Cincinnati Woman Suffering from Long COVID Can Taste Chocolate Again: 'So Happy to Have My Life Back'

Jennifer Henderson, who had a distorted sense of taste and smell for two years after contracting COVID, can finally enjoy food again

After two years of distorted taste and smell, Jennifer Henderson can finally taste one of life's simple pleasures again.

Henderson, 54, was one of a fraction of patients with long COVID who was suffering from parosmia and dysgeusia, conditions where the senses of smell and taste are grossly distorted or lost, according to the Cleveland Clinic.

While the majority of her symptoms subsided a week after she contracted COVID-19 two years ago, her sense of taste and smell had gone from bad to worse. Nine months later, "most food tasted like garbage, and I couldn't smell anything," she told the clinic. "I dreaded eating."

After joining an online support group, Henderson, who loves to cook and try new recipes, began hearing about stellate ganglion block (SGB) injections, a common treatment for pain that was being used to improve taste and smell for long COVID patients. When she discovered that the treatment was being offered at the Cleveland Clinic, Henderson, who lives near Cincinnati, Ohio, was quick to act.

In December 2022, she received her first SGB injection. Dr. Christina Shin, an anesthesiologist and pain medicine specialist at the clinic who led the procedure, gave her a hot cup of coffee in the aftermath of the treatment, and Henderson started to cry as she could finally smell and taste the drink.

After two more rounds of injections, her sense of taste and smell is even stronger.

In a video shared with PEOPLE from the Cleveland Clinic, Henderson enjoys a chocolate peanut butter cup, savoring the taste of the treat — which she hadn't experienced in years — following her third injection in March.

"I'm telling you, it's better than that," she tells her husband, referring to the video of her from December when she was first able to smell coffee. "From when that video is. It's better."

"Keeps getting better and better," her husband replies.

Henderson is visibly emotional as she savors the chocolate treat, bringing it up to her nose and smelling it.

"It's been a long journey," Shin says as she checks in with her patient.

Related:Significant Brain Changes Detected in Those Suffering Long COVID, New Study Says

In a second video from the same day, the two share a hug in an emotional moment as Henderson wipes tears from her eyes. "I'm just grateful to be a part of it," Shin says as Henderson thanks her.

"I'm just so happy to have my life back," Henderson says.

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Shin has been conducting SGB injections in long COVID patients since she read a study from the National Library of Medicine about successes with the procedure last year.

"Since April 2022, we've had success when treating some of our patients for their altered taste and smell," she told the Cleveland Clinic.

"There is a connection between our nervous system and immune system," Shin explains of the injection, for which she uses ultrasound to guide the needle into the patient's neck. "Some propose patients with long COVID are suffering from persistent overactivation of the sympathetic nervous system or inflammation of their nervous system. By injecting local anesthetic and temporarily blocking neuronal activity at the stellate ganglion, we may be disrupting this abnormal feedback loop."

"Patients respond differently and some don't at all. But for many, the effects seem to be long-lasting and life-changing."

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