I smell something that's not there

In My Humble Opinion
1

I guess I have [utl=http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phantosmia]phantosumia, or something like it. Every now and then, over the last 5 years or so, I can smell something, but I know it’s an illusion.

I know it’s not real for a number of reasons, the biggest one being that I can go anywhere and the smell remains. Also, it actually seems to me like the smell is in my nose, rather than outside me. In fact, it might even be.

I first noticed it later in the day after changing a printer cartridge, and assumed I’s snorted something by accident. I have allergies and pretty consistent sinus issues, so I sniff and blow my nose a lot. But the smell kept coming back, at varying intervals, and staying for varying intervals. I can be symptom free for many months on end, and then have a few weeks where I can smell it for days or hours at a time.

The smell is chemical – that is, it doesn’t smell like anything in nature that I’ve ever encountered. It’s not particularly unpleasant. Is it possible I did snort a granule of some chemical that gets encapsulated internally but eventually is uncovered?

The wiki page mentions smells in one nostril or another. That’s a foreign concept to me. I can only imagine what it’s like to smell something in one nostril but not the other – and not imagine it very well, at that. It never occurred to me that this is unusual. That said, my olfactory sense is not at all keen, thanks to my sinus issues. I’m quite used to things smelling like unrelated things to me simply because I’m (temporarily) unresponsive to a particular component of the smell. For example, Nachos and dirty socks sometimes smell quite a bit alike to me. Odd that I can enjoy Nachos at all.

How could I distinguish olfactory from gustatory?

Should I be worried? It’s not getting worse. I’d have to make a log to figure out whether or how much it’s getting better, over the years. It’s not a problem I’d need to fix. But is it a symptom of something I should be worried about?

(Of course, the obvious answer to any medical question is generally: “See a doctor!” Yeah, I know. Regardless, I’m interested in any information you might have to offer. Thanks!)

I doubt it’s related, but after any exercise, I tremble a lot (for example, when holding a soda can or trying to write). My wife thinks it’s getting worse; I’m not sure about that except that it takes a lot less to make it happen since I’m out of shape. The trembling is from the exercised muscles, but generally my forearms.

In general, I think I’m in very good health for a 56-yr-old man. Nothing aches, all the parts work pretty much as they should, etc. Oh yeah, I have had a few optical migraine symptoms, but never the pain that migraine sufferers mentioned, just “normal headaches” now and then (and not often).

2

I get a funny smell in my nose when I have a sinus or ear infection. Could that be related?

3

It is hard to say for sure, but it could be a symptom of some sort of neurological problem (like the “migraine auras”). Chances are (if it even is neurological) that it is both trivial and untreatable, but it might be wise to get it looked at.

The trembling thing doesn’t sound too good either. I am also very out of shape, and get out of breath easily, but I don’t tremble.

4

I’ve had olfactory hallucinations a good number of times in my life. They usually follow exposure to a strong odor, in emotionally agitated circumstances.

e.g., playing D&D at a friend’s house, where the family hadn’t changed the cat-box in far too long. I smelled phantom cat pee for the next few days.

An uglier story is that, following my mother’s suicide (by .357) I smelled phantom gunpowder for a week. I thought the odor had somehow gotten into my clothes, but finally realized it simply wasn’t real at all.

You may be familiar with the reverse scenario: exposure to a scent can trigger an emotional response, very often in the form of nostalgia. Every so often, I’ll get a faint whiff of the variety of perfume my grandmother used to wear, and I am transported to a strange and pleasant flashback to a distant and pleasant past.

5

I had a terrible sinus infection that sometimes smelled terribly chemical to me. I don’t remember having much doubt that I had an infection though. It might be worth getting checked out with an ENT Doctor.

6

We just had a thread about phantom smells about a month ago.

The general consensus in that thread seemed to be, it’s possibly a symptom of something serious and you should get it checked out.
I hear singing and there’s no one there.
I smell blossoms and the trees are bare.
All day long I seem to walk on air.
I wonder why. I wonder why.[indent]-- You’re Just In Love, from Call Me Madam with Ethel Merman[/indent]

7

FWIW, I experience this when I have seizures. (The small ones as well) If you have any other symptoms, or it’s happening frequently, talk to your doctor.

8

Thanks for the input. I’m confident it doesn’t correlate with anything physical, emotional, or with stress – it’s as random as can be. Also, no correlation to the other things, but more common than my (very rare) ocular migraines (which I think I’ve had a total of 5 times, the first about 15 years ago, and the last before the smell started.)

Regarding the trembling, I’ve been that way all my life. I suspect it seems worse to my wife just because I’m more out of shape lately.

9

My mood cycles, when I’m down I get a persistent smell, when I’m up I get a persistent taste. When I’m in between I get neither.

10

I was gonna make a dumb crack about burnt toast

But somehow now it seems dickish.

11

I agree that you need to discuss this with your Doctor, but IMHO, the smells are probably migrane related. I smell orange blossoms before getting an ocular migrane but sometimes I just get the scent and no flashing lights.

12

Sometimes when I am outside doing physical activity in warm weather and then I come into an air-conditioned house, I will smell a weird chemical-like smell (almost like ammonia but not quite) for about thirty seconds. I assume it is caused by the abrupt change in temperature inside my head, similar to the “brain-freeze” effect when eating ice cream.