Abnormal smell/taste after infection?! What should I do?

The sense of smell, whose related genes account for about 1% of the human genome, is a very important sense for humans. Before eating, we are used to smelling the smell of things to evaluate whether it is edible. However, the importance of the sense of smell is often only realized after it is lost. During the COVID-19 global pandemic, a high proportion of people who were infected with an abnormal sense of smell or taste at the beginning of the epidemic After one month, there is still abnormal sense of smell or taste. Due to the large number of mothers infected with the epidemic, the number of people who have abnormal sense of smell or taste for a long time is also very large.

Just how serious a problem is an abnormal sense of smell/taste? Since the sense of smell/taste is a very subjective feeling, once lost, it will lack a lot of fun in life and greatly reduce the quality of life, which will make people more prone to anorexia, nutritional deficiencies, anxiety, or depression, etc. In parasmia, there is an abnormal condition called parosmia. People with parasmia will feel a confused olfactory experience, which makes the smell they like before become disliked, and the smell of coffee often smelled in life. Or the smell of food, which can turn into a sinister smell, which can make people with olfactory inversion feel depressed.

In addition to adding fun in life, smell/taste is also an important human safety protection mechanism. Through the identification of smell/taste, we can prevent harmful substances in the environment (such as organic solvents, suspended particles produced by fire), corruption Food, etc. receive warning signals in advance, thereby protecting human health.

However, because smell/taste is a very subjective feeling, it is difficult to quantitatively evaluate it in scientific research, let alone explore treatment methods. From the perspective of pathogenic mechanism, current research evidence shows that the COVID-19 virus does not directly attack the olfactory bulb or the central olfactory pathways, butDecreases signaling from olfactory neurons by affecting supporting cells of the olfactory neuroepithelium, and finally lead to people feel abnormal smell.

In terms of treatment, in addition to the more commonly used clinicalsteroid nasal spray, to reduce the inflammatory response caused by COVID-19, and smell training is also an important part.Smell training is mainly through the smell of four kinds of smell (rose/eucalyptus/lemon/clove, rose/eucalyptus/lemon/clove), to stimulate the regeneration of the olfactory nerve epidermis, and the earlier such training starts, the better. In addition, there are few studies showing the effect of special nutrition intervention, such as: vitamin A, fish oil, alpha lipoic acid. As for the mechanism and treatment of dysgeusia, there are few research data, and it is difficult to have a consensus recommendation at present.

To sum up, if theIf the sense of smell/taste is abnormal after infection, the author will recommend starting clinical treatment as soon as possible, because a certain proportion of people will have such symptoms for a longer time, and the earlier the clinical treatment is involved, the better the effect; in addition, the abnormal sense of smell/taste should be considered related to the inflammatory response caused by COVID-19. The author believes that, There should be more special nutritional products with potential adjuvant therapeutic effects, and this part recommends consulting with clinicians to try again.

(The above information mainly refers to the report published in the authoritative international journal "The BMJ" in 2022paper)

〈The author is former Attending Physician in National Taiwan University Hospital, and Master of Science from National Taiwan University〉

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