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The weird smell in your nose
It’s another unwelcome consequence of Covid-19 and it’s affecting relationships, triggering depression, causing weight loss, and just generally damaging the quality of life.
It’s called parosmia. This is when things smell different than normal, usually for the worse.
With parosmia, “a person may be looking at a rose but it smells like a burned piece of paper,” says Brent A. Senior, MD, professor of otolaryngology/neurosurgery at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.
People have also reported the odor of rubber burning, garbage, sewage, mud, and food that tastes like gasoline. The world is no longer a familiar place.
Here’s everything you need to know about who gets parosmia, what causes it, and what can you do about it.
Parosmia and viral infections
Covid-19 isn’t the only viral infection that seems to trigger parosmia. It’s been reported after cases of the cold, the flu, and other respiratory tract infections.
According to the organization Fifth Sense, a U.K. charity that supports those with smell and taste disorders, viruses account for as many as 12 percent of all cases of parosmia.
The symptom has also been linked with allergies, sinus infections, head injuries, exposure to certain toxins as well as neurological disorders like epilepsy.
But parosmia seems to be much more widespread with SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes Covid-19, as does anosmia (total loss of smell) and hyposmia (reduced sense of smell), says Dr. Senior.
In one meta-analysis published in Rhinology in October, 47 percent of Covid-19 patients reported problems with smell. Dr. Senior estimates that smell aberrations, in general, occur at about half this rate for routine viral infections.
Parosmia numbers are hard to come by, but a June 2020 study in Chemical Senses found that a little less than 8 percent of Covid-19-infected patients reported parosmia. In other words, it’s pretty rare.
Anosmia and parosmia also seem to last longer with Covid-19, says Dennis Cunningham, MD, system medical director of infection control and prevention at Henry Ford Health System in Michigan.
It’s related to losing your sense of smell
Covid-19-related parosmia is more common among people who had earlier lost their ability to smell due to Covid-19.
Losing your sense of smell is a common symptom of Covid-19—sometimes the only symptom. In fact, it can be enough to warrant a diagnosis.
In outpatient populations with fairly low-grade Covid-19 symptoms, about half of patients lose their ability to smell. The number reaches nearly 100 percent in those who are hospitalized.
Parosmia tends to appear long after the SARS-Cov-2 virus has been cleared from your system, which typically takes 14 days. According to a February study in the journal Nature, patients started experiencing parosmia a median of two-and-a-half months after the initial symptoms.
No one knows exactly why this happens but it may be related to lasting damage to the olfactory nerves.
“Covid binds to particular receptors which are usually in the small intestine and the lung but are also in the support cells for the nerves involved in our sense of smell,” explains Dr. Cunningham. “The virus knocks out those support cells.”
It may be a sign of recovery
Parosmia may actually indicate that your nose is healing.
“It’s very common for patients to get better so oftentimes this tells us that the nerve is recuperating and regenerating [after anosmia],” says Dr. Senior, adding that about two-thirds of patients recover within about a month. A few, unfortunately, still have issues a year after their illness.
(Learn why certain smells get stuck in your nose.)
What can you do about it?
Time seems to be the best medicine when it comes to a fully functioning sniffer.
In the meantime, Fifth Sense recommends nasal douching as well as moving your head into different positions when you experience unpleasant and inaccurate smells.
(Before you rinse your sinuses, here are some neti pot safety tips to follow.)
Sometimes eating food at room temperature and avoiding spicy, fatty, or fried foods can provide some relief.
There are also smell retraining exercises. Specifically, popular smell training protocol, published in the journal The Laryngoscope, requires you to try and smell four different scents twice a day. Due to their distinct smell profiles, these include rose, eucalyptus, lemon, and cloves.
This has been known to work for those who’ve temporarily lost their sense of smell due to Covid.
“It’s like physical therapy for your nose,” says Dr. Senior. “It’s literally forcing yourself to smell certain odors for a couple of minutes every day and saying, “I know this is a rose.” It doesn’t smell like a rose but your brain needs to know it is.”
Next, learn how a DIY smell-training technique is helping one woman regain her sense of smell after Covid.
What not to eat for your heart
Eating well for your heart is just as important as avoiding foods that are bad for your heart. Prioritizing whole foods, fresh fruits, and vegetables is the easy part. But what about pizza, French fries, and candy? They have ingredients like trans fats, refined grains, and sugar than can increase the risk of heart disease and other cardiac issues.
Keep your ticker in tip-top shape by avoiding the following worst foods for your heart. (Take a look at the foods cardiologists avoid.)
Processed and cured meats
Processed and cured meats, including cold cuts, bacon, and hot dogs, are some of the worst foods for your heart because of their high amount of saturated fats. Plaque buildup, hardening of the arteries, and saturated fats are all connected, according to Barbara George, MD, the director of the Center for Cardiovascular Health Medicine at NYU Winthrop Hospital on Long Island. “Saturated fats raise your ‘bad’ cholesterol, or LDL, as compared to ‘good’ cholesterol, or HDL,” she says.
A 2020 study in JAMA Internal Medicine found a link between red and processed meat and a higher risk of heart disease and death. But research on processed meat being bad for your heart goes back some time. A research review from 2012 in Current Atherosclerosis Reports by Harvard University researchers found that eating processed meats is associated with a 42 percent higher risk of heart disease. (Note the study compared processed and unprocessed red meat.)
The bottom line: Limit cold cut sandwiches and save hot dogs for a rare indulgence. If you plan to continue eating animal meats, turn to the best meat options such as lean red meat, skinless chicken, ground turkey, or fish, especially fish rich in omega-3s like salmon, cod, and tuna, Dr. George suggests.
