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Hi,I hope this isn't an inconvenience but I had one more question to ask. This one is probably more useful. I had covid twice over the past six months or so. Once at Christmas and once again in February. It was frustrating to have it twice in short succession having avoided it for the best part of two years prior to that. Unluckily for me I think I probably caught the tail end of the Delta Wave here in Ireland and then also caught the Omicron variant. I had no symptoms at all the first time I caught covid with the exception of a weird metallic taste in my mouth. I can't recall how long the taste lingered for. I think it lasted for a few weeks and then faded. In February I was out with friends on a Saturday night. The following Tuesday one of my pals tested positive for Covid after developing a tickly cough in his throat. Around about the same time I once again noticed this metallic taste returning in my mouth. This obviously set alarm bells ringing for me and because I also had a bit of a cold I monitored myself over the next few days. After testing negative on the Wednesday and Thursday, I finally tested positive for Covid on the Friday, This time I had several flu like symptoms and felt very fatigued and sick for a few days. After about 11 days I stopped testing positive and finished isolating. It took several weeks for the metallic taste to die down. I wasn't too bothered about this (apart from the fact it wasn't the most pleasant thing to experience when eating and drinking). I knew that it was is a side effect and had read that it may last for quite some time. Eventually though it settled. A couple of months later (at the start of May) the metallic taste returned out of nowhere and was as strong as it had ever been. This made me worry that I had caught covid once again. However, I did several antigen tests over the next week/ten days or so and they were all negative. So essentially my question is this: I know covid can affect a person's sense of taste. However can it cause your taste to change for a while, then return to normal for several weeks/months and then change again out of nowhere? My problem is that every time this metallic taste comes back strong again my mind wants to be convinced it's Covid and that I should run out and take a test. This can all be problematic in terms of stress etc.
Your symptoms are unusual, but unusual symptoms are rather the norm for Covid. The Alpha and Delta variants have generally been more highly associated with changes in taste and smell than the Omicron variant but this is a generality from observations in a large population; this does not negate what you clearly have been experiencing. It is possible that you have experienced at least 2 Covid infections and perhaps 3 or more Covid infections. We define the long-term sequelae (post-Covid conditions) from infection as those that persist or become apparent 4 weeks or longer after a Covid infection. It’s hard to tell it you had new infections or if this could be part of the complex set of symptoms that may be associated with the long-term sequelae. The recommendation is that you continue to follow safe practices to prevent getting any more new infections. As for your loss of taste and smell there is no specific therapy but some people have found that recovery can be improved with “retraining”. Seek out help from your primary provider for more information.
