alt Hacker News> The dad-of-two, from Litchfield, Staffordshire, could eat the spiciest curries with no effect
I know this is probably just a bit of "editorial spice" because it's an obvious example for "what would you do if you could eat anything" I guess, but I thought capsaicin/spicyness was NOT a taste-perception thing. Isn't more of a pain feeling? I would've assumed you would retain that, while losing the olfactory perception you need for flavours.
I am no expert in this sort of thing, so if anyone knows I'd be genuinely curious about why COVID would affect both of those senses.
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Anecdotally, when my best friend first caught covid, his sense of smell was heightened, but his ability to perceive spiciness from both capsaicin (peppers) and allyl isothiocyanate (e.g. mustard, wasabi, radishes) completely disappeared. I just went back to check the messages he sent me to make sure I'm not spewing nonsense, and sure enough: "I didn't even have that nose feeling from wasabi." He couldn't perceive any spice at all. Not from peppers, not from hot sauce, not from wasabi. Nada. He tried everything he had in his kitchen.
Covid is a weird virus. I'd be really curious about the mechanism behind this. I'm sure it's nothing great, like some sort of nerve damage, but at least in my friend's case he and his senses made a full recovery as far as he can tell.
Anecdote from my second COVID infection: Lost my sense of smell (anosmia) for about 2 weeks. That also killed my sense of taste.
The heat sensation from capsaicin was unaffected. I was eating a lot of vegetable bowls at the time. Adding spiciness was the only that kept them palatable.
There were a few tastes that I could dully perceive but, stupidly, I didn't make notes about what they were.
I can recall one thing that I didn't like: I tried peanut butter, which I typically find delicious, and found it a horrifyingly disgusting soulless paste. It made me wretch. It was awhile, even after I got my sense of smell back, before I could eat it.
I don't believe my sense of smell has recovered to my pre-COVID capability. This story is very interesting to me.
I lost my sense of taste and smell for a few days when I had covid, I was eating a bowl of spicy ramen at the time and I completely lost the ability to taste anything over the course of about 2 minutes. No spice, no salt, nothing. I usually have a pretty high spice tolerance, but to be certain I ate an entire birds eye chili. This would normally leave me in pretty excruciating pain for a few minutes, it did nothing. Strange that others report retaining their spice taste to some degree, that wasn't my experience at all. I wonder what was different?
the damage seems to be neurological / local nerves, I haven’t tried chewing gum but the best/fastest results I’ve had for this so far has been lions mane + micro dose of other mushrooms, smell therapy has been reported to show benefit also which probably matches the chewing gum thing, rebuilding/recalibrating the nerves slowly over time
My anecdotal evidence, I couldn't smell or taste a thing for about 2 weeks, but I ate thai food constantly because I could at least feel the spice somewhat, it was dulled though, not 100%.