Refined and processed grains
Some of the worst foods for your heart are processed foods, according to Nieca Goldberg, MD, the medical director of NYU Women’s Heart Program in New York. “Processed foods cause sharp increases in sugar and insulin levels,” Dr. Goldberg explains. “And then the levels sharply decrease, leaving you more hungry, and then you eat more.”
Processed foods often contain refined grains, including white flour or white rice. A 2017 study in the International Journal of Clinical and Experimental Medicine found that refined grain intake was associated with a 9.4 percent higher risk of heart disease. Note that not all processed foods necessarily will raise insulting levels, more so those with fast-acting and refined sugars.
Fried foods
Deep-fried foods are one of the top foods that are bad for your ticker, according to Dr. Goldberg. Eating deep-fried foods contributes to heart disease risk factors, including high blood pressure, and obesity. A 2015 review in Nutrients found that eating fried food four or mere times per week is associated with a higher risk of developing type 2 diabetes, obesity, and high blood pressure.
According to the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, two observational studies on men and women from the U.S. found that frequently eating fried foods increases the risk of developing heart disease. Bake, broil, or roast your food for a healthy alternative to frying, Dr. Goldberg recommends.
Soda and sugar-sweetened beverages (including juice)
Many people associate high triglycerides (a type of fat that circulates in the blood) with high-fat foods. People may not know, however, that concentrated sweets, such as regular soda and sugary beverages, can actually rapidly raise blood triglyceride levels, according to Westchester, New York-based registered dietitian nutritionist Malina Malkani, creator of Solve Picky Eating.
Untreated high triglyceride levels may increase the risk of heart attack and stroke, according to the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute. One 15-year study in JAMA Internal Medicine on added sugar and heart disease found that people who had 25 percent of their daily calories from sugar were more than twice as likely to die from heart disease as those who had less than 10 percent of added sugar make up their daily calories.
Candy
Your sweet tooth could get you into lots of trouble when it comes to heart health. Just like sugary drinks aren’t great for your heart, it’s the same idea with candy. “Dense sugar contributes to obesity, diabetes, and hypertension—all risk factors for heart disease and stroke,” Dr. George says.
Satisfy your sugar cravings with fruit slices and unprocessed peanut butter. You get the crunch while benefitting from more protein and fiber. Try your best to stick to whole foods, fresh vegetables, and fruits.
Alcohol
Some studies—like that in Alcohol Research & Health—suggest that moderate drinkers are at a lower risk of heart disease compared to heavy drinkers and non-drinkers. This information, however, is not a license to binge drink. In fact, one of the worst things for your heart is alcohol, according to Dr. George, because of the calories and sugar in alcohol.
The American Heart Association (AHA) recommends one alcoholic drink a day for women and two for men. “The difference is that women metabolize alcohol differently, and there is also a link between higher alcohol consumption and other conditions such as breast cancer and addiction,” Dr. George says. Keep an eye on your glasses of wine and consider ways to drink less. And the American Cancer Society updated their guidelines recommending against all alcohol consumption.
Canned soups and vegetables
Some canned soups and vegetables are high in sodium and fat, making them a poor choice for heart health, according to Dr. Goldberg. “Sodium is a preservative that is often added to foods during the canning process to increase shelf life and palatability,” Malkani explains.
The American Heart Association (AHA) recommends limiting daily sodium intake to 2,300 mg per day. The ideal daily limit is 1,500 mg for most adults, especially those with elevated blood pressure.
But canned foods offer a convenient and affordable way to meet daily recommendations for foods like vegetables, legumes, and fruits. “People can incorporate canned foods into meals and still stay within recommended sodium limits for optimal heart health by reading food labels, choosing canned products that are labeled, ‘low-sodium,’ or ‘low salt,’ or ‘no added salt,’ and rinsing canned foods like beans and vegetables with water before using,” Malkani says.
Foods containing trans fats
Foods packed with artificial trans fats are some of the most detrimental when it comes to heart health, says Malkani. “Artificial trans fats have been shown to lower HDL, or ‘good’ cholesterol levels and raise LDL, or ‘bad’ cholesterol levels and increase the risk for heart disease and stroke,” she says. In one 14-year review of 80,000 women, published in the New England Journal of Medicine, researchers found a positive connection between heart disease and eating foods containing trans fats.
In 2015, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) ruled that trans fats were unsafe because of research connecting them to poor heart health. Manufacturers were given three years to remove them from food.
But the FDA notes that food containing less than 0.5 grams of trans fats, sometimes listed on the ingredient label as partially hydrogenated oils, can claim they have zero.
Malkani points out that there may still be some products on the market that manufacturers created before the ban. Those goods could contain artificial trans fats. Keep an eye on non-dairy coffee creamers, microwave popcorns, frozen doughs, pastries, pizzas, fried foods, and shortenings. Check the ingredient list on all packaged foods.
Condiments
Condiments and sauces contain salt. This can raise blood pressure or worsen heart failure symptoms for someone with high blood pressure or heart failure, according to Dr. Goldberg. Try your best to eat unhealthy condiments sparingly and ask for them on the side when you dine out. There is also a lot of added sugar, such as high fructose corn syrup in ketchup, for example, in sauces or condiments.
Next, learn about the foods that may improve circulation.)
10/10 SLIDES
The post Parosmia: The Covid-19 Side Effect That Distorts Your Sense of Smell appeared first on The Healthy.
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