How long did it take for it to return.

I'm on day six of Covid, and I'm finally experiencing this. It's a strange feeling, because my breathing is normal, and I'm only a little congested. But it just feels like I'm taking in a clean summer breeze when I try to smell shampoo, perfume, or anything. No scent at all. Pretty wild.

Has anyone heard a way to help get the sense back sooner.

Thanks.

For me about two weeks, but about two full months for my wife.

Probably about a month. But it came back gradually. I could taste some things before I could taste others, and some things (wine) just tasted bad for a while.

As it was returning, I noticed sometimes that I could taste the first few bites, and then my taste would wane over the remaining bites.

It was really a weird experience.

Took me about 2 months to start getting it back, and in over a year since Covid it doesn't seem to have come back fully. FWIW, I had no symptoms besides a few strong headaches. Wife was basically the same, but her smell and taste came back quickly.

Same. Never even crossed my mind that I might have COVID. Same as most of you, very few and minor symptoms, then I lost my sense of taste, but not smell. That's a weird combo. Smelling a steak and then eating it and it tastes like paper.

Been 2 months for me and smell and taste are slowly coming back.

I don't think my sense of smell is the same; I had very mild covid otherwise in Dec 2020. I habituate more easily to smells than before, and odors are in general not as strong.

It only took me about a week for it to come back. My mom got Covid in June 2021 and still can't smell anything.

Lost smell only - taste was fine. Smell came back MUCH diminished within a couple of month. I used a "smell therapy kit" and it seemed to help (or maybe it was just passage of time) Seems to have finally returned to normal within the past couple of weeks - 10 months after Covid (Dec. 2020).

Thanks for the responses. A little depressing to read.

my wife, FIL, and myself lost it for 2 weeks. My mother lost it for just under 5 days.

We did nothing special to get it back.

2 to 3 days

I lost both taste and smell on day 6. Both returned on day 7.

3 days.

Pfizer in March. COVID in September.

I never lost my sense of taste or smell, thankfully.

I had COVID in November 2020. I didn't really know that I had it until we got antibody tested a few weeks later. I never lost smell and taste completely but it did change. Some things still don't smell or taste the same, but most things are back to normal. Every once in a while I realize that something now tastes or smells like I remember.

Two weeks for me. Although some never lose it and some have yet to get it back. Time frames have been anywhere in between. Average is 2-4 weeks.

I'm closing in on 8 months without smell. Taste is ok but obviously affected without smell.

I never lost it except for soft drinks tasted really weird. My wife lost it for about 4 weeks.

About 6 months. I could taste/smell citrus before everything else came back. I had a rough case of COVID overall...

Hopefully it will return much sooner for you.

I'm about 6 weeks out from recovery. Lost both. Very strange feeling. They have started to come back very slowly. I can now taste some things and smell some, but I have a long way to go to get them both completely back.

Unrelenting sinus headache gave way through ibuprofen, and once that was beaten back for a few days the other sinus stuff (smell & taste) cleared pretty quickly. A few days of lingering metallic taste. Another week or two of subdued sensation.

Less than 2 days for smell, taste only slightly diminished. The only other symptoms I had were body aches for 4 days and tired for about a week.

Had COVID in July of '20. Taste and smell came back within a few weeks, but to this day certain smells are still "off." Onions are one example I can think of. They don't smell sweet any more... more like some kind of rancid chemical type smell.

For me, I didn't lose it, it just went crazy.

If I had lost it, I might not have noticed since it largely went away following a case of the flu or something about thirty years ago. For years, I couldn't tell the difference in taste between a hamburger and Chinese food.

About the only thing with enough flavor to get through was Indian food. I didn't like it at all before because the flavors were so strong, but I sure liked it afterwards.

I have two occasional phantom smells:
1) burning electrical wiring
2) wet burlap.

In my smell disruption when I had covid in May, 2020, both of these were very strong along with other smells I had never smelled before. That lasted something like 6 to 8 hours.

Lost smell for about 2 weeks. Wife list it for longer and still thinks her smell is repressed. We're about 2 months or from having it.

I'm experiencing this now. I can smell a strange unpleasant smell that just lingers especially when I lay down, and I have a metallic taste in my mouth. Looking forward to it subsiding.

My coworker didn't have smell for 7 months.

Made diaper changes easy.

I am on week 8 and some is coming back around. I can smell gasoline but not diesel fuel. Camped and hunted for much of last week and still can't smell wood smoke. Some foods that I know aren't salty have an overpowering salt taste but I can shake salt onto my tongue and never know it. Weird. At least my farts don't smell anymore.

6 days

Wife and I each did saline nasal rinses with "smell therapy" right after twice a day. Each item we used for smell therapy were the first smells we got back

Took about just shy of two weeks for me. Was my only real symptom aside from feeling kind of tired and achy for a couple days. Wife didn't lose smell at all. And a younger guy I know lost his senses for months.

Gotta be honest, there was something weird about it, almost depressing. And not just because meals weren't as enjoyable. I can't put my finger on it, it was just kind of depressing and anxiety inducing and I was glad when my senses came back.

Lost sense of smell gradually over 3 days till it was gone completely.

Completely back 7 days later.