‘It was the best smell ever’: 54-yr-old woman with long Covid cries after smelling coffee

Three years after Covid pandemic, people have been even more vocal about long Covid, which involves losing the ability to smell or taste anything.

In one such instance in the US, a woman named Jennifer Henderson, 54, had lost her ability to smell and taste since getting Covid in January 2021.

While her other symptoms, such as headaches and tiredness, went away after a week, her changed senses lasted for about a year. Her favourite odours, such as those from flowers in her yard, became awful to her, and most dishes tasted vile to her.

"Most food tasted like garbage, and I couldn’t smell anything," she told the Cleveland Clinic.

Garlic and bananas tasted like petrol and metal, respectively. Ranch dressing and peanut butter both tasted unnatural and chicken tasted "like rotting flesh", Henderson told NBC News.

Even after trying several remedies, including acupuncture and smell training, Henderson didn't get any relief until she found out about an experimental treatment via an online support group.

The treatment, known as stellate ganglion block (SGB), is used to treat pain and PTSD by injecting a brief anaesthetic into nerves on each side of the neck. Henderson received her first SGB injection in December and noticed a significant improvement in her sense of smell.

In a video that went viral on TikTok, she was seen smelling coffee and then started crying after she realised that she could smell the coffee normally after two years.

"It was the best smell ever. I just cried like a baby," Jennifer told NBC News.

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