Lost your smell?  Kadri Center for Advanced Rhinology
Lost your smell?  Kadri Center for Advanced Rhinology

Post-Covid, are you suffering

from a persistent loss of smell?

We at the Kadri Center for Advanced Rhinology are aware that post-Covid complications are regrettably much more common than you might think.  The Covid-19 pandemic has, in fact, caused thousands to suffer various traumatic post-infection chronic complications.  For some of us, these complications have unfortunately developed into chronic or longer-term conditions.  Loss of smell has been widely recognized as one of the most frequent and commonly reported symptoms.  In fact, some studies have shown that post-Covid loss of smell can be as high as 60 percent!  According to a recent medical study published in the Journal of Internal Medicine, 51 percent of 580 people who lost their sense of smell reported that they had not regained full function a five full months later.  The study also reported that a longer-term loss (greater than six months) of smell due to Covid persists in about 5 percent of all Covid patients.  Full loss of smell (Anosmia) or the partial loss of smell (Hyposmia) are oftentimes associated with an accompanying loss of taste (Dysgeusia).

 

Smell is an Underrated Sense

Our sense of smell can be as essential and enriching to our lives as our sense of sight, but we rarely contemplate a loss of this crucial sensory ability.   Loss of smell was much less common before the advent of Covid-19.  The reality is that many of us have now actually experienced the devastating effects of losing our sense of smell.   We all recognize that a conscious perception of smell, and all the myriad motivational and emotional aspects associated with smell and scent memory are essential for a rich and rewarding life.  Many of us feel the loss more deeply now that we can no longer experience a truly multi-variegated and robust sense of smell.

 

The Ability to Smell is Intrinsic to our Nature

This debilitating condition can often last for many months and may cause considerable distress to the patient.  Loss of smell in any will negatively impact quality of life as our sense of smell is a source of daily enjoyment and fulfillment.  A loss or diminishment of our sense of smell can cause food to be tasteless, and may dim or even eliminate poignant memories or the pleasing emotions that scent can conjure whenever we encounter the endless array of aromas that light up many of our brain’s pleasure centers.  Our olfactory sense can revive long-dormant memories of joy or happiness.  It can effortlessly register a multitude of pheromones that might trigger love or intimacy long before the rest of our brain has even formulated a single conscious thought.  These acute sensory functions are controlled by those distinct parts of the brain that receive chemosensory signals which originate from within the olfactory system. Consequently, a long-term or qualitative reduction of our sense of smell (e.g. more than a few months) can result in episodic depression, anxiety and social isolation.  For some of us, the loss of smell can be devastating.

Zain Kadri, M.D., F.A.C.S.

Kadri Center for

Advanced Rhinology

 

7677 Center Avenue

Suite 211

Huntington Beach, CA 92647

(949) 464-4500

 

© December 2023

Lost your smell?  Kadri Center for Advanced Rhinology
Lost your smell?  Kadri Center for Advanced Rhinology
Lost your smell?  Kadri Center for Advanced Rhinology
Lost your smell?  Kadri Center for Advanced Rhinology
Lost your smell?  Kadri Center for Advanced Rhinology
Lost your smell?  Kadri Center for Advanced Rhinology

Post-Covid, are you

suffering from a

persistent loss of smell?

Zain Kadri, M.D., F.A.C.S.

 

Kadri Center for

Advanced Rhinology

 

7677 Center Avenue

Suite 211

Huntington Beach, CA 92647

 

(949) 464-4500

 

© December 2023

Lost your smell?  Kadri Center for Advanced Rhinology
Lost your smell?  Kadri Center for Advanced Rhinology

Post-Covid,

are you

suffering

from a

persistent loss

of smell?

Lost your smell?  Kadri Center for Advanced Rhinology
Lost your smell?  Kadri Center for Advanced Rhinology