What Does It Mean If You Lose Your Sense Of Taste And Smell
There is no better way to explain it than saying that it is exactly what it sounds like. When we talk about loss of taste and smell, the same could be because of a cold that you are struggling with or even because of any other underlying health condition.
Impaired taste is characterized by the complete or temporary loss of taste. The complete loss of taste is often very rare but nerve damage has the capability to contribute to that as well. Often times, the same can also be correlated with the presence of a metallic taste in the mouth.
The condition of loss of taste is also quite a common occurrence with aging. It is believed that over 75% of the people above the age of 80 tend to experience loss of taste.
On the other hand, the condition of loss of smell, otherwise known as anosmia is a condition that can happen because of a number of factors. Apart from cold and allergies, aging can also often contribute to the condition further.
Both the senses of taste and smell are closely related. If you end up losing one, chances are that it hampers the functioning of the other as well. The kind of flavours that you get to taste in the food often promotes with your sense of smell. So, when you lose one, it is likely that the same will affect the other sense too.
How To Tell The Difference Between Allergy And Covid
While both COVID-19 and seasonal allergies affect the respiratory system, they are different in how they affect the body.
Allergies are an immune response following an exposure to certain allergens such as mold or tree pollen. COVID-19 is a virus that your body is trying to fight off this is hard work. And while COVID-19 symptoms may not be severe on their own, they are more severe when compared to typical allergy symptoms.
Here are the biggest differences between allergies and COVID-19.
Better Safe Than Sorry
At the end of the day, if you are unsure about your symptoms, then you should err on the side of caution.
If you aren’t feeling well, stay indoors and contact your health care provider. This is the best way to ensure that you aren’t contributing to the spread of coronavirus. You may also call the UMMS Nurse Call Line to discuss your symptoms. Only people with symptoms can get a doctor’s order to get tested for coronavirus.
Even if you don’t have symptoms or your doctor confirms that you have allergies, continue to wear a mask, social distance and get vaccinated to slow the spread of the disease.
UMMS provides our expert-reviewed content to keep our community informed. When sharing this copyrighted content, please link to our site so that critical updates are reflected.
In This Section:
You May Like: What Are The Best Allergy Pills
What Causes Loss Of Taste And Smell In Human
Nasal congestion from a cold, allergy, sinus infection, or poor air quality is the most common cause of anosmia. Other anosmia causes include: Nasal polyps — small noncancerous growths in the nose and sinuses that block the nasal passage. Injury to the nose and smell nerves from surgery or head trauma.
When Is The Right Time To Look For A Doctor
Losing the sense of taste and feeling cold because of the allergens is temporary. But in certain serious conditions, it can be a sign of serious complications. It may lead to malnutrition, poor quality of life, overeating, and under-eating habits.
Approach a doctor and seek immediate medical help if your symptoms go beyond the chest congestion. However, chest congestion is itself a serious medical condition. It can bring many unwanted changes to the body. Most of the hazardous diseases enter the body through upper respiratory infection or chest congestion. You can work on your symptoms, then only you can get your taste back after a sinus infection.
The Takeaway
Sense of taste is strongly connected with the sense of smell. You need both the abilities to taste your food. Many things may interfere with the smell and taste of food. This may further include, colds, allergies, influenza, and other medical conditions. Also, even if you have regained your taste, the symptoms may affect you adversely or may come and go in intervals. Loss of taste and senses can also be a sign of COVID-19 or corona. Treat yourself and get to know the symptoms. Acknowledgment and having a good sense of choice at the time of disease create all differences.
How useful was this post?
Don’t Miss: Can Seasonal Allergies Cause Swollen Lymph Nodes
How To Prevent Smell Loss From Allergies
If you think you may have seasonal allergies, Gupta suggests a wise first step is to book a test with an allergist to pinpoint what you might be allergic to and to determine if you could be a candidate for immunotherapy.
Allergy immunotherapy “coaches” the body to treat the underlying cause of environmental allergies using its immune system. By introducing small, and increasingly larger amounts of allergens into the body, the immune system gradually learns to tolerate them better. These therapies target the specific allergy trigger that causes the immune system to overreact and may even reduce a persons chances of getting new allergies, she says. There are two forms of FDA-approved allergy immunotherapy : either subcutaneous immunotherapy or allergy shots, that are given in a doctors office, or sublingual immunotherapy tablets, which are taken under the tongue at home, she explains.
Over-the-counter medicines can also potentially tame allergy symptoms. A few options Drs. Poole and Gupta sometimes prescribe for their patients:
- Steroid nasal sprays
- Oral antihistamines
- Antihistamine eye drops
Knowing how and when to use these medications is very important, so if youre not feeling better, then it may be time to see an allergy specialist, Gupta says.
Lifestyle medications certainly cant hurt either. Poole recommends these allergen avoidance measures:
What Allergists Do to Keep Their Own Allergies at Bay
How Long Do Symptoms Last
Typically, a sinus infection clears up within 2 to 3 weeks. COVID-19 lasts for about a week or two depending on its severity and your overall health.
