ANGOLA, N.Y. — If you've had COVID-19 and lost your sense of smell, you're not alone.

Nearly 85% of people who've lost that sense due to the virus fully recovered after two months, and 95% after six months. So, is there anything you can do to get your sense of smell back quicker?

You may have seen articles circling online about smell therapy. You can certainly try that, but Dr. Jens Ponikau says the best thing to do is take care of yourself as your body heals. Patience is the main prescription.

Lacy Russell was diagnosed with COVID-19 in January.

"As soon as I took a bite of that hamburger and it tasted like metal, I knew," Russell said.

What Russell didn't know is that months later, her sense of smell and taste still wouldn't be back to normal.

"I can smell strong things like if I put it right up to my nose, like eucalyptus or mint," Russell said.

She can't smell her morning coffee, though, or even natural gas.

"I was cooking dinner and I noticed what I had on the stove wasn't boiling," Russell recalled. "Well, the gas was turned on, but there was no flame."

If this terrifying instance sounds familiar, you're not alone. According to Dr. Ponikau, roughly 75% of patients with COVID-19 infections can have a disturbance of smell. It's called anosmia, and it's nothing new. In fact, it's common during and after a respiratory virus, like COVID-19. So, what causes this?

"The surrounding cells, those who surround the nerve and protect it, they are the ones getting damaged, they are the ones getting infected," Dr. Ponikau said. "They regenerate rather quickly."

There are some things you can do to help that process.

"Protect your airway as much as you can," Ponikau said. "Masks in particular help with that right now."

He says avoid irritants, like smoke from a bonfire, for example. Also, use a neti pot once a week. And his biggest piece of advice, as tough as it may be, is to just be patient.

That's something Russell is trying to remind herself to do each day.

"I am holding on to hope," Russell said.

When it comes to your loss of taste, Dr. Ponikau says you might only taste certain flavors depending on which part of your tongue was affected. Up to 68% of COVID-19 patients also have a disturbance or absence of taste. If that's you, Ponikau says you can retrain your tongue by simply eating.