Rediscovering Taste For Food After Surviving COVID-19
On February 27, 2020, Nigeria reported its first coronavirus case, after an Italian tested positive for the virus in Lagos. By March 30, the government had imposed a lockdown in Lagos, Abuja and Ogun, the hotbeds of the virus in the country.
More than four months after the index case, at the time of writing this article, over 700 patients have died from the infection, with the total number of reported cases currently recorded at 32,558. On the other hand, about 13,447 patients have been discharged nationwide, showing that there is hope, if people continue to maintain safety precautions.
In addition to high fever, one of the more common symptoms experienced by COVID-19 patients is anosmia, which in simple terms, is the temporary or permanent loss of smell and taste caused by an infection.
In correlation to COVID-19, Dr Rasheed, a medical practitioner who spoke to EatDrinkLagos explained that anosmia is a symptom common with respiratory tract viral infections, and not limited to the novel coronavirus.
To survive COVID-19 is to beat death and rediscover a taste for food and drink. To understand the consequences of the novel coronavirus on survivors, and how they tackled anosmia, we spoke to four people anonymously, who shared how their relationship with food changed while battling COVID 19.
How exactly does it feel like to lose one’s smell and taste for food, while being required to consume food for survival?
Kambilli* described it as a mentally stressful experience. “Eating during this period felt like chewing rubber”, she said. Like many Nigerians who tested positive for the virus, she initially attributed her symptoms to malaria. “It wasn’t until a few days later when I couldn’t smell the garlic butter prawns my brother was grilling that I knew something was wrong”, she narrated.
Dr Rasheed explained that the loss of smell and taste in COVID-19 is temporary since bodily functions tend to revert to basic capacity as soon as recovery commences. In Kambilli’s case, the road to recovery lasted 10 days.
On rediscovering her taste for food, she said, “Without smell and taste, food is really just fuel. The experience made me appreciate food more. I wouldn’t say I eat more than I normally would but these days, I just feel a lot happier eating.
For Faye*, surviving COVID-19 meant experiencing periodic lapses in her health even after recovery. “I probably contracted the virus at work or from the market”, she says. In addition to losing her senses of smell and taste, she also suffered from acute respiratory distress and digestive issues like diarrhoea, loss of appetite and vomiting.
As such, her diet throughout this time consisted of vitamins infused into her system via intravenous therapy for sustenance. Following two weeks of treatment, her sense of smell slowly picked up, as she began to recognise strong smells like disinfectant and burnt food. At this point, the craving for food returned, “I love fruits and pap so naturally, I gravitated toward grapes, apples, ginger pap and lemon”, she explained.
The journey to recovery and developing a healthy appetite doesn’t end with isolation, though. “By the time I was discharged, I had lost a ton of weight and I was anaemic. So, I resumed eating regular food like swallow and rice. I also included blood tonics into my diet which helped a great deal with my appetite.
For asymptomatic patients like Aadil*, however, the virus still had an impact on his diet, despite not experiencing anosmia. “I couldn’t eat properly because I felt a shortness of breath any time I tried to consume anything. Beyond that, my appetite returned back to normal as soon as I recovered”.
On the other hand, not everyone gets the chance to rediscover a taste for food. Camil*, who works as a medical practitioner in the UK, had to return to the frontlines as soon as he tested negative. Describing his symptoms, he said, “My symptoms were mild compared to the ones I’ve seen at work. Surprisingly, he still retained a taste for spicy food, which we joked about his Nigerian taste for pepper coming through even in sickness.
Now, he’s back to eating food as usual while saving lives as he didn’t get the chance to slowly savour the food he couldn’t enjoy while in isolation.
*All names have been changed to protect the patients’ identities.