come to your own conclusions.

Of course, I run the risk of having my blog buried forever for mentioning any of this to you. Even just mentioning the word covid, corona, or anything to do with the dratted virus is completely taboo on social media and is often banned from many groups. And the fact that this story does not really fit their narrative is almost certainly going to get me buried. But I have a right to share my story and you have a right to read it. 

I Gave the Ridiculous a Try...

During the time I suspected I had covid-19 rampaging through my system, at some point, I did lose my sense of taste and smell. It's been gone for a little over a week now. And I have to say that it has been a very profound and disheartening experience. Well-meaning friends and family say things like, "You are so lucky that you didn't get very sick. Losing your sense of taste and smell is not such a big deal." And while I get what they are saying, and I am indeed glad that I didn't get terribly sick, losing two of your five senses is hard on you mentally. 

In the first few days, I could smell absolutely zero. I also had no sense of taste except that I could tell if something was spicy, tart, sweet, or salty, but no flavor. For example, I tried a sour gummy worm and I could tell that it was sour, but I could not taste any of its fruitiness. I tried eating a hot dog for dinner... that was a mistake. The texture of a hot dog with no flavor except general saltiness was NASTY.

According to many of the statistics I've been reading, getting your sense of taste and smell back after COVID could take months. And with the all holidays and feast celebrations coming up, that sounds miserable. 

So, instead of moping around feeling sorry for myself, I've been scouring the internet trying to figure out what crazy remedies people have tried to bring their taste and smell back. A while back, someone posted a video on Tictok about eating a burned orange. There's an article with links to several embedded videos of people trying it here: https://www.today.com/health/will-eating-burnt-oranges-revive-senses-after-covid-19-t204125

Most of the video reviews suggest the method doesn't work. But the experts are saying that while it may not bring your sense of smell back, it should not cause any harm to make the attempt.

So, you know me, I decided to give the ridiculous a try. According to the videos, you roast an orange until the skin is black. Then you peel off the skin, dump the insides into a bowl, and mash a couple of spoonfuls of brown sugar into the warm orange pulp.

Here's how it went for me:

 **If you try this yourself, please be careful. The orange was very hot inside and out when it was first off the grill. You definitely want to wait long enough until the orange is safe to touch. I should also add an obligatory statement here that anything you want to try you are doing so at your own risk. I am not responsible if you have any adverse reactions. Use your own brain and decide if trying this is worth any possible adverse reactions you may have. **

I'm disappointed to report to you that consuming the sugared overcooked orange did absolutely nothing to help my sense of taste and smell return. I could taste the fact that it was hella sweet. The warm sugary glop was not very palatable to me, so I didn't finish it. Maybe I got a little extra vitamin C out of it. In any case, I'm none the worse for wear after that failed experiment.

The next thing I tried was taking a shot of ACV. And ... wow... I deeply regretted doing that. *Gag!* I could barely taste it and yet the yuck factor was so great it nearly came back out. Had it worked, I may have said it was worth it. But the ACV also did nothing to help me regain my sense of smell. Don't do that, that was gross.

What DOES work...

As of today, I am able to smell the faintest hints of certain things. If I sniff a bottle of lavender essential oil, it's as if someone is on the other side of my house and whispers "lavender." But even that small amount of scent is a triumph for me. It makes me feel like maybe there's hope I will be able to enjoy the holiday flavors at least to a small degree. 

Searching around the internet some more lead me to find information about scent therapy. It's where you hold four different scents under your nose (one at a time) for a few seconds each and try to smell them. If you can't smell it, you try to remember what it smells like and use your imagination to remember what it should smell like. Smells are linked to memories. So it supposedly works even better if you have a memory associated with the smell. 

Coffee, for example, would work well with this therapy for many folks. While you inhale the smell of coffee, imagine reading a book in your favorite coffee shop it sitting down to enjoy a nice hot cup of joe. After a few seconds, switch to a different scent and try to associate the scent with a memory. Try these scent training sessions multiple times a day and see if your sense of smell improves over time.

This seems to be working for me. In addition, I am also taking a puff of Afrin nasal spray in the mornings, and drinking a mug of golden milk latte in the afternoon.

Wait... golden what? 

Golden Milk is basically just turmeric powder mixed with warm milk. Turmeric is a basic spice many people already have in their spice cabinets. It is commonly used in curry dished, fried chicken, and lately, companies have been using it as a healthier alternative to yellow food coloring for foods like macaroni and cheese. Turmeric is well known for having natural antibiotic and anti-inflammatory properties. It is available as a spice or a supplement in pill form.

To make a golden milk latte, just add a teaspoon of turmeric spice powder to a cup of milk and either heat it in a pot on the stove or in a ceramic mug in the microwave until it is warm enough for your liking. Adding a dash of pepper will help your body absorb the turmeric and help you get the medicinal benefit. If you take turmeric in supplement form, you will likely notice that black pepper is one of the added ingredients. You can also add a little honey and any additional spices as they suit your taste. If you're like me and can't taste much of anything, the additional spices don't matter a whole lot, but the sweetness is a nice touch.

As a personal observation, right after I drink a mug of Golden Milk, I feel warm and dreamy for a few hours. It is very nice to drink right before bed to help me slip off. One teaspoon of turmeric powder is about 200 mg curcumin (that's the component of turmeric that has the health benefits). Several health articles suggest taking 500-1,000 mg of curcumin per day. So if you want to reach those higher doses, you may want to consider taking the supplement in pill form. I just find I really enjoy the spiced milk. Now that my sense of smell is ever so slightly returning, I find I am able to detect a bit more of the spiciness. I look forward to consuming this beverage when my senses are closer to being fully restored. 

Closing Thoughts

I know this post was long. But I figured it might be nice to give you all this information at once instead of leaving you searching all over the internet like me. I also wanted to share with you my personal experience on what seems to be working and what has not. 

If you lost your sense of smell or taste after getting covid, tell me your experience in the comments. I know first-hand that losing this sensory input can leave you feeling kinda sad. I think it helps to share those experiences and read about others. It can help you feel like you're not alone. 

Have you tried any crazy remedies to bring your scent back? Tell me about it. Maybe I'll try it and make another post on how it goes.

I love you all and wish you good health. Drink your water, eat your veggies, wash your hands. These are all things we know to do. There is a lot of advice out there and it is so hard to sift through sometimes. Read as many different opinions out there as you can, educate yourself, then make whatever decision you feel is right for your own body.