New trial for Covid loss of smell

New trial for Covid loss of smell. After Covid many people have been hit by a loss of smell, or an altered sense of smell.

Researchers from the UK’s University of East Anglia are set conduct a 12-week trial. The trial will see volunteers test out Vitamin-A nasal drops. Not all the trial volunteers will get the real thing though.

The trial volunteers will then have to smell strong odours like rotten eggs and roses. The volunteers will undergo brain scans to see if their body is responding to the Vitamin-A treatment. Scientists hope that volunteers will have improvements in their injured olfactory pathways.

Covid has left many people with a loss of smell or an altered sense of smell. Viruses such as the flu can also cause this. With Covid, people’s sense of smell tends to return after a few weeks. However, some people continue to have problems with their sense of smell in the long-term.

Lina Alnadi was left with parosmia after she beat off Covid. Her body now responds strangely to many smells she previously loved.

For Lina simple things such as water can now smell horrible. Lina said: “You take your sense of smell for granted,”

“Losing it was devastating. It affected my diet dramatically.

“There were lots of foods I just couldn’t face eating. It was really upsetting.”

Lina has come up with multiple life hacks to help her. She explained: “Adding lemon or chilli to foods can make them smell better,”

“I also experimented and made lists of safe foods that would not make me want to vomit.

“I had to be creative about it to make sure I was eating enough of the right things to stay well.”

Lead researcher Prof Carl Philpott, from UEA’s Norwich Medical School and James Paget University Hospitals NHS Trust spoke about the new trial.

Philpott explained: “We want to find out whether there is an increase in the size and activity of damaged smell pathways in patients’ brains when they are treated with vitamin-A nasal drops.

“We will look for changes in the size of the olfactory bulb – an area above the nose where the smell nerves join together and connect to the brain.”

He added: “We will also look at activity in areas of the brain linked to recognising smells.”

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