Quincy Woman Battles Parosmia After a Blow With COVID – CBS Boston

QUINCY (CBS) – Jenn Charney’s once favorite meal now smells and tastes rancid after her battle with COVID last year.

“I used to love the smell of my mom’s spaghetti sauce,” says Charney. “Now it smells like dirty paws and diapers.”

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Charney’s smell became distorted. The Quincy woman said everything from fast food to coffee to household items smelled horrible.

“There were three days when I didn’t eat because there was nothing to eat,” Charney said. “It’s just very sad.”

The condition is called arrhythmia, and Tufts Medical Center epidemiologist Dr. Shira Doron says it can be debilitating. Her son also had a similar experience.

“Everything smells like ramen,” says Dr. Doron. “Certainly, I know other people who smell more trash or some who say rotting meat – they lose a lot of weight. They cannot eat”.

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Dr Doron said it was not clear what caused the phenomenon.

“Some people last for weeks and others for months,” says Doron.

It’s been almost a year for Charney, but she feels comfortable knowing she’s not alone after joining a Facebook support group.

“I have seen and had thousands and thousands of other people around the world going through the same thing,” says Charney.

Doron says close friendships are important until doctors find a cure.

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“All I can say is that researchers are still working on it and I believe there will be a treatment eventually,” said Doron. “But at the moment, we don’t have it.”