A group of Turkish scientists have developed a “smell exercise” for COVID-19 patients whose perception of smell changes after recovering from illness. The therapy, published in a scientific journal based in the United States last year is now used in several clinics for recovered coronavirus patients around the world.
Professor Aytuğ Altundağ, expert in otolaryngology and head and neck surgery, and son team are behind the “modified sense of smell exercise/treatment” for parosmia, a smell disorder, after COVID-19 infections. This trouble causes smells distort and are obvious in long COVID-19 patients due to damage inflicted by infection on odor receptors and parts of the brain. In some cases, patients start perceive the smell of coffee as bitter or onions smell rotten, experts say. Some patients find even the slightest odor of body unbearable smell. Although this side effect of the virus may seem insignificant, in in some cases, this leads to eating disorders and, as a result, weight loss and depression.
Altundağ told Anadolu Agency (AA) on Thursday that the parosmia became generalized with COVID-19[FEMALE]Said their method which involves nine months of therapy[FEMININEIladitqueleurméthodequiimpliqueneufmoisofthérapiewith different smells and surroundings one month for people with less severe symptoms, is now used in American clinics and that they were looking to modify it further to suit on different cultures and different countries.
the first step of the exercises involve what Altundağ calls “classic” smells, from rose and lemon to eucalyptus. Based on the answer of the patient, more scents are addedfrom jasmine to green tea and as you exercise, more “spicy” smells are introduced into patient. Olfactory exercises are adapted to everyone patient. “We perform a sniffing test with the patients first and check their hedonic scale, car meanings may vary for each person. Some people don’t like the smell of eggs, whereas they are onions for others,” he said.
Altundağ noted that patients who undertook the exercises fully recovered from the loss of feel.
