Have you, or someone you know, experienced things smelling or tasting distorted after having a viral infection? Turns out this is a pretty common phenomena after having a viral infection and it’s known as PAROSMIA!
This last year we saw a huge increase in the number of long-term cases of parosmia which makes us all wonder what’s going on, how common it is, how long it lasts, and if there is a way to treat it! Read on to find out more.
So what’s going on? Viruses that enter your upper respiratory tract are able to infect the cells in the olfactory epithelium causing damage and inflammation to the olfactory neurons. The severity of damage will determine how long until you’ll get that sense of smell back!
While a very large majority of people experience a distorted smell during their active viral infection (around 80%), only about 10-20% experience lasting smell distortion! Recovery time varies dramatically from person to person but with general PVOD, around 80% of people gain back their normal smell by 2 years and greater than 90% recovered in studies that followed-up longer than 2 years.
Unfortunately, there is no quick fix to regenerating the damaged olfactory neurons. However, along with the commonly prescribed steroids to reduce inflammation, olfactory training is gaining ground as a beneficial treatment. What is it? You literally smell the same odors every day for a set amount of time and spend time remembering or thinking about how it should smell. While you can imagine trying to put this into practice at home, the potency and chemical make-up of the smells matter in this case. If you are experiencing long-term parosmia, talk to your primary care physician!