"Everything Tasted Like Cardboard": Covid Survivors On Sensory Loss

A growing number of people are experiencing lasting anosmia -- a poorly understood disorder that has become an underestimated consequence for many in the pandemic

Three days after testing positive for Covid-19, "everything tasted like cardboard," recalls 38-year-old Elizabeth Medina, who lost her sense of taste and smell at the start of the pandemic. A year later, she fears she will never get them back. Medina consulted ear, nose and throat doctors and neurologists, tried various nasal sprays, and is part of a group of patients undergoing experimental treatment that uses fish oil. To try to stimulate her senses, she puts copious amounts of spices on everything she eats, pours aromatic herbs into her tea and regularly sniffs a bracelet soaked in essential oils. But her attempts have been in vain. Medina, a guidance counselor at a New York school, says she has lost many everyday pleasures she once enjoyed, including eating and cooking.