“Loss of taste and smell?”
I have had a bad cold and cough. I tested at home for Covid but was negative. The cold is now gone it started 28 December. I have not had any smell or taste since then, it was more likely to have been covid.
Female | 60 years old
4 Answers
Ear-NoseandThroatDoctor(ENT)|Otology&NeurotologyEar,NoseandThroat(ENT)
Any inflammatory insult to the olfactory nerve can cause anosmia. So it doesn't have to have been covid, could have been flu, or just any other virus syndrome. Nerves are very sensitive and can respond poorly to any type of inflammation. A burst of steroids at the acute time of injury may be theoretically helpful to possibly recover the nerve function. This is the treatment paradigm used for sudden sensorineural hearing loss, and bells palsy.
You are most likely correct. One of the long-covid conditions that affect persons with previous infection is loss of taste and smell. There are antibody tests that can determine if you were previously infected.
It could be COVID. The home tests are not 100% accurate. Note that some people with the Flu can have a loss of smell and taste. It usually gets better with time. Trying to stimulate the olfactory senses (with different smells) could help.
Yes. The at-home test which we also call the rapid COVID test has a higher percentage of false negative than the PCR.
