When the pandemic initially broke out, everyone’s attention was drawn to the symptoms of a new, persistent cough and fever.
However, in May 2020, only a few months after the extraordinary worldwide event began, loss of smell and taste were also added to the list of recorded symptoms, as it became apparent that this was a sure-tell indication of the virus.
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While the majority of Covid infections are minor and patients heal on their own, some individuals continue to have symptoms years after acquiring the virus, a condition known as “long Covid.”
The researchers from the University of Birmingham in the United Kingdom highlighted that patients who experience more than five symptoms in the first week are more likely to develop long covid and these are the 10 most common symptoms of long-COVID.
Read More: Who are at higher risk of developing long COVID?
These are fatigue, shortness of breath, muscle pain, cough, headache, joint pain, chest pain, altered smell, diarrhoea and altered taste, said the researchers.
According to experts, in total, one in every 200 people has experienced the virus’s symptoms for more than 90 days.
One symptom that is known to persist is a loss of sense of smell and taste, and around one in five individuals reported eight weeks after contracting Covid.
While it may seem harmless, losing one’s ability to taste significantly diminishes one’s quality of life and may be very upsetting for individuals who have suffered with Covid for an extended period of time.
According to one research, a technique called smell training may help patients recover their senses after Covid.
The research, released in April by the University of East Anglia (UEA) in collaboration with many other worldwide institutions, demonstrated that smell training is much better than corticosteroids for recovering a sense of smell.
These are a class of medication used to treat inflammation in the body.
Smell training is smelling at least four unique odours twice daily over a period of many months such as oranges, mint, garlic, vanilla, clove, rose or coffee.
This is considered to be a far more successful method of regaining the sense of smell once it has been lost.
Professor Carl Philpott of UEA’s Norwich Medical School, a specialist in smell loss, explained:
Corticosteroids are a class of drug that lowers inflammation in the body.
Doctors often prescribe them to help treat conditions such as asthma, and they have been considered as a therapeutic option for smell loss caused by COVID-19.
What we found was that there is very little evidence that corticosteroids will help with smell loss.
And because they have well known potential adverse side effects, our advice is that they should not be prescribed as a treatment for post-viral smell loss.
Professor Philpott further highlighted that although the majority of individuals who lose their sense of smell as a consequence of the virus will recover it “spontaneously,” smell training may help.
He added:
It has emerged as a cheap, simple and side-effect-free treatment option for various causes of smell loss, including COV|ID-19.
It aims to help recovery based on neuro-plasticity – the brain’s ability to reorganise itself to compensate for a change or injury.
This is not the first research to indicate that smell training works; many others conducted over the past decade suggest that regular short-term exposure to odours may aid in the recovery of individuals who have lost their sense of smell due to common infections.
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On a more hopeful note, the professor noted that 90 percent of individuals who lose their sense of smell due to Covid will regain it completely within six months.
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