Covid / flu no taste or smell

[Karina2malta]

Not sure if I have Covid or a flu - I generally loose my taste and smell but this time it’s day 5 and still no taste and smell - the congestion is bad other than that first day was chills and a lot of pressure on my face through congestion - when will I get my sense of taste back it makes me want to do nothing so so depressing .

[AnnieBrooke]

To add to specialmom's great advice, I just got Covid over Christmas and it only lightly affected how things tasted or smelled; it was more like the small effect on your sense of smell that you get when you have a cold. I think the new variant is not known for that particular symptom. So, yes do test for Covid, but to me it sounds more like you have the flu. Good luck!

[specialmom]

So, losing taste and smell is classic for covid but CAN happen with flu too. I experienced it the first time I got covid so learned all about it. It involves a nerve in your olfactory system. With covid, must be honest. I lost my taste fully for a month (smell too). And then it slowly came back. A year later and things that used to taste good to me tasted like bug spray. But many things were back to normal. Things smelled off also. And things like scented candles had no smell to me for well over a year. Very strange. But it appears back to normal now. Some never get it back. But most do. your issues may be all the swelling affecting the olfactory nerves.

You could test for covid to find out for sure and I think I would. They sell over the counter tests you can do at home. You could even door dash one if you have no one to bring you one. If you have flu, it's too late for tamiflu. You have to take that within 72 hours. I get the flu vaccine which has worked well at protecting me (when kids got the flu, I didn't when caring for them. My true test of how well the vaccine worked!). Do you take mucinex? That is so helpful when sick to keep mucus soft and moving. Add that to your drug store needs.