Post-COVID symptoms? I can't smell or taste anything!!

It has been 5 days since I caught COVID on September 9th (apparently, you count the day after symptoms start as day 1)❗
Today is the final day of my home recovery period.

Now that it's been reclassified as a Class 5 infectious disease, it seems I'm allowed to return to work, go shopping, and go out starting tomorrow💦

My friend and my younger brother both went back to work on this schedule, even though they still had coughs and felt easily fatigued.

I heard later that they were pushing themselves quite a bit...

Anyway, I have been writing about my condition since I first developed symptoms in this note.

After that, I mostly just kept posting short updates while lying in bed.

Since COVID infections are still not subsiding, I thought it might be meaningful to share my symptoms,
and I also kept posting as a personal record.

I won't post every single update, but

the first two days were a battle against fever and coughing,
and while relying on medication, I still believed that things would gradually get better.

Yes, my physical strength would return little by little. My constipation was also starting to clear up.
I was monitoring my lower back pain with medication and had even booked an appointment at the osteopathic clinic,
thinking that with time, the back pain and other symptoms would just gradually improve...

Then yesterday, on the 4th day of my illness...

Up until then, I had been suffering from a loss of appetite, mostly eating rice porridge, and even when I felt hungry, I would lose my appetite as soon as I started eating,

so I thought my appetite might return if I had my favorite somen noodles,

and for the first time in a while, I boiled some somen,
julienned some thin omelet, ham, and cucumber,
grilled some teriyaki chicken and salmon, and set the table to try and get back to normal.

I tried eating it...

Huh?
It really doesn't taste good...

Hmm?
Could it be... I can't taste anything❗

I can't taste my favorite somen noodles at all❗

What?
I can't taste the teriyaki chicken either.

I tried smelling it.

I... can't smell anything!
I can't smell the teriyaki chicken or the grilled salmon at all.

It's truly tasteless and odorless.

Could it be,

An olfactory disorder?
And furthermore,
A taste disorder too?

I knew I couldn't smell anything, but to check my sense of taste,

I drank some somen noodle broth. I could taste the saltiness.
I could taste the saltiness.

I tried eating some Pocari Sweat jelly.
I could taste it.

Furthermore, I tried eating my favorite Shingen Mochi.
I could taste the sweetness and the deliciousness.

I decided to check how much of my sense of smell remained.

I opened a box with a lavender scent.
When I put my nose up to it, I could faintly sense the lavender scent from far away.

The lemon scent of the toilet deodorizer...
Even though it's a fairly strong scent, I could barely feel it.
As expected, it was a state of whether I felt it faintly from far away or not at all.

I asked a friend who recently caught COVID.

They said they also had an olfactory disorder for about 10 days.

Come to think of it, a few friends previously said that their olfactory disorder persisted, and it took them about two months to return to normal.

Furthermore, my younger brother and mother also say their sense of taste is strange, and they are forcing themselves to eat even though it doesn't taste good.
As for my husband, he has not only an olfactory disorder but also a severe sore throat, making it difficult for him to eat as well.

After that, I scoured YouTube...

And I learned about the rumored
olfactory and taste disorders that have come to our family,
that the future progress might heal naturally or it might take time,
and that if it doesn't return after two weeks, there might be treatment available at an otolaryngology clinic!

Also, it seems there might be a zinc deficiency (at least since I caught COVID, I have barely eaten anything), so from now on, I think I have to eat even if it doesn't taste good or I have a loss of appetite.

In my case,
◎ My sore throat wasn't severe
◎ I didn't have a stuffy or runny nose
Despite that,
Why an olfactory disorder?
And a taste disorder too?

And could this be post-COVID sequelae?

In my case, my lower back pain is still very painful, so not being able to sleep at night is also tough❗

I want to try sleeping soundly (lol)

That's why a nap is also essential☆彡
If I were working, it would have been impossible💦

Autumn, the season of taste, is coming up,
and even though I've finally made plans to go out and stay over after my surgery,
when I think that I might not be able to "enjoy delicious food," which is the best part of traveling,
it's disappointing, depressing, and sad, but

it can't be helped now that it's happened❗

I'll take this as a good experience and overcome it❗
I have no choice but to do it❕

2023 has had way too many things happen.
But I want to overcome the present while continuing the new challenges I've finally started to take on positively recently(^o^)/

If anyone has experience with this, or knows how to overcome or cure it, please let me know in the comments section✨

I hope to keep writing progress reports on note as well💕

Please support me as wellm(__)m

Thank you for reading again today
<m(__)m>

#COVID-19
#COVID-19Infection
#PostCOVIDSequelae
#OlfactoryDisorder
#TasteDisorder
#NoTasteNoSmell