So, long story short, I travelled to a neighboring state for about 10 days and was perfectly healthy before, during, and (for a short time) after my trip. Once I got back, I felt to be in good health, but that only lasted a couple of days.

About 2 days after I got back, I ate a can of old chili I had in the pantry that was a few months past its best by date, but I figured it would be fine because it smelled ok and I planned on cooking it to a high temperature. I woke up the next morning feeling awful, and had all the symptoms of food poisoning. Decent headache, slight fever w/ chills, achy muscles (presumably from the fever), and diarrhea. It wasn't too bad, but was bad enough for me to tell work I would not be working for the day. These symptoms lasted about 3 days, and the 4th day I could tell I was getting better so I never thought anything of it, was just grateful to be returning to good health.

Then two days after recovering from what I thought was food poisoning, I lost my sense of smell and taste, completely. So clearly what I thought was food poisoning, was really covid? It's been almost 8 days since my senses went away, and they are showing no signs of coming back - drinking a tasteless, odorless cup of strong dark brew coffee right now while typing this.

Basically, Covid symptoms are mild enough that I thought it was food poisoning instead of the thing that shut down the world for months. However, the post-recovery symptoms are kinda bumming me out. I've been deciding what to eat based on the texture of the food rather than taste, which is a very strange thing to have to do. It's been a lot of fried and spicy foods, cause those give the most sensation in my mouth. Beer is interesting too cause it has no flavor, but I can definitely feel the strength of the alcohol more (im drinking an IPA now that I can only describe as both 'smooth and aggressive')

Anyone else who had it experience a loss of taste/smell? How long did it take for your senses to return?