Menopause Matters Forum
Menopause Discussion => Other Health Discussion => Topic started by: Blot on July 26, 2021, 06:34:07 PM
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I’ve had a cold, really snotty and blowing my nose constantly and I lost my smell and taste. This has only really happened in the past for a day or so when I’ve been totally bunged up but it’s coming up to 2 weeks now and it’s still not back.
Has this happened to anyone else and how long till things got back to normal? I can breathe fine through my nose now, just the tail end of cold symptoms now. Dr google tells me I’m doomed!
It’s obviously been some weird kind of virus but I can’t help but worry. I’ve been tested for covid btw and negative.
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Could have been a false negative.
Otherwise how are your sinuses. Inflammation there could be the problem.
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My Dad hasn’t been able to smell or taste for many years, only his Doctor pick up that he sounds funny. And have done a couple of different test.
At the moment he is on a nose wash (salty water that you pump up your nose, or you could use a netti pot) and a nose spray to use very day. And it’s helped him.
Go and see your doctor and asked them what they recommend. My Dad uses Fess Sinu-Cleanse and Azonaire nose spray. I use both of these everyday myself for sinus and runny nose. But I’m am from Australia so could be different products for you to use.
Good luck
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Thank you. I know it only seems like a small thing, and in the grand scheme of things not a big deal, but I’m starting to get a bit down at the thought of life without the joy of taste and smell not being there. Such a drama Queen ☹️
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Mine has never really been the same since I got the cold a few years ago. I can smell and taste but not as good as what it was before :-\
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If you can breath normally through your nose, its not blocked and no sinus symtoms then you may have had covid. The symtoms for this new variant are similar to a cold with runny nose etc in fact the symptoms now are pretty much anything or even no symptons at all. If it was covid your smell and taste could take a few weeks to come back, mine was about a month but gradually.
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Thanks. I was tested for covid (pcr) and do regular lateral flow tests and all negative. If I hadn’t been tested I would have been convinced it was covid due to this symptom. Very strange.
Feel like I’m getting another cold now as well, just as I was getting over the last one :( Think there are lots of bugs circulating at the moment.
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About 12 months ago I had a cold for a few days. How? as I have been wearing masks, washing hands, not speaking to people ...........
Loss of taste and smell is common with the cold virus. It does impact on how we enjoy foods ......... sinuses can be affected too.
Rest. Plenty of liquids. Do U have a finger thingy to test oxygen levels? Also a thermometer is useful.
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CLKD before this one I hadn’t had a cold for about two and a half years. Real stinker that one was but I didn’t lose smell or taste after it cleared up.
I suppose a cold is just another variation of coronavirus so this particular one I’ve had could affect smell and taste.
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As an aside DH didn't have a cold for years. He ate Marmite on toast at breakfast .......... every morning.
I hate Summer colds worse than Winter 1s 'cos people don't seem 2 have the same sympathy ;D
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Yum. Marmite on toast. If only I could taste it :)
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Has 2 B on hot toast, do U agree ;-)
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Yes
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Any improvement this evening?
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I’m starting to be able to get very faint smells of certain things now but only if I put them right under my nose and only fleetingly. Other things just can’t smell at all.
But I’m taking this as a positive and hope it’s the start of improvement.
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It may take the brain receptors a few days to realise that you are sniffing smells ;-).
How do U feel overall?
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I feel fine.
Tbh from what I’ve read it might be a long haul to get back to normal with regard to smells, whatever the cause.
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Thanks. I’ve just started taking zinc supplements to see if that might help. I’ll try anything tbh :)
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Hi Blot, it could very well have been covid. My son recently had it, all the classic symptoms including loss of smell and taste. He did several lateral flow tests, which were all negative. He did a PCR test which was negative, but he felt he must have covid and needed proof for work so he did another PCR test which second time around was positive. His girlfriend then came down with it a few days later. It seems that there can be false negatives. His taste and smell is gradually coming back, so hopefully yours will soon.
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Thanks. It may well have been covid, who knows now. I tried to get another pcr through work (I work for the nhs) and wasn’t allowed due to the time frame and also via the gov website. Suppose I could have lied to get one but by that time I wouldn’t have been infectious anyway. My work were happy for me to go straight back even with the smell and taste loss ???.
I would have thought that repeated lateral flow tests would have picked up something though, but I know they aren’t that reliable.
I can smell random things if I put them right up under my nose so hopefully things will improve.
And CLKD I can taste marmite!!!
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They have to be taken correctly otherwise they don't pick up the virus. Right down the throat and deep into the nasal passages, yuk.
Of course, the test kits come from China ::)
Marmite on toast then ?
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A friend of mine who is double vaxxed got Covid last month.
Test and Trace told her it's now presenting as either a heavy cold or severe hay fever-like symptoms.
The day she later started to feel ill, she did a lateral flow test which was negative, visited her elderly and vulnerable Dad (thinking she was fine) but by that evening she had a sore throat and runny nose. The Zoe app prompted her to get a PCR test but the daily lateral flow tests she did were all negative until about 5 days into the illness.
How confusing is that?
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Very. We can carry any virus and pass it on. Without having symptoms. She may not have passed it on. 3 days to catch a cold, 3 to suffer, 3 to pass it on.
Friends who were double jabbed earlier this year were really ill recently: probably a Summer cold but worse. Tests didn't show. Hopefully your friend will recover after 3-5 days, as with a cold.
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A friend of mine who is double vaxxed got Covid last month.
Test and Trace told her it's now presenting as either a heavy cold or severe hay fever-like symptoms.
The day she later started to feel ill, she did a lateral flow test which was negative, visited her elderly and vulnerable Dad (thinking she was fine) but by that evening she had a sore throat and runny nose. The Zoe app prompted her to get a PCR test but the daily lateral flow tests she did were all negative until about 5 days into the illness.
How confusing is that?
This explains when the different tests should be used - basically lateral flow tests are for when you don't have symptoms.
PCR tests are for when you do have symptoms.
https://www.nhs.uk/conditions/coronavirus-covid-19/testing/get-tested-for-coronavirus/
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:thankyou:
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Thanks Jenna.
It's just worrying how unreliable the lateral flow tests seem to be. I'm not sure how much to rely on them when I'm around my vulnerable Mum.
My friend's Dad isolated for 10 days and was fine thankfully!
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Jasmine20 I don't tnink they are reliable at all. Both my sons and their girlfriends all tested negative several times using lateral flow tests, despite going on to have positive PCR tests. They only seemed to detect the virus when they were really ill, ie in the midst of it, with a high viral load.