If you are experiencing long-term smell loss due to COVID-19, ditch steroids and try sniffing at least four different odours twice a day, suggest an international group of smell experts.
The team, including Prof Carl Philpott from the University of East Anglia in the UK, noted that steroids should not be used to treat smell loss caused by COVID-19. Instead, they recommend 'smell training'—a process that involves sniffing at least four different odours twice a day for several months—in the paper detailed in the International Forum of Allergy and Rhinology.
Smell loss is a prominent symptom of COVID-19, and the pandemic is leaving many people with long-term smell loss.
Corticosteroids—a class of drug that lowers inflammation in the body—are often prescribed to help treat conditions such as asthma, and they have been considered as a therapeutic option for smell loss caused by COVID-19, too.
"But they have well-known potential side effects including fluid retention, high blood pressure.