I had a mild traumatic brain injury and lost my real sense of smell and taste. Meaning everything smells and tastes what it is not.
Sometimes I wish it is completely gone. You can see another thread where there are about 60+ members suffering and couple of them got the sense back. All of them had some form of head/brain injury and that is the tough one.
I talked to one clinic in Washington D.C. (Taste and Smell Clinic) and they have some extensive procedures, therapies, medications etc., Again it is a try. Medicine can do nothing much and all you can do is pray.
Smell comes from Cranial Never 1 (CN1). The front 2/3 of the tongue come from CN7 and the back 1/3 of the tongue comes from CN9. They all enter the skull through different routes, so the only common point for damage would be the brain itself. About 90% of taste is smell. The tongue can only perceive sweet, sour, salt, & bitter, the rest is all smell.
Bob
I fell from a horse a few weeks ago. Besides a broken ankle and severely injured knee, I suffered form a concussion as well. I only discovered the day after the accident ( after the nausea has taken a hike) that my smell and taste senses are limited. A weird, smokey, burned smell is stuck in my nose. I can taste salt and sugar, but no flavors. Doctors tell me it will heal in time. There is no treatment. But I pray to God that it will heal soon!!
I lost my sense of smell 19 years ago when I was pregnant with my first child and never got it back. Is there a surgery available to fix this?