For more than a year now, my nose has been plagued with what I like to call “COVID smell.”

“COVID smell” is nothing like I’ve ever smelled before. But when I try to describe it to friends, I explain it as the stench of garbage, raw onions, and sweaty armpits.

The scientific term for this distortion of the ability to smell is parosmia, the “alteration of the sense of smell, that is usually unpleasant and caused by damage to olfactory neurons in the nerve center,” according to Health.com.

Living with this condition is incredibly frustrating and has had a massive impact on my everyday life.

Take onions and garlic. The two ingredients, when fried in olive oil was once my favorite aromas to fill the kitchen. But now? Just COVID smell.