Do Viral TikTok Cures Like the Jamaican Orange Remedy Really Work?

Are you struggling to smell or taste like you did before you got sick? Well, viral TikTok cures like the Jamaican Orange Remedy may help.

But they aren’t always effective. Before you try this remedy, consider what you can and can’t smell and if you have other options. Then, you can figure out if the cure is worth trying.

Why Would You Lose Your Sense of Smell?

One of the most common reasons why you would lose your sense of smell is an infection. When you get an upper respiratory infection, you can experience inflammation in your nose. You can also have congestion that makes it harder to breathe and smell.

Both of those things can make it harder for smells to get to your sensory receptors. Fortunately, the sense of smell will eventually return in most cases.

Whether you have COVID-19 or another virus, your sense of smell should return after you recover. However, you may also experience damage to your olfactory nerves, which causes a longer-term loss of your sense of smell.

Problems with Losing Your Sense of Smell or Taste

Your senses of smell and taste have a close relationship. If you lose one sense, it can affect the other. And losing one or both senses can cause problems that viral TikTok cures like the Jamaican Orange Remedy claim to fix.

When you lose your sense of smell or taste, it can affect how you enjoy foods and fragrances. However, it can also cause deeper issues with regard to safety.

Consider some potential problems.

Food safety

If you lose your sense of smell, you may not be able to detect when food goes bad. Now, you may be able to taste if there’s an issue, but that can still put you at risk of getting sick.

And if you also lose your sense of taste, you may eat the food without knowing there’s an issue. Then, you could get even sicker and require medical treatment.

Being able to recognize when food is safe is crucial to your health and the health of others. If you have kids, you need to smell if their food is going bad.

While you can ask someone else to smell your food for you, that can be inconvenient. So if you want to get back to having a normal sense of smell, viral TikTok cures can be tempting.

Recommended Read: 10 Natural Ways To Help Treat a Dry Nose

Environmental safety

Your smell can tell you a lot about your environment. Of course, it can help you detect when things smell good, such as baking chocolate chip cookies in the oven.

But if you can’t smell, you also can’t detect problematic odors. So you could miss the smell of smoke or even a small fire. You may also miss out on gas leaks or other poisonous smells.

Being able to recognize these issues is especially important if you live alone. However, if you live with people but are ever home alone, you will also want to have a sense of smell.

Enjoyment

While it doesn’t have to do with your safety, you may have a few foods or drinks you like for their flavors. If you lose your sense of taste, you won’t be able to enjoy those things.

You can still consume them, but you might not find it worth it. Now, that doesn’t mean you should just eat to enjoy the flavors.

However, you may find it harder to eat if you can’t taste anything. When that happens, you might not get enough nutrients, like Vitamin A. So you could lose weight or experience malnourishment.

What Is Olfactory Training?

Olfactory training is an option you have to retrain your sense of smell or taste. You can use olfactory training to learn what things smell like, so it may help bring back your ability to smell.

Just as there are primary colors, there are primary odors that you can use for olfactory training. The primary odors are:

• Aromatic
• Flowery
• Fruity
• Resinous

Aromatic smells include lavender and cloves, while rose is an example of a flowery smell. Lemon and orange are fruity smells, and eucalyptus is a resinous smell.

By using these primary smells, you can trigger your olfactory nerves and your memory of the smells. Then, you can slowly regain your sense of smell.

Is There a Cure for Lost Taste and Smell after COVID?

While olfactory training can be helpful, you may want a specific cure if you lose your senses with COVID. Unfortunately, there isn’t a cure that will work for everyone.

The way to regain your senses depends on your situation. If your loss of senses is minor, some viral TikTok cures may be enough to help. However, you may need more help or time if your issue is more significant.

Either way, you should consult a doctor before trying any remedy to help. Your doctor can evaluate the extent of your smell and taste loss, so they can recommend specific treatments.

If your doctor says it’s okay, you can try viral TikTok cures or other home treatments, like the Jamaican Orange Remedy. However, always remember to be safe when doing things at home.

What Is the Jamaican Orange Remedy?

The Jamaican Orange Remedy gained popularity thanks to people on TikTok. Some users claim the remedy helped them get their sense of smell back after getting COVID-19.

Now, this hack won’t work for everyone. Unfortunately, there isn’t much evidence to suggest that the remedy is effective. In some cases, it may be just what you need, but it may not do anything for someone else.

Either way, consider what you need and how the trick works. Then, you can determine if you want to try it. If so, be sure to ask your doctor to verify that it is safe.

What you need

The Jamaican Orange Remedy doesn’t require many tools or ingredients. You may even have everything already in your home. But if not, you can get the ingredients from your local grocery store.

