Can the sense of smell and taste disappear with ARVI?

2024 Author: James Gerald | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-17 14:00

With ARVI, the sense of smell is reduced due to edema of the upper parts of the nose, its sinuses. In rare cases, the sense of smell and taste with ARVI can disappear due to the virus affecting the olfactory nerve endings. The development of the disease can either be accompanied by a runny nose or occurs without a runny nose.

The pathogenesis of loss of smell

Olfactory sensitivity helps a person perceive aromas, and tactile sensitivity helps a person perceive the taste of food. If nasal congestion is not treated during ARVI, then after recovery, sensations and the ability to distinguish odors disappear.

At the same time, loss of smell with a cold with a runny nose is a normal process due to the symptoms of the disease. The pathogenesis of the loss of gustatory and olfactory perception is considered to be swelling of the mucous membranes with the manifestation of unfavorable complications, including dysfunction of the nerve endings responsible for signaling to the brain.

The inner surface of the nasal passages contains sensitive cells that, in a healthy state, pick up aromas and transport information about them to certain parts of the brain. Here, the responsible cells "perform a detailed analysis", after which the smells acquire their own character and name.

The frequent runny nose, in which mucus regularly accumulates, significantly reduces the function of nerve receptors, blocks the passage of signals from the nerves to the center of the brain, which is responsible for the sense of smell. Therefore, doctors direct treatment to reduce the edema of the mucous membranes, to reduce the clinical signs of the disease. This applies to the treatment of ARVI, proceeding without a cold, and with a cold.

When the functions of taste and olfactory receptors are impaired, their sensitivity is lost, the ability to transmit signals to the areas of the brain responsible for their recognition is lost. Lack of information about the smells of the environment does not allow the brain to fully produce and analyze tastes, differentiation of expressed factors:

• bitter;
• sweet;
• sour;
• salty.

The disappearance of the sense of taste and smell leads to a complete loss of the brain's ability to distinguish the flavors of foods.

What to do

In case of a cold, it is important to be actively treated in order to exclude a situation when the sense of smell and taste may disappear due to a cold with ARVI. You can restore sensations with drugs, excluding vasoconstrictor drops, which in themselves reduce the sense of smell.

Doctors recommend using a minimum amount of oil drops that interfere with the natural functions of the nasal mucous membranes. Irritating folk remedies are not recommended.

Knowing that during ARVI without a runny nose, the sense of smell and taste can disappear, it is important to start treatment strictly according to the doctor's prescription. Otherwise, you can permanently lose the ability to distinguish between tastes and smells. Therefore, self-medication is dangerous, it is important to consult a doctor.

With the loss of olfactory, gustatory sensations after recovery as a result of the transferred acute respiratory viral infection, the time of their recovery increases, when the nerve endings are affected, nerve conduction is impaired. To restore it, directed treatment by a specialist is required.

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