PERRY, Ga. — Some people's fight with the coronavirus is short, but for others, it's a long battle.
Molly Jett spoke to a couple of COVID-19 "long-haulers" who, months later, are still trying to regain their sense of taste and their appetite.
Aubrey Sofala is in Milledgeville and Clayton Matthews is in Perry. Both are trying to retrain their body to love food again.
In January, Aubrey Sofala lost her sense of taste, one week after finding out she was positive with COVID-19.
"It's not enjoyable," said Sofala. "For the first couple of weeks, I had to keep reminding myself to eat."
Then, she thought the worst.
"I was at a point where I thought, 'This could be... How am I going to adjust to this, because this could just be my life now?'" said Sofala.
About a month later, she started to slowly regaining her sense of taste.
Sofala said, "I remember looking over at my partner and being like, 'I think I taste this. It might be a fluke, but I think I taste this peanut butter.'"
However, Clayton Matthews hasn't tasted anything, except for texture, since coming down with COVID-19 in June 2020.
Matthews said, "I remember when I first got it, I called the doctor saying, 'I can't smell or taste,' and they said, 'Don't worry about it. It'll come back.' Then it was a month, then a month turns into three, and then three turns into six."
Nine months later, he has lost 40 pounds.
"I just did not want to eat," said Matthews. "At the point where I got it, I was at 222. My current weight, I am about 182."
Losing weight wasn't the plan, but without his sense of taste, he simply didn't have an appetite and still doesn't.
"It's like now, the only reason to eat is for sustenance only," said Matthews.
Chief of Family Medicine at Atrium Health Navicent Doctor Harry Strothers says one key for people going through this is meal prep.
"The main thing is to plan the meals," said Strothers.
Strothers hopes by meal prepping, you will slowly retrain your body's routine to eat even if you can't taste the food.
A Mayo Clinic study says most COVID-19 patients did not lose their sense of taste, but that those who did were more likely to be younger or middle-aged.
The study said for most survivors their taste came back within a month.