A 2020 study surveyed 270 outpatients with COVID-19. Among them, 175 people reported returning to their usual level of health about 7 days after a positive COVID-19 test.
Some symptoms like cough and loss of smell or taste may linger temporarily after COVID-19. Some people may experience long-haul COVID-19, a group of symptoms that persist in the weeks and months following an infection.
Read Also: Why Are My Allergies Worse When It’s Humid
Similar Symptoms But Important Differences
- Eye problems. Pink eye is a possible symptom of COVID-19, and results in red and burning eyes. The itchy and watery eyes caused by allergies is usually mild and bothersome but not painful.
- Lack of energy and fatigue. While some people may feel run down or lack energy during an acute seasonal allergy attack, they are normally able to continue with their everyday activities. Extreme fatigue, to the point where its difficult to get out of bed or take care of basic needs, is much more serious and associated with COVID-19.
- Cough. Some people experience a mild cough along with congestion, runny nose or sneezing when suffering from allergies. If the cough responds to allergy medications, its almost certainly nothing to worry about. However, a cough thats accompanied with a fever or shortness of breath could be a symptom of COVID-19.
- Loss of taste or smell. Seasonal allergies can sometimes affect your sense of taste or smell, but its usually mild or comes and goes along with other symptoms. A sudden and complete loss of taste or smell, especially without accompanying congestion, sneezing, or runny nose, is a recently recognized symptom of COVID-19.
If you have been affected by seasonal allergies in the past, and your symptoms are similar to what youve experienced before, chances are thats what youre dealing with now. And, if your symptoms respond to over-the-counter remedies or medication prescribed for allergies, you can be fairly certain you dont have COVID-19.
Loss Of Smell From Allergies
A runny or stuffy nose, sneezing, cough, shortness of breath, fatigue, and watery eyes are the most common seasonal allergy symptoms.
However, says Jill Poole, MD, allergist-immunologist with University of Nebraska Medical Center in Omaha, and a member of the Asthma and Allergy Foundation of America Medical Scientific Council: Up to 50 percent of people with allergic rhinitis can experience smell disturbance with loss of smell of up to 25 percent. This is usually caused by nasal obstruction or inflammation resulting in blocking the abilities of odor particles to reach the olfactory epithelium, which is the specialized nasal tissue inside the nasal cavity involved with smell.
Theres more, explains Payel Gupta, MD, assistant clinical professor at Mt. Sinai Medical Center in New York and SUNY Downstate Medical Center: histamines are chemicals released by your immune system when your body encounters an allergen. These histamines lead to inflammation that impacts the nerves inside the nose that help humans smell. Allergies can also cause inflammation in your sinuses, the cavities in your skull,” Dr. Gupta says, “and this can cause these cavities to fill up with mucus and that can also affect your sense of smell.
Neglect your allergies and you could develop a sinus infection, which causes a loss of smell too, Ogden says.
Read Also: What To Do With Itchy Allergy Eyes
How To Identify What Is Causing Your Loss Of Taste And Smell
The first thing to do to identify what is causing your loss of taste and smell is to take a taste for COVID-19. You can typically use either lateral flow tests or PCR tests. A negative test may not guarantee that you dont have it, but it can be one way to start ruling it out.
Consider your other symptoms, your lifestyle, and anything that might have changed. If you are experiencing other allergy symptoms, such as a blocked or runny nose, itchiness, or streaming eyes, you might be confident that its allergies. Or you might have typical cold symptoms. Perhaps you recently experienced an injury to your nose or head, or maybe youre a smoker. However, the best thing to do is see a doctor if youre not sure what could be causing your loss of taste and smell.
Remedies To Restore Loss Of Taste And Smell Regain It The Natural Way
When it comes to food, we tend to smell it first and then get the taste. But, have you ever wondered what could happen if you lose both of these senses? Sounds terrifying, right? But, dont worry, because there are remedies to restore loss of taste and smell, depending on what the causes are.
But, when it comes to the reasons of loss of taste and smell, the options are quite extensive. It is also quite important that you look through the possible causes and the symptoms before you opt for any of these natural remedies.
In here, we are going to be discussing about the ways by which you can regain loss of taste and smell in no time at all.
Read Also: How Long Does An Allergy Cough Last
How Similar Are The Symptoms Of Covid
The symptoms are about as comparable as an orange is to a banana. While they are both fruits and have a protective barrier, once you peel their outer layers, the similarities end. A runny or stuffy nose, cough, tiredness, even shortness of breath and a lack of smell/taste can occur in both allergies and COVID-19. But a cough from COVID-19 is typically dry, whereas in allergies, a cough is wet and usually more sneeze-like. A stuffy nose from allergies can cause loss of taste/smell. During allergy season, shortness of breath really only occurs in individuals who suffer from some sort of respiratory condition, such as asthma.
