COVID-19 & Smell
Why Does COVID Take Away Your Sense of Smell?
Whenever you breath in air through your nose, little particles travel through each nostril and up to the top of your nose where they interact with something called the olfactory bulb. The olfactory bulb is a collection of a ton of neurons that transmit signals, which in this case will be your sense of smell, from your nose to your brain. The olfactory bulb is very important, and therefore has many different cells surrounding each little nerve ending in order to make sure each nerve stays healthy and can function properly.
In the context of COVID 19, when the virus particles are breathed in they travel up each nostril and attach to those specific cells that keep the nerves of the olfactory bulb healthy. Once attached, the virus releases their DNA into their cells effectively destroying them. Because these cells are destroyed, there is nothing to maintain the health of the olfactory bulb neurons and they eventually don't work the way they should. When these neurons don't function properly there is no way to propagate the neuronal signal, or your sense of smell, from your nose to your brain, and thus you lose your ability to smell
Summary
You breath in COVID19 and the virus particles travel to the cells that are responsible for keeping your olfactory bulb healthy. These cells become destroyed, which leads to your olfactory bulb not working properly. Without the olfactory bulb working properly, the sense of smell signal can not be transmitted from your nose to your brain, and you ultimately lose your sense of smell.
Loss of smell—> loss of taste because the two are so interconnected
How Can You Get It Back?
The way to do this is with something called Olfactory Training. This is essentially retraining the connection between the nerves of the nose and the brain. It’s easy, low cost and low risk
4 smells using essential oils that you can purchase on amazon
Lemon - fruity smell
Eucalytpus - resinous smells or similar to that of a cleaning solution
Rose - flower fregrance
Cloves - spicy(ish) smell
Add in a familiar smell like peppermint or your favorite perfume/cologne that you're familiar with
Sniff each for 20 seconds at 2-3 times a day until your sense of smell returns (in some cases it may take as long as 3 months)
Do this as soon as your sense of smell is gone
