Anosmia or Loss of Smell from Brain Injury

Hello! I’ve noticed several folks on this site who have phantosmia along with their anosmia. After my head injury 9 years ago, I became anosmic. Several months into my recovery, I developed phantosmia (phantom smell/taste- most often noxious). Mine was 24/7 and greatly affected the quality of my life. Tried everything, but nothing could take the smell/taste of burned rubber, metal, cigarettes, rotting flesh, and soap away. My neurologist decided to try putting me on gabapentin (neurontin), to see whether that would interrupt the incorrect electrical signals from the brain that he felt was causing this. The initial dose had no effect. He had me slowly increase the dose to the highest “safe” dosage, and it worked! Thankfully, I tolerated the drug well, and it was as though I had my life back. Obviously I did not want to have to take six pills each day for the rest of my life, so I was hopeful when he speculated that he felt the disorder would resolve within a couple years. It took two years, but I was finally able to stop taking gabapentin. I have no remaining sign of phantosmia UNLESS I am way overtired (like poor sleep for days) and stressed- in such rare instances, I have noticed glimmers of phantosmia creep back, but disappear as soon as I get more sleep and relax! Hope this helps!

I had a seizure in December of last year and fell down the stairs at my apartment and hit my head on the concrete ground. I was lucky one of my neighbors heard me outside and called for help. I got a blood clot in my brain and they had to operate it and drain the blood out of my head and there was a lot of bruising. I lost my smell too but it took some time before I even realized it. I could still taste things all right though. Maybe 3 or 4 months after my accident I realized I could smell certain things like car exhaust and it's stronger and nauseating than I remember it ever being before. I also started to notice some minor differences in taste like coffee and it tastes different now and I can smell it a little but it has a different smell to it than before. It's been a few months shy of a year since my accident and I still can only smell certain things but nothing smells the same anymore. I guess since it's been this long I may never regain my smell like before but a Dr did tell me though that the cells responsible for smell can regenerate themselves...

I’ve had anosmia for 29 years due to a head injury. I sometimes get what I call ‘phantom smells’. I always wonder if it has to do with an actual aroma that is not noticeable to others or a psychosomatic trigger. A perceived unpleasantness, since mine are hard to describe. Sometimes it might be very organic like the smell of healthy tissue that a surgeon might experience. Kind of weird but not bad. Other times it/they can seem almost acid-meets-sour aerosol. Example: my grandkids and dirty diapers. I don’t change them, but I know they’re around until they go to the dumpster outside. Odd...
Thanks for letting me vent

I fell down the stairs 1 1/2 months ago. I have a smell of an astringent odor 24/7. I can taste and smell other things...but this odor stays with me. It is not unpleasant but won’t go away. I am told this condition can be permanent.

hello I was hit on the head nearly 6 months ago with a wheel brace and suffered a sub arachnoid brain heamorrage and then as I fell to the floor I fractured my skull also,I havnt been able to smell or taste since but sometimes I get a strange chemical smell that I can't quite put my finger on I suspect reading these comments il never gain it back I worry about the safety aspect of it like fuel leaks or house fire,I'm 39 now but I'm worried il never smell cut grass again my daughter's hair or the perfume my wife used to wear 18 years ago when we 1st met my docs have said il gain it back within 6 months but I'm only 2 days away from the 6 month period,but don't get me wrong I'm lucky to still have my sight hearing a speech as the docs said I'm very lucky but I sincerely hope it returns and you guys also regain some.thanks

Yes. I was wanting to know this. I hit the back of my head hard and so I went on with my life but I had lost my sense of smell if you can help me

I had no trauma or accident to the head. I woke up one morning and thought it was weird I couldn’t smell my breakfast..shrugged it off thinking maybe sinuses, (which I never have allergy issues or anything) 2 weeks passed maybe I was sick with respiratory issues or something.. couple months passes still nothing.... checked with my doctor and was sent to ENT. no polyps, blockage or anything. They did a scan of my head and found a pituitary tumor... my olfactory nerves aren’t damaged or anything perfectly fine and some Neuros say the tumor can cause it but some say it’s not related.... I have phantom smells all the time like pizza but I also get an ammonia smell that’s terrible. I’m also having other health issues going on idk if it’s related or not... numb tongue, migraines, left sided body numbness, burning, pain... my fingers/hands and toes turn a pale bluish color and are ice cold at times... I now have an overactive pancreas, walking up stairs now is a struggle I get short of breath, tight chest, short of breath, nausea, and dizzy. ALLLL of this started after losing my smell.... there probably more I didn’t mention that’s going on but no one can tell me what is causing any of this.... they want to send me to Vanderbilt and get check for any type of nerve damage throughout the body and other brain issues but I don’t understand if my olfactory is fine and no trauma why I can’t smell... it’s now been 6 years of no smelling and 2 gradually since then more things have came along and still continues to... idk what to do....

My Father slipped and fell down, which lead to a hemorrhage in the front left side of the head near the brain that developed into a blood clot. The clot is cured now and the CT Scan showed still some impacts (black marks in CT film) are there in the clot area. He is back to home and now says he couldn't sense the smell of any food or drinks. But he can identify the taste whether it is bitter or sweet or salt or spicy. Is this related to any serious issue? Please someone let me know about this. Thanks in advance.

I just hit my head about 30 days ago and noticed immediately a huge change, coffee doesn't taste like anything but hot water, I feel like I'm under water half the time, salads are ok to eat and some breakfast items..... Cherries taste like rubber bands and Mountain Dew was very strange to drink.... The thing I miss already is my scent.....

