If you got hit by Covid and you came out pretty much the same as before, that is good. If, on the other hand, you came out of the ordeal with permanent damage, would you mind telling us what happened?
I lost some sense of taste and smell. I used to love a simple cup of coffee, but now I want the darker stuff with strong flavors. I used to hate hot sauce because it was too much for me, and now I sprinkle it liberally on my food because the stuff is too bland.
You?
I only had covid once, and completely lost my sense of smell and taste for a few weeks. I thought it had all come back until my partner started making coffee in his Bialetti pot on the stove. I couldn’t smell it. Not at all.
Even now, several years later, I can’t smell the coffee brewing. When I’m working upstairs at home, I can’t smell coffee until he has the mug in his hand and he’s reached the top of the stairs. It’s really weird.
Some other things have become bland, but I seem to have become more sensitive to spices so curries taste hotter than they did before.
I had covid twice, fortunately both post-vaccine so while I was definitely “sick” in each case, it would likely have been much worse had it been the pre-vaccine era variety (it killed a first cousin of mine). I’m 73 now and doesn’t seem like I’ve had any long lasting effects. My wife (two years younger) also got covid twice when I did but she has had some longer term issues with her lungs that continue to this day.
I have had Covid twice now, July 2022 and November 2025. Both times I was vaccinated with the current vaccination schedule.
While neither case of Covid was acutely severe, the 1st go left me with some tinnitus that has not fully resolved after almost 4 years. It’s annoying, but not debilitating.
I have a history of always going many years in between times of having the flu. Like 10+ years between incidents. After many years without it I caught the flu, likely at a doctors office just before Christmas of 2019. It was bad. It took many, many weeks to get over it. Haven’t had the flu again since then. Six years it’s been so far. Nothing unusual about that.
In March of 2020 Covid was recognized. I couldn’t help but think I had Covid 3 months earlier. No way to prove it then or now that I can tell. I got all the Covid shots and stuff.
The ‘official’ Covid era sucked ass by the way.
How was I affected physically? I got my sense of smell and taste back but it took a very long time. I don’t seem to have the nuanced sense of smell or taste that I think I once had. Cooking food has become “Meh, It’s just food” and “It’s good enough for who it’s for.” I can still smell stuff but not like I used to.
I still believe the Covid release happened in America much sooner than when it was marketed as happening. Maybe even deliberately. Woo… 
I don’t think I’ll ever get over that feeling either.
The doctor’s office where I caught it is still open, but that doctor who I saw 4 days before experiencing my first symptoms is now a high ranking executive type at the biggest local hospital. Coincidence I’m sure…
These are interesting accounts for sure - every one of them. I admire people who keep going with some long covid and other symptoms.
I lost my smell entirely and it has only come back about 10% since then. What things I do smell I can hardly recognize because it’s like the wires got crossed and say I’m smelling wet grass - I might perceive it as burnt wood or soap or some other unrelated smell, so I can’t actually tell what I’m smelling in the event that I can smell anything at all. I had what seemed like a very mild case too. I barely felt sick, mostly just some sinus pressure - the smell thing is pretty much the only thing of significance that happened.
I had it Christmas of 2023 for the first (and as far as I know, only) time. I wasn’t bad enough to be hospitalized but God it was miserable. I noticed a problem pretty much immediately upon recovery. I started having these crashes in the afternoon. Episodes of brain fog and confusion along with pretty bad depression and cognitive fatigue. Starts about 2pm and wraps up about 7pm every day, give or take. It’s the damnedest thing.
The problem remains. I’ve tried ruling out other things, for instance I got tested for sleep apnea (which I have) and got a CPAP. Well, that wasn’t it.
I have ADHD and was taking a stimulant so my psychiatrist just went ahead and wrote me a prescription for Adderall to take right before symptom onset. This enables me to work during these hours. Before I took Adderall my work day was basically over at 2pm.
Fun times.
I have always believed that I had a mild case in the late fall of 2019. When I heard about people having a “cold” that went away, and came back a few days later, yep, that happened to me. I looked into having my antibodies tested, that kind of thing, but never qualified for any studies in the area.
I lost my sense of smell almost completely, except for the ability to smell motor exhausts. Can’t really notice flowers, perfumes, food, beverages, etc., anymore, but diesel fumes seem stronger than ever.
It’s kinda nice, actually… I used to always feel overwhelmed by scents (especially incense and perfumes, etc.) and not being able to detect them as much is actually quite a relief. And the ability to still smell gas exhaust lets me know when it’s time to roll up the windows. (The numerous pickups in rural Oregon are quite smoggy and stinky.)
Food has become blander, it seems, but I always scarfed it down too fast to taste anything anyway, and I don’t really care. I don’t miss it. Maybe that’s also why my spice tolerance dramatically increased after covid… never connected those dots!
I do greatly value my senses of sight and hearing… glad covid didn’t take those away. Scent, on the other hand, was always more annoying than pleasant. Glad it’s mostly gone.
I don’t think Covid affected me longterm, but for several months, I had a tingling in my right arm that would not go away.
If you had Covid already in late fall of 2019, how did the United States (or rest of the world) not already have a full-blown breakout pandemic by then?
I’ve had COVID twice: once in early 2023, and once in late 2024. The second time hit me harder, and I had recurring sinus headaches, and recurring issues with my sense of smell (mostly, “phantom odors”) for about three or four months afterwards.
My wife caught it from me when I had it in '23, and it permanently damaged her sense of smell. In particular, dairy products smell weird to her now, particularly “cultured” dairy (yogurt, cheeses, etc.), and she no longer can eat some things which were staples for her, like Greek yogurt.
I’ve had it four times (2020, 2021, 2022 and 2023). Long term effects are fatigue, blood pressure and tintinnus.
Had it once. Still haven’t fully recovered my sense of taste and my sense of smell has been borked as well, going through all sorts of weird changes.
That’s another aspect of the epidemic that’s being studied - people who think they may have had it before it was identified.
Had Covid in January/February 2023.
Ended up with a pulmonary embolism (PE).
Since I had a surgery related PE in the early 1990s I am now on blood thinners for life.
Caught it again in August/September 2024.
Lost taste and smell totally. Excruciating brain fog/neurological sumptoms. Cough lasted several months.
After a year and some months taste and smell seem to be recovering but I am still not back to normal.
Brain fog still comes and goes but is not as severe as during the initial infection.
Or your body has learned to cope with the severity.
Interesting. I’ve had the exact same issue for the last few years, though it seems to finally be letting up for the most part the last few months. It did start about the last time I had covid, but there have been several other confounding factors so I could never truly say it’s because of the covid. It was really a struggle to work through most days. Fortunately I’ve been mostly working from home; otherwise, I don’t know how I would have gotten through it.