Suffering from COVID and losing taste and smell is painful for everyone. But it was a nightmare for a sommelier who had to put her career on hold for five months after developing the long form of the disease.
• Read also: Long-lasting COVID-19 ruins young mother’s family life
• Read also: Long COVID: New study seeks participants
“After a month and a half [de COVID-19 de longue durée], I remember one weekend when I cried nonstop. There, I panicked. Wine is not only my profession, but also my greatest passion,” recalls sommelier and lecturer Michelle Bouffard.
It’s hard to imagine a worse scenario than one involving losing your taste when your career revolves around wine. Michelle Bouffard almost completely lost her taste and her sense of smell from April to August 2022. She had to put some of her professional activities on hold, including her exam at the prestigious Institute of Masters of Wine, scheduled for last July. .
“These are years of study for this exam. I studied more than thirty hours a week. It’s the biggest title in the world. It’s like an athlete who breaks an ankle just before the Olympics,” she says.
Solution Mode
Quickly, the sommelier began to look for solutions to regain her taste and smell as quickly as possible. She underwent acupuncture treatments, consulted an otolaryngologist and used essential oils to stimulate her senses.
After several months, the sommelier is delighted to have regained the taste, but only time will allow her to establish whether she is able to detect all the subtleties of the wine.
“I would like to send a positive message. In most cases, it comes back. It is necessary to talk about it. We quickly realize that many people are going through the same thing, ”commented Michelle Bouffard.
Report
According to Statistics Canada, almost a third of Canadians aged 18 or older developed COVID between the start of the pandemic and May 2022. Of the lot, about 1.4 million adults were experiencing symptoms at least three months after getting a positive result.