Loss of smell and taste after head injury

My neurologist told me, Monday that if the smell and taste doesn't return after or within 3 months, it's NEVER coming back. This is super difficult to live with. I caught the microwave on fire, filled the house up with smoke. Whole house was sooty. Everything tastes like wax paper.
Smell thera[y isn't working. I can't tell if milk or food has turned sour. In June I could smell one type of rose, but not lilacs or other flowers, I had hope. Now, no hope.

I started taking B 12 for nerve regeneration. It's helped my energy.
Isn't there something out there to heal olfactory nerve and cubiform plate ?

My neurologist told me, Monday that if the smell and taste doesn't return after or within 3 months, it's NEVER coming back. This is super difficult to live with. I caught the microwave on fire, filled the house up with smoke. Whole house was sooty. Everything tastes like wax paper.
Smell thera[y isn't working. I can't tell if milk or food has turned sour. In June I could smell one type of rose, but not lilacs or other flowers, I had hope. Now, no hope.

I started taking B 12 for nerve regeneration. It's helped my energy.
Isn't there something out there to heal olfactory nerve and cubiform plate ?

It’s a mystery to me and my neurologist couldn’t provide any promises either. He said give it time. I’m not expecting too much before 6-12 months. I suppose the cause of the smell/taste loss influences how permanent it might be. All I know is that my smell and taste haven improved significantly since I began B12 treatment for a couple of months. I have no proof it’s related, but it sure seems coincidental.

I sure hope there is improvement for you. I will retain my hope indefinitely.

CORRECTION to post, My smell/taste HAS improved.

My neurologist told me, Monday that if the smell and taste doesn't return after or within 3 months, it's NEVER coming back. This is super difficult to live with. I caught the microwave on fire, filled the house up with smoke. Whole house was sooty. Everything tastes like wax paper.
Smell thera[y isn't working. I can't tell if milk or food has turned sour. In June I could smell one type of rose, but not lilacs or other flowers, I had hope. Now, no hope.

I started taking B 12 for nerve regeneration. It's helped my energy.
Isn't there something out there to heal olfactory nerve and cubiform plate ?

Hi Loss of taste and smellers !

It's Jan 2025, and I'm still without taste and smell. Everything tastes like wax paper OR onions and garlic taste vile, as does coffee. I joined Monell a research group for loss of taste and smell and a support group for the same loss. Thanksgiving was hard, as was Christmas. I am saving money by not eating out. Is there anything else I can do ? I do my own scent therapy by sniffing Essential oils : rose, lemon, cloves, eucalyptus- but peppermint is an odd rotten smell- like toothpaste is horrid, as is the oil in lipsticks. Doe sanyone know why I smell bad, rotten smells after a TBI one year ago ?

HI,
I, personally don't have BO or a bad smell.
My sense of smell is aware that some things smell bad / rotten. I walked out to my lanai in HI, and there was a smell. (I can't smell flowers or salt air) I asked my husband to identify the smell. And he said it was MMJ. I know what that smells like, I live in Denver , the Mile High City. But to me it was an unidentifiable odor. When I walk out of the Denver house, I sniff the air, and one day, there was a smell i can't identify. I asked husband and he said it was a chemical smell. This is January, so they are not spraying for ash borer or mosquitos.
Losing my sense of taste and smell is better than Ozempic. I'm down 40 pounds. I force myself to eat a navel orange, and there is nothing- no orange no smell no taste. It's very discouraging. The smell of onions and garlic is stench of dear rat. Some restaurants, I can't even go into bc it's in the air. My own cooking is now bland. Forget starbucks, truck stops, church lobbies where they serve coffee. Stench of dead rat. I can go on and on, but I won't.

It's not really a support group. I just found a nose research group- all PhDs and they said this was all normal in head injured populations.

It helps some when one can't taste things to have more texture and temperature variation in food, so at least you have those sensations. With me, the grieving process takes about 1.5 years with a major loss. My TBI was 31 years ago, and my olfactory bulbs were impacted by the injury. It took a few months to be able to taste anything, and then it was butter, chicken, and chocolate. Didn't do much for controlling my weight, but did bring to mind the "everything tastes like chicken" joke. After a year and a half I started to taste more things, but the complexity and strength of flavor was muted. After 8 years I could taste most things, enough that I didn't know what I was missing. Beef was the last. I still can't tolerate the smells of cigarettes or perfume, and am probably not detecting some odors. Smell and taste are a major (hopefully temporary) loss, hopefully you can fill that space by finding fun interests, hobbies, or other escapes.