What Else Can Cause A Loss Of Taste And Smell
Allergies arent the only health problem that might cause a lack of taste or smell. Other causes are also possible, so dont assume its allergies when it could be something else. You can find your sense of smell and taste are affected when you have a cold or the flu. Other nasal problems such as sinusitis or nasal polyps could be the cause of the problem.
Aging is also a possible cause of loss of smell and taste. Some loss of smell can occur naturally as you get older. People who smoke can lose their sense of smell and taste, and some medications can also cause the issue. Dental problems or injuries may also be a factor in a loss of taste and smell. Diseases of the central nervous system, such as Alzheimers and Parkinsons disease, can involve loss of smell and taste too.
You May Like: How To Stop Itchy Eyes From Allergies
Facial Pain Or Pressure
Another possible sign of a sinus infection: facial pain. Sinus infections can cause a feeling of pressure, squeezing, or congestion in the cheeks, between the eyes, or in the forehead, says Dr. Gudis. You may notice that the pressure worsens when you lean forward, like to do something like tie your shoes, he says.
Find Out Why Allergic Rhinitis May Affect Your Sense Of Smell And Taste
Allergic rhinitis causes problems like congestion and inflammation but did you know it can affect your sense of smell and taste too? Here our allergy advisor Louise Baillie goes into this issue in detail and offers some handy tips about how to address the problem.
Louise BaillieAsk Louise
Recommended Reading: Can Allergies Cause Rapid Heartbeat
How Allergies Affect Taste
Why cant I taste anything? Allergies can affect your taste. Your symptoms might be that your food just doesnt taste like it usually does, or you cant taste the food at all.
Your loss of taste could be from your allergy symptoms, not the allergens themselves.
Allergies tend to give us a runny or clogged nose. This clogged nose makes food taste bland because your nose is heavily tied to how much you taste.
The pollen, dander, mold for example do not cause you to not taste your food properly.
Why Do Allergies Cause A Loss Of Smell
It has a lot to do with how allergies work in the first place. When you come into contact with something youre allergic to, it sets off a chain reaction that starts in your genes and is expressed by your immune system, according to the American Academy of Allergy Asthma & Immunology .
When your immune system detects an allergen, like pollen or grass, it overreacts by making antibodies called Immunoglobulin E . Those antibodies then travel to your cells, where they release chemicals called histaminesand those histamines set off typical allergy symptoms, like a stuffy nose, cough, and itchy, watery eyes.
Heres where a loss of smell comes into play: The nerves that conduct your sense of smell to your brain are located within your nose, says Stanley Schwartz, M.D., Ph.D., division chief of Allergy-Immunology-Rheumatology at the University at Buffalo Jacobs School of Medicine and Biomedical Sciences. When youre having an allergic reaction, those nerves can become inflamed and that will cut off your sense of smell, he explains.
Allergies can also cause sinusitis, an inflammation of your sinuses, i.e. the cavities in your skull that are located around your eyes and behind your nose. Sinusitis can cause your sinuses to fill up with mucus, Dr. Schwartz says, and that can affect your ability to smell odors.
Also Check: Can Allergies Cause A Cough
Can Allergies Cause Loss Of Taste And Smell
Its springtime, which means that seasonal allergies are in full swing. If you suffer from allergies, then you are probably used to a range of symptoms: sneezing, itchy eyes, a runny nose, and more. However, in light of the pandemic, you might also be thinking about another potential symptom. Can allergies cause loss of taste and smell, or is this always a COVID symptom? The answer can be confusing. Well break it down in the article below.
How Does Loss Of Smell Happen
The nerves responsible for detecting smell are located high and deep inside the nose. When you have a cold or sinusitis, your nose fills with mucus and causes swelling. Because of this mucus and inflammation, the smell cant reach the top of the nasal cavity this results in a total or a partial loss of smell.
Also Check: Can Covid Feel Like Allergies
Why Do Seasonal Allergies Affect So Many Of Us
People with allergies have an overactive immune system, explains Dr. Gupta. When their immune system detects an allergen, like pollen or dust mites, it overreacts by making antibodies called immunoglobulin E , says Dr. Gupta, who is also a spokesperson for the American College of Allergy, Asthma, and Immunology, and the co-founder and chief medical officer for the telehealth allergy platform Cleared.
Those antibodies trigger the release of histamine, which causes the common seasonal allergy symptoms, including runny nose, congestion, and itchy watery eyes. These allergies are seasonal because the airborne pollen that causes them only circulates in the air during certain times of the year. February through August is typically prime time for these respiratory allergies, says Dr. Poole.
Can The Moderna Covid
There is a remote chance that the Moderna COVID-19 Vaccine could cause a severe allergicreaction. A severe allergic reaction would usually occur within a few minutes to one hour aftergetting a dose of the Moderna COVID-19 Vaccine. For this reason, your vaccination providermay ask you to stay at the place where you received your vaccine for monitoring aftervaccination. Signs of a severe allergic reaction can include: Difficulty breathing
Also Check: Why Do People Get Food Allergies
