According to a study published in Chemical Senses in 2002, the first experience of phantosmia is seen between the ages of 15 and 30, and more in women than in men.
Phantosmia odors are often bad odors, and some people who experience this condition describe this smell as the smell of feces or sewage, while others describe it as the smell of smoke or chemicals. These experiences can be triggered by a change in the airflow entering through the nasal openings, or by a loud noise. When it first appears, the imaginary smell in question can last for several minutes, and these experiences can occur daily, weekly, or monthly for up to 1 year.
Reducing Quality Of Life
Because our sense of smell largely determines the flavor of food in our mouth, any food consumed during a period of smell hallucination will be colored by the properties of that smell. It is not difficult to predict the damage these symptoms will cause to a person's quality of life. In more extreme cases, these experiences are even known to trigger suicidal thoughts.
People who experience Phantosmia often report these experiences as another closely related case, known as "parosmia". Parosmia, on the other hand, is a different state of perception of an existing smell. For example, perceive the smell of roses as the smell of cinnamon.
But both phantosmia and parosmia are known as "qualitative (qualitative) olfactory disorders" that cause olfactory quality to change. On the other hand, quantitative disorders, on the other hand, are conditions in which the severity of odors changes, including conditions such as anosmia (loss of sense of smell) and hyperosmia (abnormal level of sense of smell). Quantitative disorders can be measured using an objective standardized test. It is rare for someone to experience an olfactory hallucination with no other present quantitative disorder (such as anosmia).
In Whom Is It More Common?
According to a study published in Chemical Senses in 2002, the first experience of phantosmia is seen between the ages of 15 and 30, and more in women than in men. Findings have also been found in a number of different patient populations, including those with depression, migraines, epilepsy and schizophrenia.
Pahntosmia rates vary between 0.8% and 25%, and are more common in people who already have an olfactory disorder. The causes of the case are not yet fully known, but it is thought to be caused by central brain regions involved in smell detection, including the centers that control emotions or the environmental regions associated with smell function.
Some people suggest that applying saline drops (salt water) to the nose can alleviate these olfactory hallucinations of certain drugs used to treat existing neurological conditions, such as antidepressants and anti-epileptic medication (never use without doctor's advice!). In extreme cases, only after a comprehensive medical consultation, in some patients the olfactory bulb (in the image above: olfactory bulb) is surgically removed, but this is a very risky procedure and leads to permanent loss of smell. The good news is that phantosmia usually resolves spontaneously without the need for a treatment.
If you also start taking smells that other people can't get, you should contact your doctor immediately to see if you have other more serious disorders that can cause this smell hallucination. But also note that in the vast majority of cases, phantosmia is a harmless condition rather than a symptom of an underlying serious condition.