Changes in Taste, Smell, and Hormones After Brain Injury

I have been working through a TBI for two years now and have developed a smell of cigarette smoke. Is this something to be concerned about?

Got in an electric skateboard accident, fractured my left eye socket in 3 spots. Lost 2 months of my memory up to 2 weeks after my accident. What’s frustrating is that I told an MD specialist that my sense of taste has changed and my tongue feels numb, he got mad for not bringing it up sooner…HELLO! I was pretty much asleep for 2weeks after the accident. I don’t think I’ll ever get my sense of taste back but I’m still counting my blessing for it could have been a lot worse. To all the MD, have some compassion to your patients because we don’t know what the hell is going on with our body either.

Apprx 29 yrs ago I lost my taste and smell after a TBI. Within a few months I began to experience very distorted sense of taste that made eating very unpalatable- my recollection of taste that I remembered never returned and I began to classify tastes into categories so I could learn to distinguish or even to participate in conversation about taste. Nothing in my taste is like what it was before my TBI and truly the correct tastes have mostly left my memory - as for smells the same thing- I have a distorted sense or no smell at all - to this day I cannot smell skunk, perfume, flowers, tar among others, and some things I do smell are distorted so I never know what the hell it is until someone else identifies it and names it. Some smells I’ve learned to classify into their “new” smells. Like coffee, bleach and foods. Those things are not like the way they smelled previous to my TBI - I do emotionally miss many tastes and smells.

Can you smell blood with no signs of blood from nose after a TBI?

I had a concussion and brain bleed after a fall. All I smell is this metallic ( I think) very very strong smell. At times it’s almost unbearable. It makes my whole face hurt. What can I do? Will it ever get better.

I had surgery to remove a brain tumor in the left frontal lobe. The tumor was near the optic nerve, but the neurosurgeon never mentioned the olfactory nerve. Now, almost three months after the surgery, I constantly smell a very odd aroma. It started out right after surgery being very mild and usually only in the morning, but it's getting stronger and more unpleasant, and is now ever-present and distracting. I'm concerned it will eventually obliterate all other smells, ruin my sense of taste, and distract me from normal activities. If the brain injury is due to a tumor that was removed, will this get better? It just seems to be getting worse and worse.

After being told my husband Molested my adult daughter the end of May 1990, I immediately felt numb followed by serious sinus infection that turned into bronchial pneumonia. Experienced delayed response to pain as well. Three weeks later realized I’d completely lost my sense of smell & taste. Over the past 30+ years since then I’ve very slowly regained some sense of my sense of smell & taste. Recently while driving on country roads identified the disgusting odor of skunk. Six months to a year after losing sense of smell & taste I saw skunk roadkill & it smelled sweet & pleasant. Several years later I began using Zinc drops under my tongue. Some time after this I was walking on a beach & recognized the fishy smell of the ocean. I felt elated! Recently my family & I have been eating vegan, gluten-free & no sugar or dairy. It seems like I’m smelling & tasting more.

FYI ~ Have never smoked or drank any kind of alcoholic beverages, including beer, wine or hard liquors. Have been a vegetarian my entire life. The past year or two have eaten gluten-free a good deal, but not until the past couple weeks have gone entirely vegan, gluten-free. Seems these changes are favorable to improving my seemingly dead senses of smell & taste. LOL.

Be of good courage. There is hope. Asking the good Lord to aid in your healing is also a good idea. Have a blessed day!

I fainted in 8/2019, and loss my smell and taste, since then some smells and flavors are really offensive and gross example: I just to loved onions and garlic, and now I hate them!! They smell and taste horrible; I can't stand the smell of perfume, I don't know what to do to fix that. I need
Somebody with answers, helpppp.

November 2019 I met with an accident to brake failure in motor bike
I've been diagnosed with hemorrhagic concussion on temporal side
Since then I've lost my senses of smell and taste and I've problems in remembering I can't remember many things happening recently I can't remember few things happened within two years
Though I'm having a little bit of recovery in taste and smell still its not considerable enough
Will I become normal? Can I get back my senses? Please tell me the fact.l, so many people are giving me false hopes

Yes i loss taste and smell after big blow to the head from a bike accident. 20 years later i did some research and believe alpha lipoic acid helps - a cheap food supplement - also i once took prozac and that had an amazing effect but didnt like the slurred speech...

I had a brain injury and fractured skull about 6 years ago when I was in highschool. Had blood coming out of my right ear and no recollection of the events. I lost my sense of smell and taste 6 years ago but slowly over the years it has surprisingly gotten better... I went from not being able to taste anything what so ever to slowly regenerating my taste, I think the most notable time my smell increased was probably in the last few years. I would say currently, my smell is about 50-60% and taste is around the same but sometimes higher.. if I had my eyes closed and you put 2 light flavored things in my mouth such as macaroons, I wouldn't really be able to tell the difference. But burgers, chickens, pizza, I can tell the difference. Over the years I've kind of developed my own library of smells based on smells/tastes I remember in the past and also now. I can smell people, I now find comfort in smells such as my girlfriend, I can tell when she puts perfume on and all that. I now find myself craving certain foods compared to 6 years ago, I find enjoyment in certain foods such as chipotle or wanting to eat sushi and all that. There has been studies in the past where people slowly regenerate their senses over time, sometimes decades later. I just want to shed some light of hope for some of you that are out there, I may never check back at this again or maybe I will years later but I hope I can ease your situations a little. Years ago I thought I would never get anything back but slowly and gradually I started getting it back. I have no idea if I've reached my "peak" or maybe I'll still get more, but if it comes back slowly over 6 years I'm sure it can go a bit more.

My cousin met with an accident and blood came out on ear and he doesn't have any taste and smell if he smelled only blood smell is coming he's saying

After a fall downstairs in 2006 I lost my smell and taste, I always feel hot and my personality has completely changes. Nearly 15 years on and things have not changed, although I can tell if someone has a smoke or drinks coffee (I smell the same thing for both but it's not the actual smell you smell). I can now tell when my kids fart. I think over the years you adapt a really sweaty man was in a line of people and I could only smell sweaty fried onoins. You do also get chemical, burnt food and spices smells. I suck mints to help with this it happens every so often and can last weeks. Anyone the same??