Any one or combination of stress and anxiety factors, can cause phantom smells, which can be intermittent or persist for as long as the body is hyperstimulated.
Olfactory hallucination can be the first and only symptom in patients with anxiety disorder and may be effectively treated with anti-anxiety medication. In fact, it can precede the diagnosis of anxiety disorder by several years.
Phantosmia may be caused by a head injury or upper respiratory infection. It can also be caused by aging, trauma, temporal lobe seizures, inflamed sinuses, brain tumors, certain medications and Parkinson's disease. Phantosmia can also result from COVID-19 infection.
Phantosmia is not usually a cause for concern, and it often clears up by itself. It can also be a symptom of a more serious condition, so people experiencing phantom smells should see their doctor to check for underlying conditions or complications. The best treatment will depend on the cause of phantosmia.
In most cases, phantosmia isn't a cause for concern and will go away in time. However, in rare instances, it could indicate a more serious health condition, such as Parkinson's disease, stroke or a brain tumor.
a brain tumour in the temporal lobe could lead to sensations of strange smells (as well as other symptoms, such as, difficulty with hearing, speaking and memory loss)
Qualitative olfactory dysfunctions, such as parosmia and phantosmia, may be clinical conditions secondary to neurological diseases. The incidence of parosmia is underestimated, as well as its association with neurological diseases, due to poor self-reporting of patients and lack of objective methods for its measure.
The smells vary from person to person but are usually unpleasant, such as burnt toast, metallic, or chemical smells. Problems with the nose, such as sinusitis, or conditions of the nervous system or brain, including migraine, stroke, or schizophrenia can cause phantosmia.
As the olfactory senses are located in the frontal lobe, behind the eyes, it is vulnerable to damage in a traumatic brain injury. But the lesser talked about symptom of this is a distorted sense of smell, where you find regular odours offensive.
Medications: Antipsychotics, antimigraine medicine, and antiseizure drugs can all be used to treat phantosmia. Surgery: Olfactory mucosa excision surgery may relieve phantosmia while preserving olfactory function. Other: Transcranial stimulation and topical cocaine application have been used to treat phantosmia.
Many people with anxiety report smelling odd smells that other people do not smell. Other neurological and mental health conditions may cause phantom smells, including depression, migraine, brain injury, schizophrenia, and epileptic seizures.
Smelling things that aren't there is called phantosmia. It can be unpleasant and affect how things taste. But it isn't usually serious and may go away by itself in a few weeks or months. See your GP if the strange smell doesn't go away in a few weeks.
It Gets Tricky. Symptoms of anxiety produce very real physical symptoms: Dizziness, stomachaches, rapid heartbeat, tingling in the hands and feet, muscle tension, jitteriness, chest pressure, and the list goes on. These symptoms add fuel to the fire.
Anxiety Can Create Smell Sensitivity
If you start to notice that when you have anxiety you smell almost every negative smell around you, especially as you walk, or you feel as though you're smelling bad things that aren't actually there, you may have developed an increase in your smell sensitivity.
Sweating and body odor are common when you exercise or you're too warm. They're also common when you're feeling nervous, anxious or stressed. Unusual changes in sweating — either too much (hyperhidrosis) or too little (anhidrosis) — can be cause for concern. Changes in body odor also may signal a health problem.
It can occur in one nostril or both. Unpleasant phantosmia, cacosmia, is more common and is often described as smelling something that is burned, foul, spoiled, or rotten. Experiencing occasional phantom smells is normal and usually goes away on its own in time.
While aging is a common cause, phantom smells can be a sign of underlying medical conditions or endocrine disorders such as hypothyroidism. Hypothyroidism is a deficiency of thyroid hormones - thyroxine (T4) and triiodothyronine (T3).
Conclusions: Phantom odor perception may be a side effect of antidiabetic or antihyperlipidemic agents. Among people taking proton pump inhibitors, phantom odors may also be a consequence of gastric gas reflux.
Neurologists play an important role in treating many central causes of phantosmia, such as migraines, neurodegenerative disorders such as Alzheimer or Parkinson disease, and temporal lobe seizures.
Olfactory hallucinations
When an odor is reported but there is no stimulus, it is an olfactory hallucination. The perception of an odor by one person that is undetectable by others is called phantosmia. This is often due to a temporal lobe seizure, described as an uncinate fit.
A: Yes, hallucination can occur as a symptom of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD)! For example, one documented case of such a situation was with a a client who had olfactory hallucinations; she would smell the body odor of the man who molested her as a child.
Several conditions may cause a bad smell in the nose, including sinusitis, tooth/ mouth infections, dry mouth, some medications, some foods/drinks, and olfactory damage.
Pseudotumor Cerebri. This condition is not a brain tumor, but its symptoms mimic a brain tumor. Pseudotumor Cerebri most commonly afflicts obese adolescent girls and young women. Symptoms include headaches, blurred vision, dizziness, and a slight numbness of the face.