I recently polled my instagram page, and out of the people who had contracted covid-19, 60% lost their senses of taste and smell. 30% kept their senses in tact, and the remaining portion lost only their smell. A good number of people also mentioned that their smell or taste is now different in some way. In this blog post I will share solutions that followers have used to regain their senses, as well as homeopathic remedies for loss of (or changes in) smell and/or taste.

This post is for general informational and educational purposes only. See my full disclaimer here. In the event of an emergency or if you are concerned about your health or the health of the person you are caring for, always seek the help of a medical doctor, call your local health link, or head to the emergency room.

Why do some people lose their senses when sick?

In a portion of the population the issue may be the result of a zinc deficiency, but not in all cases.

Keck Medicine says, “Viruses can disrupt the nerves related to smell, and they can target the tissues in the nose,” says Elisabeth D. Ference, MD, an otolaryngologist at Keck Medicine of USC and assistant professor of clinical otolaryngology – head and neck surgery at the Keck School of Medicine of USC. “The viruses can cause inflammation, either to the nerve or to the lining of the nose, that impacts the normal function of our sense of smell.” When smell is lost, often taste is, too. “Approximately 80% of the flavors we taste come from our sense of smell, so if our nerves related to smell are not working, then we also have an impairment in our sense of taste,” Ference explains.”

Here is another take from nature.com:

A team led by Sandeep Robert Datta, a neurobiologist at Harvard Medical School in Boston, Massachusetts, has instead found⁵ that cells that support sensory neurons in the nose — known as sustentacular cells — are probably what the virus is infecting.How COVID-19 can damage the brain

Datta and his colleagues zeroed in on sustentacular cells because SARS-CoV-2 attacks by targeting a receptor called ACE2 on the surfaces of cells, and sustentacular cells have many such receptors. Olfactory sensory neurons do not. This suggests that the coronavirus infects the support cells, leaving the neurons vulnerable and deprived of nutrients.

But there might be other ways in which COVID-19 induces smell loss. For instance, a research team in Italy showed⁶ that smell and taste loss occur at the same time as an increase in blood levels of an inflammation-signalling molecule called interleukin-6. And a post-mortem study published last December showed clear signs of inflammation, such as leaky blood vessels, in the olfactory bulbs of people who had had COVID-19⁷.

Although scientists have some understanding of the mechanisms involved in smell, they have little idea about how the coronavirus affects taste and chemesthesis. “Nobody has a good handle on that yet that I know of,” says John Hayes, a food scientist at Pennsylvania State University in University Park, who is studying COVID-19’s effects on chemical senses. Taste and chemesthesis are senses that are distinct from smell, even though all three combine to tell humans what ‘flavour’ a food or beverage has. Taste relies mainly on taste receptors on the tongue, whereas chemesthesis relies on ion channels on sensory nerves, among other mechanisms — and their response to COVID-19 has not been studied much.

how long does it last?

People have been losing their senses of smell and taste with illness since well, forever! It’s just more publicized and widespread right now. It also seems to be sticking around in a large portion of people for longer.

In my poll, some had their senses return after a few days, doing nothing in particular to help.

Some individuals are still struggling after ONE YEAR or more, even after seemingly trying everything!

But have they tried homeopathy?!

There are MANY homeopathic remedies listed in our materia medicas for loss of smell and loss of taste (or changes to either); the following is only a small list of remedies that have proven to be helpful in the current situation. It does not include every homeopathic remedy for the subject.

When using homeopathy, the ultimate goal is to eliminate the symptom(s) – encourage the senses to return, back to normal – as well as the root cause and overall susceptibility of the person.

If any of the following remedies do not work in your situation, or your loss smell and/or taste has become a chronic (long lasting) problem, I would definitely not hesitate to book an appointment with a classical homeopath to help you regain your senses.

11 TOP homeopathic remedies for loss of (or changes in) smell and/or taste

REMINDER! All symptoms listed under the remedy do not need to be present for it to be a good fit for you.

belladonna

This remedy may be useful for you if some of the following is true:

• your mouth may feel burnt and/or be bright red
• things may taste salty, sour, bitter, or just plain gross (that normally do not)
• your mouth/tongue/throat feel very dry
• your tongue may be swollen and painful
• there may be frequent sneezing from a tickle in the nostrils
• your mucous may be mixed with blood
• you smell things that others do not (imaginary)
• the tip of your nose may tingle with frequent sneezing
• the smell of tobacco is unbearable
• you smell something that is sour/fermented
• your sense of smell alternates from being very sensitive to very dull

China (cinchona)

This remedy may be useful for you if some of the following is true:

• your mouth may be dry
• food and water taste bitter or too salty
• tastes begin sweet and then turn sour
• a bitter taste remains in your mouth after eating
• you may have swollen gums
• your sense of smell is very sensitive, especially to flowers, smells of cooking and tobacco

Colchicum

This remedy may be useful for you if some of the following is true:

