Steve Clark lost his sense of smell in late March due to a suspected coronavirus infection. Five months later he was taken to the hospital for a depressive breakdown — a direct consequence, Clark believes, of his inability to smell. “I just couldn’t get my head around it. I started to go down a bit of a dark alleyway,” the 63-year-old U.K. resident says. “My wife, in the end, had to get an ambulance for me.”
Without his sense of smell, Clark has had little ability to taste. He says he dropped over 20 pounds in the first four weeks from lack of appetite. Months after recovering from the virus, he can still only taste a few flavors, like sweet and smoky. Savory flavors elude him, and regaining the weight has been a slow struggle.
Worse, perhaps, is that Clark says living without his sense of smell has made him feel cut off from the world around him, which has taken a toll on his mental health. He describes feeling trapped in a vacuum, or stuck behind an acrylic window. “I could see everything that was going on, but I felt detached from it, as if I couldn’t quite get at it,” Clark says. “I didn’t feel like I was part of the same universe anymore … and I felt isolated. Very isolated at times.” Continue reading.