How to recover your sense of smell after COVID-19?

One of the consequences or discomforts that Covid-19 leaves is the loss of smell, many recover it after weeks, others a month, and in some cases there are people who still cannot recover this sense.

There is no medicine that makes us recover our sense of smell, but there are exercises and therapies through aromas that can help us a lot when going through this crisis, or sequel that Covid-19 left us.

What is smell and its importance in our lives?

Smell is one of the senses of the human body and its primary function is to detect and process odors. Through smell, we can change moods, obtain and process information, and even build a person's identity.

Smell is an extremely important sense for the human being, through it, we can develop processes of memory, language, emotions and behavior, if we do not have a sense of smell these processes will be seriously affected.

Smell helps us and directs us to identify, classify and build our taste, preference, identity, and personality. Many people remember the scent of a loved one, or a childhood journey, the smell of freshly brewed coffee.

Smell and COVID-19

Covid-19 is a respiratory disease, in some cases mild and in others not so much, and many of the consequences it leaves can last days, months or be permanent.

One of the most common symptoms of this virus is the loss of smell, the majority of people around 80% recover it, but there is a 20% who find it difficult to recover this important sense, which produces anxiety and despair.

It is also known as anosmia, and is caused by strong viral infections of the respiratory tract; within them, bronchitis, sinusitis and of course Covid-19, this happens because the nose and paranasal sinuses become inflamed, causing damage to the olfactory bulb.

For those people who do not recover their sense of smell, or who do not fully recover their sense of smell, there are no other options than therapeutically, through exercises and olfactory training.

A patient who doesn't smell good can't taste good either, so he won't know what he's tasting and may eat spoiled food. The loss of smell mainly attacks young people and women during the COVID-19 process.

Smell recovery therapy

There are several therapy options, I will show you one of the most effective. Make inhalations with four aromas of plants or essential oils, they are rose, eucalyptus, vanilla and lemon.

Every day the person must inhale for five minutes with the four scents, twice a day and for three months, they can vary them or add other similar scents.

All medical centers opt for the therapeutic option of retraining the olfactory capacity through aromas such as rose, lemon, eucalyptus, until little by little the sense of smell recovers its capacity.

Olfactory training

It is worth noting that olfactory training is an exercise that does not cause any pain, it is like exercising the sense of smell daily through odors. The person who has lost his sense of smell must recognize certain odors for several minutes.

This exercise seeks that the brain can recognize and distinguish so that it stores olfactory memories in its memory, which is why smell and olfactory memory participate in this exercise.

In this training, the patient must be exposed to the inhalation of different essential oils, in order to identify the smell.

This procedure is carried out for several sessions until results are seen. One session in the morning and one at night, for a couple of minutes.

At the end of this process, it is necessary to carry out an olfactometry test to see the progress and the achievements obtained.

Essential oils to restore smell

The most common and used oil to recover the sense of smell is lemon, it is a very common smell, and it is strong to recover this sense. Another oil that we can inhale daily is lavender alternated with mint, for two-minute sessions.

We can also apply incense or cedar on the temples daily at night. And if we don't find an immediate solution, we can add helycrisum on the cheekbones.

Clove, rose and eucalyptus are the most recommended by specialists, although they also add scents such as pineapple, basil, copaiba, tangerine or wild orange for weeks and weeks.

If you have suffered from loss of smell you can perform this essential oil therapy, and use it daily with frankincense, lemon, copaiba, basil, mint and eucalyptus.

Five drops of essential oil of each species in a 10 ml bottle mixed with fractionated coconut oil, and apply behind the ears, nasal cavity and temples in the morning and at night.