When I was 9 years old I was in an accident at school. I was injured when I slid into a concrete wall head first. My skull was fractured. This was 50 years ago.
Since the accident I have had no sense of smell at all and very little taste. Every thing has always been slightly off. I eat foods based on texture not taste.
I found this article interesting and I sure hate that others suffer with this as well. But at least I’m not alone.

Hi all, I slipped on some ice and concussed myself a couple of months ago and now have post concussion syndrome. I didn't notice the loss of taste and smell until about 3 days after the accident...prob due to not really sensing anything past the blinding headaches! I have terrible brain fog, fatigue and constant tinnitus too. As in other posts it is the constant weird burnt plastic smell/taste that is quite depressing and puts you off eating anything. Anyway, reading some of the sites, I wondered if my sense of smell or taste would return but I have been having some sessions with a cranial osteopath and I was quite sceptical whether they would help but after the one last week I could detect if a food was sweet, bitter or spicy and after today's session I can actually detect strong smells and I am sure that I can taste more flavours. it is early days but I now have hope. I know that some of you have had issues that have lasted years and results of different 'cures' are prob dependent on the type of damage done but alternative therapies can sometimes help where trad medicine can't. good luck to you all.

I fractured my skull about five months ago. And had bad bleeding of the brain. A few weeks later noticed I couldn't taste food or even smell it. Everything just tastes like metal

I lost my sense of smell after a seizure 8 months ago. The only scent that has benefits for me is menthol smell. It opens up my sinuses when my allergies are acting up

2012 I slid down a handrail on my butt in Manhattan from the street down to the subway station. Unfortunately I had been drinking and my pants were extra slippery. Basically I leaned too far backwards and whiplashed the back of my head into the ground at the bottom of the steps. Needless to say, not a single person on that 86th and Lexington station stopped or even asked if I was okay. I thought I was about to die but somehow was conscious the entire time, I think. I had a multicolored half moon shape appear and all the colors were moving and I figured I had some sort of brain bleed. I had hit my head before but never to this extent. I was with one good buddy and he asked if I was okay and I said “no” which surprised me because I think that was the first time I had ever said that. Because he’s quick on his feet, he took advantage of the situation and made my buy him more beer before we took a cab to the ER. He poured his beer into a big cup which he drank next to the doctor who was taking my tests haha! The doctor was clueless as to how bad my brain was doing but also had probably seen many drunk individuals come in with minor head trauma and figured this was similar. Remember, most people in life are wimps. The doctor sends me home and I go straight to sleep (bad idea FYI) and wake up the next morning hungover so I start drinking coffee and notice I can’t taste a thing. Long story short I was unable to taste or smell anything for about two weeks. I quit drinking and only ate and drank healthy foods. I wasn’t too concerned with loosing these senses but I was very much depressed which definitely sucked. Also I had a headache for a week or so at least. Also some out of this world alien slime came out of my nose one day a week or so after the accident. It was brown and the consistency I cannot explain. It was like jello but different. Very bizarre and that freaked me out. After two weeks of not tasting anything and eating healthily I was eating a chicken breast and noticed I tasted something not even remotely close to chicken breast. It tasted like vomit mixed with steel. Really the worst taste ever. And after that everything’s else started tasting like vomity steel. But I still didn’t really care about that because I’ve never been a huge foodie. It did start getting my hopes up though because at that point I realized that I had crumpled my olfactory nerve, rather than severed it. I was still mainly concerned with the fact that I had lost interest in all my hobbies (except listening to music). Belieber still sucked so I knew my music taste had not faultered. Anyways slowly, very slowly I mean I started tasting foods KIND OF the way they used to taste. Like for a second I would taste it the real way instead of the vomit steel. And that one second became two seconds and I would start to taste different foods. That slow process took about two years for me to get what I consider being 90% of my smell and taste back. Now 6 years later I’m back doing all my old hobbies again and have my taste and smell probably about 99% back. You have to train your brain to taste and smell again. Try really hard to remember what something tasted and smelled like and TRY to taste that. That’s how I regained my senses. And be patient. Occasionally (very rarely now) I still get phantom smells of something burning. But not NEARLY as bad or long lasting as before. One time I had it so bad a couple months after I hit my head that I thought my room was on fire so I searched the entire room thinking I would find scorching flames. Needless to say everything was normal. Anyways I hope my story can give some of you hope. When I was doing all sorts of research about this phenomena after hitting my head and feeling down about everything I think I would have felt some sort of comfort in reading someone else’s story. Now I’m back to skydiving, powder skiing, just got engaged, and totally killin it at life! Keep your naugin safe. Wear a helmet.

I had an accident around 11 months ago , I was a pedestrian who got hit by a car, I was 18 at the time . I suffered a subdural hematomma as well as a hemmorage in the brain and as a result of this TBI I lost my sense of smell which impacted my sense of taste also . At the beginning when the swelling was still there , I couldn't smell or taste a thing! Around 2-3 months later I begun burping randomly , it wasn't a normal burp ... every time I burped I felt this disgusting taste/smell .. almost like rotten eggs and some sort of gas , somehing that I cannot explain in words. Everything I put into my mouth after that tasted like what I had smelt/tasted when I burped and I found it hard to eat .. I realised that dry foods such as crackers also had that horrible taste but the taste wasn't as intense. I later on got used to eating everything with the horrible taste still there . one thing I cannot eat though is anything orange flavoured ... it tastes exactly how a damp dog smells ... picture that if you can. I can taste sweet, bitter, sour or spicey but I cannot make out what I am eating as I cannot smell a thing .... all these flavours also mix with the disgusting flavour I mentioned previously ... it just all makes no sense , it's terrible but I've learnt to live with it and I'm managing pretty well . Chocolate is something that I cannot eat also , tastes like how soil smells with a mixed in flavour of that horrible smell that never seems to go away .