Question: what happens to the brain when you get alzhimers (however its spelt)? if you lose your sense of taste and smell after hitting your head, what are the chances of it coming back? how long will it take? whats happened to the brain for this to happen?

Jen Todd Jones answered on 11 Mar 2013:

The spelling is Alzheimers! And it’s a kind of dementia (although there are other kinds of dementia like Lewy Bodies type). In dementia important cells in the brain start to break apart or don’t function as well, this means that functions from the whole brain are affected from taste and smell, to seeing and walking.

You tend to lose a sense of taste and smell after you’ve damaged the area of the brain just behind your eyes, this is where the nerves from your nose and mouth go to the brain. When you damage your brain there is some chance some parts can be recovered and regrow within a short space of time, but usually they are lost forever.