Brain injuries can have a dramatic impact on your life, and the way they manifest is different in almost every case. Different parts of the brain control vastly different parts of the body and the severity of the damage also plays a critical role. It is important to remember that the experience will not be the same for everyone.
That said, it is absolutely possible for a brain injury to have a profound impact on your sense of smell or your sense of taste. For instance, one woman had an accident that resulted in a traumatic brain injury, and she couldn’t smell or taste anything at all after the accident. The senses were just gone.
This isn’t uncommon. Some reports claim that about 25 percent of TBIs result in the loss of one or both of those senses. That’s one out of every four accidents, a staggering number.
The two issues are also related. Taste and smell are closely linked, and losing your sense of smell could cause your sense of taste to decrease or appear to be gone entirely.
Will the impact ever wear off? Will the brain heal so that the senses return? It can, but every case is unique. Sometimes, the loss is permanent. Sometimes, the brain finds new pathways and heals and the senses come back. Traumatic brain injuries are very hard to predict, and working with medical professionals quickly to get proper treatment is the best course of action.
Naturally, treatment is also very expensive. It is important for you to know if you have a right to financial compensation after an injury.
