During recovery, a good number of brain aneurysm survivors complain of having a diminished sense of smell or taste. This can be irritating and unfortunately, it does not help reduce the anxiety that you are already suffering from. You want to be normal, you want to be able to smell that coffee and enjoy your steak without having to load it up with salt!

We know that the brain is very complex and controls just about all the functions in the body. When a brain aneurysm ruptures, the blood starts leaking into the brain. Depending on the location, quantity and duration of the blood that is leaking, several functions that the brain controls in the body becomes affected.

Diminished sense of smell and/or taste occurs due to the leaking blood that irritates the nerves that control these senses. If the aneurysm did not rupture, smell and taste deficits can occur if the aneurysm compresses the surrounding nerves. Unfortunately, these deficits may not get better with time.