Only You Smells Smelly



Does you mom's apple pie smell more like pizza pie lately? Rather than blaming your mother, you may want to look to your own nose. You may have the classic sign of DYSOSMIA, a distorted sense of smell. But if your local greenhouse smells more like an outhouse, it may signal CACOSMIA, a condition in which things smell putrid or fecal to you but perfectly fine to others.

And if you are the only one in a room who smells something. It is probably a sign of PHANTOSMIA or PHANTOM  ODORS. Unlike phantom visions, which often involve cute animals or beautiful scenes, phantom odors are usually far from pleasant. In fact, for the most part, they are downright disgusting. Phantosmia sufferers describe such revolting smells as rotting flesh, feces, and vomit that seem to come out of nowhere.

In some people, the phantom odors may signal schizophrenia or other psychiatric disorders. In these cases, the sufferers are likely to have visual and auditory hallucinations or other serious psychiatric signs as well.

Like hypersensitivity to smell, phantom odors, dysosmia, and cacosmia can be normal signs of pregnancy. But if you are not pregnant, they may signal epilepsy. Indeed, some people experience an odor aura just before a seizure. Interestingly, distorted or odd odors, as well as phantom odors, also can be signs of a certain type of epilepsy in which no seizure occur. They might also be harbingers of an impending migraine.

As might be expected, all these odor disorders can signal olfactory nerve damage, which can be caused by many of the same things, including infections, head trauma, surgery, environmental toxins, and drugs, that lead to loss of smell.

If the underlying condition can be treated, the smell distortions or hallucinations will probably disappear. But getting an early, accurate diagnosis is a key.

Severe odor disorders, such as those that make food smell rotten all the time, can so disrupt quality of life that they can lead to serious depression. A report from univeristy surgeon said that almost half of his patients who suffered from smell distortions had seriously contemplated suicide.