Transient Ischemic Attack (TIA) and Sensory Changes: Understanding Smell Alterations

All senses, including smell, depend on the brain's getting enough blood. A decrease in blood flow inside the brain can produce sensory deficits, permanent in the case of a stroke, fleeting in a TIA.

Definition

• TIA means "transient ischemic attack" and is a neurological deficit that has a vascular cause, states "Taber's Cyclopedic Medical Dictionary, 19th Edition."

Closer Look

• "Ischemic" refers to insufficient blood flow, "vascular" to the circulatory system. A TIA involves temporary dysfunction of cells in a part of the brain due to insufficient blood flow to that area.

Smell

• If a TIA affects the olfactory bulb, it could alter smell. By definition, however, no TIA has any neurological deficit lasting over 24 hours, notes the book "Understanding Pathophysiology," by Sue Huether and Kathryn McCance.

Common Symptoms

• Common TIA symptoms do not involve smell. They may include rapid onset of weakness or numbness in a limb, speech or writing impairments (aphasia), and visual field cuts, note Joyce Black et al in their book "Medical-Surgical Nursing, 6th Edition."

Other Symptoms

• If the TIA involves the brainstem, common symptoms include vertigo, difficulty uttering words, visual difficulties such as double vision, difficulty swallowing, and defective muscular coordination, observe Black et al.