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Stroke and Sense of Smell
We just celebrated our second Thanksgiving since Steve’s stroke, and it was wonderful. The stroke had damaged cells in the temporal lobe of his brain which affected his sense of smell. Last year most cooking smells were nauseating to him, even though they were his favorite foods. But I am happy to say that this Thanksgiving he enjoyed those fragrant aromas.
Nineteen famil
y members and friends crowded our dining area and indulged on the two turkeys, delicious customary dishes and several pies. It was a wonderful time as we celebrated our many blessings and the goodness of God. And I was especially thankful that Steve was still with us and that his sense of smell has normalized.
I don’t know of any other stroke survivors whose sense of smell has been affected by their stroke, but I do know one man whose stroke changed his sense of taste and made all of his food taste metallic. Needless to say, he didn’t enjoy eating. These are neurological conditions that usually don’t improve after stroke, so I’m so glad it did in Steve’s case.
Certain smells still bother Steve, like hairspray, nail polish, lotions and potpourri. But they did before the stroke too. Interestingly, his cologne, paint or his pipe smoke don’t bother him at all. So go figure that! Ma
ybe the way the stroke affected his sense of smell was to make it user-selective.
When he started rehab right after the stroke, he would get so fatigued. During his therapy sessions one physical therapist would always say to him, “That’s enough, you’re toast.” She said that so many times that whenever he got really tired, he could actually smell toast. No there wasn’t any toast, but his brain told his nose that there was. He was psychologically programmed to associate toast with fatigue. His sense of smell was affected this way well after he came home, and right before a nap he often asked me if I was making toast. It’s amazing how powerful our words are. Our tongue holds the power of life and death! Let’s use them to bring life into a situation.
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dear kathy, I am a 63yr old married male who suffered a brain bleed a year ago. Since then many smells, either real or imagined, are truly driving me to the edge. I seem to smell things like fragrances in laundry soap, air fresheners, room deodorisers, etc, the smell of cooking (turkey for example) and even cooking a potato in the toaster oven. I threw all out all cleaners with fragrances and rewashed everything, I even bought a new Tide product designed to remove scents from the washer itself. Still, there are a million scents floating around this house; I cannot even lay my head on my pillow to escape. My wife I feel, doesn’t totally believe me and I don’t blame her. I sound completely crazy.
December 12th, 2011 at 12:27 amRick, you are not crazy. The stroke obviously affected the part of your brain that controls your sense of smell. Steve was very sensitive too, but not quite as severe as you. However, his sensitivity to those smells is wearing off as time goes on. I was so happy that he enjoyed this last Thanksgiving including all the cooking smells. Certain things still really bother him including fabric softener and scented candles. But yet he can wear cologne and it doesn’t affect him at all. Go figure!
December 13th, 2011 at 10:38 pm