You’ll need:

• One orange
• A few teaspoons of brown sugar
• A gas stove

You also need to have a responsible adult to supervise. This hack involves a direct flame, so kids and teens shouldn’t attempt it alone.

Because of the direct flame, you may also want to use heat-safe tongs to handle the orange as it gets hot. That way, you won’t have to risk burning yourself. And you will need a bowl handy to use after you finish burning the orange.

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How it works

Once you gather all of your supplies, you will need to turn on the gas stove. You can put the orange right over the stove without any pot or pan. Keep an eye on the orange as you burn it and rotate it with tongs or another tool so that the entire peel turns black.

Then, grab a knife to cut off the peel and discard it. Use a fork or spoon to mash the orange in a small bowl. Next, add a bit of brown sugar to the hot orange.

Finally, you can eat the orange and brown sugar mix. Because orange is a fruity smell, it’s an excellent example of olfactory training. You may find that your senses of smell and taste come back.

Who can do it

Kids and younger teens shouldn’t be the ones to burn the orange or cut off the peel. An adult can do those steps, but anyone can eat the orange and brown sugar.

However, anyone who burns the orange should be careful. Make sure you keep any kids away from the open flame. Use any tools you can so that you don’t have to touch the orange.

Now, while anyone can eat the orange, you should know that this hack isn’t a guarantee. You may or may not get your senses back, and if you do, it may still take time.

Viral TikTok Cures FAQs

When attempting viral TikTok cures like the Jamaican Orange Remedy, you may still have questions.

Here are some popular questions and their answers so that you can learn as much as possible about the remedy.

Can eating burnt orange cure loss of taste or smell?

Eating burnt orange may help you get your sense of taste or smell back. However, it won’t work for everyone. You may need more olfactory training or more time to regain your senses.

Still, trying the Jamaican Orange Remedy is relatively safe. As long as you protect yourself from the open flame, you can make this remedy and give it a try.

It may or may not work, but at least you can enjoy a healthy, simple snack. If it does work, you can also get your senses back. But if it doesn’t work, you will only need to give up an orange and some brown sugar.

Is the Jamaican Orange Remedy proven to work?

Unfortunately, the Jamaican Orange Remedy doesn’t have any scientific proof that it works. While some people have personal stories about curing their senses, the stories are just that.

Now, that doesn’t mean you should discount all anecdotal stories. If you lose your sense of smell or taste, you can try a few things to get your senses back.

While this cure doesn’t have proven research, it can still help. At worst, you lose a bit of time and some ingredients. But at best, you may be one of the lucky ones who regains their senses.

Still, if that happens, the Jamaican Orange Remedy may or may not be the cause. It’s possible the remedy works, but you may also regain your senses because you’ve recovered and the congestion and inflammation have gone away.

Is it safe?

Another question to ask before trying viral TikTok cures is in regard to safety. Fortunately, the orange remedy isn’t a huge risk.

Of course, you do have to be careful around the stove and when cutting off the hot orange peel. However, eating a hot orange and some brown sugar isn’t an issue for most people.

As long as you aren’t allergic to either ingredient, you can safely eat it. But you may want to ask someone with a sense of smell to make sure the orange you use smells bad. But you can also look for mold and discoloration to know to avoid an orange.

Should you give it a try?

If you still can’t decide if this remedy is worth your time, talk to your doctor. They can talk to you about your symptoms related to your senses. Then, your doctor can determine if olfactory training is a good idea.

Once you decide olfactory training is good for you, you can ask about the burnt orange hack specifically. Your doctor can tell you if they think it’s the best option or if you should try something else.

And if your doctor leaves it up to you, don’t be afraid to try this remedy. Be prepared for it not to work, but you never know what can happen.

What if the remedy doesn’t work?

Whether you try the Jamaican Orange Remedy or other popular cures for your senses, you may not see success. Unfortunately, you can’t do much to get your senses back.

You can try other olfactory training options. Perhaps eating lemon will help you smell or taste fruits again. However, you may need to wait it out.

Give yourself a few weeks or months for your senses to return. If you still have issues, schedule a visit with your doctor. They may decide to run tests to see if your olfactory nerves have damage, which could be why you can’t smell or taste.

Recommended Read: 10 Most Effective Natural Remedies for Allergy Relief

To Try or Not to Try

Whether you use TikTok or hear about popular posts elsewhere online, you may have heard of some viral TikTok cures. Some claim the Jamaican Orange Remedy can help you get your sense of smell or taste back after COVID.

However, the cure doesn’t work for everyone. If you want to try it, be safe and talk to a doctor first. Then, you can decide if you want to do it or not.

Have you tried the Jamaican Orange Remedy or any other viral Tiktok cures? Tell us how it worked for you in the comments below.