Corona: Loss of smell can make those affected depressed
Created: 08/09/2022, 02:00 p.m
By: Judith Brown
Anyone who loses their sense of smell and taste after a corona infection has to contend with side effects.
Some patients become depressed.
Disorders of the sense of smell and taste are among the most common symptoms of a corona infection.
About 40 percent of those infected suffer from what is known as parosmia or even anosmia, the complete loss of the sense of smell.
According to new study results, however, the duration of the impairment of the sensory organs is shorter than previously thought: on average, the sense of smell and taste returns after around 30 days.
Only five percent suffer from anosmia for a long time.
For those, however, it can become a burden, because the loss of smell and taste is accompanied by other side effects.
Parosmia after Corona: Loss of smell damages emotional life
When the sense of smell is impaired, a person also loses a great deal of emotional perception.
(Iconic image) © Gustafsson/IMAGO
If you lose your sense of smell, smoke, gas or spoiled food can be dangerous.
The psyche and emotional life can also suffer.
The neurologist Prof. Peter Berlit explains to
ntv
: “If the sense of smell is impaired, a person loses a lot of emotional perception.” Some of those affected could even become slightly depressed as a result.
Two thirds of his patients who come to him because of odor disorders are affected, according to Prof. Thomas Hummel, head of the interdisciplinary center "Smell and Taste" at the University Hospital Dresden: "People lose social skills and some become insecure." Pharmacologists also communicate with people through scents.
We can subconsciously perceive fear, frustration or stress in other people.
These emotions create molecules that can be detected in the sweat of fear.
“When your mood changes, when you are afraid or happy, you share all of that.
(...) It's not a scent that jumps up your nose.
You perceive it subliminally,” explains Hummel.
The sense of smell also plays an important role in nutrition and can mess with it when it's gone.
After all, a person without a sense of smell finds it difficult to taste their food and therefore difficult to cook.
Eventually, sufferers often lose their appetite.
According to Berlit, the sense of smell in the brain is connected to the limbic system, which is responsible for emotions, much more closely than other senses.
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Corona: Smell training helps if you lose your sense of smell and taste
If you suffer from prolonged parosmia or anosmia after a corona infection, smell training can help.
Patients sniff four different scents in the morning and evening for months: lemon, rose, clove and eucalyptus.
They cover a large part of the olfactory spectrum.
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This article only contains general information on the respective health topic and is therefore not intended for self-diagnosis, treatment or medication. In no way does it replace a visit to the doctor. Unfortunately, our editors are not allowed to answer individual questions about clinical pictures.
