Amelia Boyd, a third yea medical student in the upstate Norton College of Medicine with my medical student minute, about a very interesting thing I've learned.

You can get phantom limb, but in your nose you may have heard of phantom limb, a phenomenon that happens when someone loses an arm or a leg, but still feels sensation in the missing body part.

These folks often report itchiness, twitching, or pain in the limb that has been amputated as if it is still there.

Believe it or not, we can have a similar experience in our nose.

If you have had Covid 19.

You may already know what I'm talking about.

Up to one half of people with Covid report decreased or distorted smell and taste, and many also experienced Fantasma olfactory hallucinations.

They describe smelling odors, often unpleasant ones like burning food, cigarettes or chlorine when no burning food or other olfactory stimulus is present.

Interestingly, this sympto seems to be more common in women and young adults, but it can affect anyone.

Although we don't know exactl why these phantom smells occur, a leading theory is that Covid damages olfactory neurons nerves in our nose that normally send smells and send odor signals to our brain.

As we recover from Covid these neurons slowly grow back.

However, they may grow back in a disorganized or dysfunctional way at first and be triggered by aberrant impulses like from blowing our nose leading to phantom smells.

So if you notice smells that others do not.

You may want to take a Covid test or visit your doctor.

I'm Amelia Boyd from the upstate Norton College of Medicine, and this has been my medical student minute.