Had Covid and lost your taste or smell? You are not alone

Photo: Steve Harvey/Unsplash

Paul Arco
OSF Healthcare

Ottawa -- One of the most common symptoms found in the early days of the COVID-19 pandemic was the loss of smell and taste.

While many people rebound quickly from the loss of smell (most recover within 30 days), others have not. In fact, according to a recent study in the BMJ, (the medical journal of the British Medical Association), about 27 million people in the world are experiencing long-term effects of loss of smell or taste.

"There is a subset about 5%, where we're seeing the loss of smell and taste remaining longer than six months," says Angela Vezzetti, PA, a physician's assistant at OSF HealthCare, specializing in otolarynogology (the study of the ear, nose and throat). "Some studies have looked at different gene mutations in patients where they're seeing certain mutations impact the sense of smell and the recovery rates. There are a lot of studies going on right now to determine why these patients are not recovering their sense of smell and taste. One other study did note that there was a loss of tissue in the olfactory bulb of the brain that could potentially be causing this prolonged sense of loss of smell."

The study also revealed that women were less likely to regain their sense of smell and taste than men, which Vezzetti attributes to women having a higher perception of smell than men. People who suffer from nasal congestion were also slower to recover from the loss of smell and taste.

The loss of smell has also been shown to have a significant impact when it comes to emotional and psychological well-being, especially among older people. Loss of smell can cause many emotions. It can make people feel disoriented, detached, anxious or worse.

"I don't think a lot of people really realized the impact of loss of smell and taste, the sense of smell in general, people kind of took for granted to an extent and a lot more people have seen the really importance of smell when it comes to just taste in general," says Vezzetti. "Without the sense of smell and taste you can have aversions to certain foods, which for elderly people can lead to either a lack of desire to eat, or nutritional deficiencies, even malnutrition, because they're not getting those vitamins that they need because the food either tastes bad, or they just can't taste it at all."

As time goes on, the medical community has developed a better understanding of how COVID-19 impacts the sense of smell and taste. That includes treatment options which have provided relief for some patients.

"The number one protocol that we recommend is something called olfactory or smell retraining, which we recommend patients take some essential oils which are a nice concentrated scent," says Vezzetti. "There are four of them that we recommend. They are a lemon, clove, eucalyptus and Rose and they smell those scents for maybe 15 seconds a day, once or twice a day and we've have seen some patients regain some of that loss of smell or diminished smell, retraining their sense of smell with these essential oils."

This is just another reminder about the importance of getting the COVID vaccine. Medical experts believe that the vaccine may protect people from losing their sense of smell even if they get infected.

"I think people can be reassured to know that the good majority of patients with loss of smell or taste from COVID do recover either completely or partially," says Vezzetti. "And there are some things that can be done in the meantime while they're experiencing their symptoms to try to help such as smell retraining, maybe trying intranasal steroid spray to try to relieve some of that inflammation and hopefully bring back those senses. But I think that the fact that the good majority of patients have improved and are improving is a really good thing."

Did you have COVID and lost your sense of taste and/or smell? Tell us about your experience and we'll share it with our readers. Email us your story to editor@oursentinel.com.

Getting a handle on bank overdraft fees

Photo: Andre Taissin/Unsplash

Overdraft fees can break your piggy bank. To help their customers, some financial institutions have increased their flexibility with regards to how and when overdraft fees are accessed and when funds are unavailable in an account.

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StatePoint Media -- When your bank account balance is low, life can be stressful. For example, when it’s time to pay large expenses that can’t wait, like car loan payments or monthly rent, it’s all too easy to overdraft a bank account. This is especially true if you don't have a ready line-of-credit or a savings account you can dip into in an emergency. The current rate of inflation in the United States doesn't make it any easier either.

In fact, U.S. consumers pay billions of dollars a year in overdraft fees for covering all types of purchases, both large and small.

There is no doubt that overdraft fees serve as a pain point for many consumers, and as the issue of overdraft continues to be discussed and debated, several banks have taken different approaches in response.

Some have taken steps to address overdrafts, mostly by eliminating fees or eliminating the ability to overdraft completely.

Alternatively, PNC Bank now offers a solution that provides customers with greater control in these circumstances. Low Cash Mode, a tool that offers transparency and choices to help customers avoid fees by managing low-cash moments or mistimed payments, is a feature available in the PNC Virtual Wallet account through the PNC Bank Mobile app.

The feature notifies you when your available balance is near or below zero and gives you at least 24 hours (and often more) to bring a negative balance to at least $0 through a deposit or funds transfer before incurring a fee. It also gives you the choice of whether to pay or return certain pending checks and electronic payments when your balance is nearing negative territory.

The Value of Overdraft

The ability to choose to overdraft can help consumers avoid bigger repercussions like credit impacts and loss of access to banking that unpaid bills or late payments can cause. Allowing customers to make their critical payments – albeit for a small fee – sometimes makes a difference that helps allow them to stay in the banking system.

For example, if you opt to pay your rent or car payment – and avoid a penalty or a negative impact to your credit score by simply paying an overdraft fee – then the option to overdraft has provided a value.

“Removing the ability to overdraw an account doesn’t address the fact that many customers need to pay bills, even during temporary cash shortfalls,” says Alex Overstrom, head of Retail Banking at PNC Bank. “The key is that the consumer should be making the decision to incur or avoid fees, not just the bank.”

Control Pays Off

This level of control has demonstrated real results. PNC reports that 64% of customers who have a negative-balance event cure their account in time to avoid incurring a fee.

“Sometimes people just need a little more time to cover important expenses,” says Overstrom. “And in these moments, they should have choices to make things right.”