> The dad-of-two, from Litchfield, Staffordshire, could eat the spiciest curries with no effect

I know this is probably just a bit of "editorial spice" because it's an obvious example for "what would you do if you could eat anything" I guess, but I thought capsaicin/spicyness was NOT a taste-perception thing. Isn't more of a pain feeling? I would've assumed you would retain that, while losing the olfactory perception you need for flavours.

I am no expert in this sort of thing, so if anyone knows I'd be genuinely curious about why COVID would affect both of those senses.

▲

esikich 39 minutes ago | parent | next [-]

My anecdotal evidence, I couldn't smell or taste a thing for about 2 weeks, but I ate thai food constantly because I could at least feel the spice somewhat, it was dulled though, not 100%.

▲

spidercat 2 hours ago | parent | prev | next [-]

Anecdotally, when my best friend first caught covid, his sense of smell was heightened, but his ability to perceive spiciness from both capsaicin (peppers) and allyl isothiocyanate (e.g. mustard, wasabi, radishes) completely disappeared. I just went back to check the messages he sent me to make sure I'm not spewing nonsense, and sure enough: "I didn't even have that nose feeling from wasabi." He couldn't perceive any spice at all. Not from peppers, not from hot sauce, not from wasabi. Nada. He tried everything he had in his kitchen.

Covid is a weird virus. I'd be really curious about the mechanism behind this. I'm sure it's nothing great, like some sort of nerve damage, but at least in my friend's case he and his senses made a full recovery as far as he can tell.

▲

indoordin0saur 8 minutes ago | parent | next [-]

Covid caused nerve damage in the nose in the sensory glands where smell is perceived. Good news is that lots of viruses do this so the body has evolved to regrow these nerves.

▲

pinkmuffinere an hour ago | parent | prev [-]

I don’t mean to say you’re wrong, but the “spice” due to wasabi is a different thing, not due to capsaicin at all. Same with mustard, it’s a similar thing. And then there’s yet another “spice” from the Sichuan peppercorn, again not due to capsaicin. It’s possible that COVID masks some of these but not others.

▲

spidercat 16 minutes ago | parent | next [-]

I am well aware! That's why my comment says "spiciness from both capsaicin and radishes". :)

I didn't feel like looking up how to spell allyl isothiocyanate when writing my initial comment. Maybe I should have! I've edited it for clarity, since it's an important distinction which adds to why I'm so danged curious about the mechanism behind my friend's temporary inability to perceive pungency. I also see how my original wording may have implied I was conflating the two, so I've expanded on my friend's experience a bit. He experimented with pepper and radish based spice sources in his pantry.

▲

kibwen an hour ago | parent | prev [-]

> the “spice” due to wasabi is a different thing

But also, outside of Japan, 95% of the time the stuff with your sushi isn't wasabi, it's green-colored horseradish-and-mustard paste.

	▲	spidercat 15 minutes ago \| parent \| next [-]
		But the source of the spiciness is the same, at least: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Allyl_isothiocyanate
	▲	ctoa an hour ago \| parent \| prev \| next [-]
		That's also true inside Japan. True wasabi is really hard to grow commercially and thus very expensive.
	▲	alpn an hour ago \| parent \| prev [-]
		> 95% of the time the stuff with your sushi isn't wasabi so unexpected that i had to look it up; turns out you're right: https://chefcoca.com/blogs/food-service-equipment-resources/...

▲

EvanAnderson 2 hours ago | parent | prev | next [-]

Anecdote from my second COVID infection: Lost my sense of smell (anosmia) for about 2 weeks. That also killed my sense of taste.

The heat sensation from capsaicin was unaffected. I was eating a lot of vegetable bowls at the time. Adding spiciness was the only that kept them palatable.

There were a few tastes that I could dully perceive but, stupidly, I didn't make notes about what they were.

I can recall one thing that I didn't like: I tried peanut butter, which I typically find delicious, and found it a horrifyingly disgusting soulless paste. It made me wretch. It was awhile, even after I got my sense of smell back, before I could eat it.

I don't believe my sense of smell has recovered to my pre-COVID capability. This story is very interesting to me.

▲

jotato 2 hours ago | parent [-]

Interesting. I lost 100% of taste and smell months. I never found anything I could taste. Spicy has zero effect. I could cut onions with no tears. Literally nothing with any food

The only “sensation” I had eas texture which I found very gross without flavor.

It was like that for about 2 months and it slowly came back over another 5 maybe 6. Salty was the first thing I noticed.

5 years later and I still don’t smell coffee, gas or a few other things. It’s weird walking down the coffee isle at the store and not smelling it at sll

	▲	EvanAnderson an hour ago \| parent [-]
		> The only “sensation” I had eas texture which I found very gross without flavor. It's powerfully off-putting, isn't it? I had no idea tasteless texture would be so upsetting. I hope this treatment becomes something I can partake of personally. I find that I'm using a lot more salt than I used to trying to make up for lack of taste. I switched to a potassium salt substitute to try to reduce my sodium intake.

▲

jcgrillo 40 minutes ago | parent | prev | next [-]

I lost my sense of taste and smell for a few days when I had covid, I was eating a bowl of spicy ramen at the time and I completely lost the ability to taste anything over the course of about 2 minutes. No spice, no salt, nothing. I usually have a pretty high spice tolerance, but to be certain I ate an entire birds eye chili. This would normally leave me in pretty excruciating pain for a few minutes, it did nothing. Strange that others report retaining their spice taste to some degree, that wasn't my experience at all. I wonder what was different?

▲

luxuryballs 2 hours ago | parent | prev [-]

the damage seems to be neurological / local nerves, I haven’t tried chewing gum but the best/fastest results I’ve had for this so far has been lions mane + micro dose of other mushrooms, smell therapy has been reported to show benefit also which probably matches the chewing gum thing, rebuilding/recalibrating the nerves slowly over time

▲

cyberpunk 2 hours ago | parent [-]

I developed tinnitus on one side after covid, anecdotal but it slowly went away after I started taking a b complex daily, apparently it can promote nerve repair.

Not totally sure I fully believe it; but it seemingly worked for me.. shrug

	▲	intheitmines 37 minutes ago \| parent [-]
		how long before you noticed a change?