My stomach growls. I have not eaten since yesterday afternoon. But I am not hungry. I have anosmia.
Just before Christmas, I developed what I thought was a cold. The most annoying symptom was a dry hacking cough that would awaken me at night. At the pharmacy, I purchased cough syrup to help break up the mucous in my lungs. The packaging said it was strawberry flavored. As I took my first dose, I detected only sweetness. “This doesn’t taste like strawberries!” I commented to my dog, Poochini.
The next morning, I noticed that my coffee didn’t taste like coffee, but only slightly bitter hot water. I ate an orange that was sweet but lacked a citrus smell or taste. I then bit into a sweet but otherwise tasteless apple. It suddenly occurred to me that I was unable to smell or taste anything. My tongue sensed only sweet, salty, sour, and bitter.
As I reexamined the symptoms of my “cold”, it dawned on me that I must have, in fact, contracted the Covid-19 virus. Anosmia, the loss of sense of smell, is a common resulting condition.
I love to cook and experiment in the kitchen. Now living alone with my dog, I cook with less frequency. But since my anosmia, I cook even less so. Not only have I lost my sense of smell, but anosmia has robbed me of my desire for food.
Before contracting the coronavirus, I had been following a 5:2 fasting regime, where I fasted for two non-consecutive days per week. With little effort, I was delighted to be losing weight. When I became sick in December, I stopped fasting because I found I was barely eating. Now I must remind myself to have a meal.
Olfaction has long been an under-appreciated faculty. The power of the nose is much more influential over the body and psyche than previously understood. It is an equal among the senses. Recent studies show that olfactory sensations are deeply interconnected with memory, language, and neurovegetative symptoms (sleep, appetite, and weight). I am reminded of Marcel Proust’s book In Search of Lost Time, where the taste of a single petite madeleine pastry evokes a flurry of emotional memories from the character’s youth.
What’s more, the tongue plays only a part in the sensation of taste. According to the MSD Manual, smell and taste are closely linked. The taste buds of the tongue identify taste, and the nerves in the nose identify smell. Both sensations are communicated to the brain, which integrates the information so that flavours can be recognised and appreciated. Some tastes—such as salty, bitter, sweet, and sour—can be recognised without the sense of smell. However, more complex flavors (such as raspberry) require both taste and smell sensations to be recognised.
Besides weight loss and depression, anosmia can present other serious dangers. Fortunately, in my all-electric house, I do not worry about potential gas leaks. But were there to be a fire, I would have to rely on Poochini to inform me of smoke. And unfortunately, I cannot depend upon him to detect spoiled food, as he is known to eat just about anything. Don’t ask…
As my anosmia persists, so does my disinterest in food. I do not mind losing additional weight, but I do need to maintain my health. To balance this out, I ensure that what I do consume is healthy and full of vitamins. Although I eat a little chicken, I currently find the idea of eating beef or pork revolting. I am up for fish, though, and lots of vegetables and grains.
Texture has triumphed over taste in my mouth. To wit, I recently enjoyed a peanut butter and onion sandwich with sunflower seeds on toasted bread. I continue to cook out of necessity, adding the same herbs and spices that I always have, but now only out of habit. Frankly, the bland food that I cook for Poochini (yes, I cook for my dog) would taste to me exactly like the more flavourful food I cook for myself.
I am not alarmed or upset. It is just a strange phenomenon to which I am adapting. Though already more than a month since I first developed symptoms, I am hopeful my receptors will soon repair themselves. Already I experienced extremely brief sensations of orange and cinnamon. I patiently await the return of my olfactory senses, followed by some fun in the kitchen.
In Prešov last month, my lawyer and I stopped at a Vietnamese food stall in the new mall. I ordered a dish with shrimp, before returning to the office to eat. The food looked amazing, so I asked my lawyer if he would taste my dish and tell me how it is.
“Yeah,” he said, “it’s really delicious.”