Brain

If you’ve lost your sense of smell or taste (or both) to COVID-19, you’re in the majority. Nearly 86 percent of COVID-19 patients lose their ability to smell to some degree and sometimes entirely. The good news? Recent studies show that 95 percent recover these senses within six months of having the illness — most within two to three weeks. People who lose their sense of smell to any degree or who experience a change in the way they perceive odors are said to suffer from olfactory dysfunction (OD), which also impairs their sense of taste. If you can’t smell anything, you have anosmia. If you can smell odors to some degree but not as well as you normally do, you have hyposmia. And if you can’t taste anything, you have a rare condition called ageusia. Most people who lose their sense of smell or taste draw the obvious conclusion […]