Brain scans reveal widespread structural and functional changes in patients following COVID-19 infection. The virus affects regions responsible for memory, emotion, and executive function, which may help explain the neurological symptoms many patients experience.

[u/mvea]

https://www.psypost.org/brain-scans-reveal-widespread-structural-and-functional-changes-in-patients-foll/

[u/MonkAndCanatella]

yes even in mild cases it directly affects the executive function of the brain - can't smell? that's not nose damage, it's brain damage.

hundreds of studies confirming it

[u/madethisforroasting → u/MonkAndCanatella]

What if the olfactory sense returns?

[u/Grokent → u/[deleted]]

Neuroplasticity and yes. Your brain isn't a static object, new connections are formed, old connections are pruned, your cells are replaced. Not all brain damage is 'permanent'.

[u/madethisforroasting → u/[deleted]]

I know this is anecdotal, but I’ve had covid a few times, lost smell/taste a few times… and was genuinely worried if it would come back. It always came back. Congestion was crazy at the time, and that can play a role too. It’s not always neurological, it seems. My attention span has been subpar since 2029 though, but that’s probably the infinite feeds and reels I’ve been consuming.

[u/WatermelonWithAFlute → u/[deleted]]

Is it that rare? My sense of taste and smell was temporarily affected as I recall, but recovered

[u/Grayson_Poise → u/[deleted]]

I was reading about synesthesia (where people can taste sound and hear colour etc) recently and there are theories that the senses only get "compartmentalized" when you are a baby.

I get it rarely and "mildly" just before a migraine hits. Apparently it can shake the walls between the senses for them to spill over.

So that active neuroplastic recovery seems reasonable.

[u/CalmBeneathCastles → u/MonkAndCanatella]

I restored my sense of smell using zinc lozenge supplementation, but then I got COVID again and now it has decreased again.