• everything tastes dull or bitter
• your sense of smell is distorted and foods don’t smell as they should – possibly metallic or rotten
• your sense of smell came back very intensely, so that you smell odours that others don’t pick up on – this can make you nauseous

Kali bichromicum

This remedy may be useful for you if some of the following is true:

• you have a sweet or metallic taste in your mouth
• tastes may be sour or bitter in the morning
• you may have a bloody taste while you cough
• tongue may be cracked and shiny
• tongue may hurt to stick out
• you have lost your sense of smell; cannot breathe through your nose
• nose discharge may be very thick, stringy, yellow/green in colour
• there may be lots of sneezing

magnesia muriatica

This remedy may be useful for you if some of the following is true:

• you have lost your sense of taste
• or, you have a bitter/sour taste in your mouth at night
• your tongue feels burnt
• loss of taste and smell together, after a very runny nose
• there may still be a lot of sneezing with discharge and a plugged nose
• hoarseness with mouth breathing

natrum muriaticum

This remedy may be useful for you if some of the following is true:

• you have a bitter taste in your mouth
• you have lost both your senses of smell and taste
• your mouth is very dry (maybe dry/cracked lips)
• you crave salt
• you have a mapped tongue
• your nasal discharge is very watery, then changes to the consistency of an egg white
• there’s numbness or tingling in your tongue, lips and nose
• you have a diminished sense of taste and /or smell

*this is a good try after pulsatilla, if that fails to help

*you can opt to use the cell salt 6x strength of nat mur along with another remedy choice (and the other cell salts) – just take at different times of day

phosphorous

This remedy may be useful for you if some of the following is true:

• you may have lost your sense of smell and taste
• you taste rotten eggs in the morning
• things may taste sour or bitter
• there’s a sweet taste while you cough
• your smell may now be oversensitive
• you smell imaginary smells
• you smell a rotten smell
• you have a runny nose, alternating sides
• you may be bleeding more easily in your mouth and from your nose

pulsatilla

This remedy may be useful for you if some of the following is true:

• you have a diminished taste and/or smell, or full loss of those senses, especially if your cold/illness lasted longer than 2 weeks
• food tastes bitter, gross, or just not like it normally should
• you might taste bad meat in the morning.
• your mouth and tongue may be dry
• nose is plugged with loss of smell, taste and appetite
• may smell something rotten or like garbage
• yellow or green nasal discharge

Sanguinaria

This remedy may be useful for you if some of the following is true:

• loss of taste and burnt feeling on tongue
• sweet things taste bitter
• your nose is dry and congested
• lots of yellow discharge
• loss or changed sense of smell
• smell in nose of a roasted onion
• very sensitive to odours; can’t stand any smells with a headache

sulphur

This remedy may be useful for you if some of the following is true:

• bitter (in morning), sweet, sour, metallic, coppery or foul taste in the mouth
• all food tastes like straw or too salty
• smells terrible things that aren’t there (imaginary smells)
• burning nasal discharge with lots of sneezing
• another good option for loss of taste and smell especially if the infection lasted more than 2 weeks

zincum metallicum

This remedy may be useful for you if some of the following is true:

• there may be a bitter, sour or bloody taste in the mouth
• loss of sense of smell
• nose is plugged with lots of sneezing
• hoarseness with burning in chest

What potency to choose and how often to dose?

Most often I would opt for the 30C potency (strength). It has been suggested for Sanguinaria specifically to use 200C.

Taking the remedy 2 times per day would be enough to encourage your senses to return. The length of time to try a remedy would depend on how long your senses have been changed or absent. If after a few days to a week there is no change, I would try the next best remedy choice. As always, stopping the remedy once you’re good as new.

If you are having trouble, please seek the help of a trained professional.

cell salt considerations:

• ferr phos 6x (for inflammation)
• kali phos 6x (your nerve nutrient)
• nat mur 6x (water balancer; notes from natrum muriaticum above apply here too)
• silicea 6x (deficiencies & a weakened immune system)

Any or all of the cell salts could be taken 2-3 times per day on their own, together, or in alternation with a remedy from above.

other therapies followers have seen results with:

I am not promoting any of the following therapies, I am simply sharing ideas that others have had success with. Please seek a trained practitioner (ex, an ND) if you have any questions. In no particular order …

• zinc supplementation
• smell training with essential oils or other strong smells
• fish oil supplementation
• spraying TRS up the nostrils
• supplementing with B vitamins
• acupuncture
• dental freezing
• drinking spicy kombucha
• chiropractor adjustments
• lymphatic drainage
• iodine nasal spray or rinse
• vitamin C supplementation
• glutathione supplementation
• methylene blue
• oregano oil
• Oscillococcinum
• magnesium supplementation
• eating beef liver
• dandelion tincture
• castor oil in the nostrils
• colloidal silver
• fulvic acid
• drinking lots of bone broth
• vitamin A supplementation
• oyster min (I have added an affiliate link here to Earthley. I will earn a commission if you purchase through the link and list me as the representative. I use and personally love this product.)
• shilajit

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