Phantom Smell

Claire · August 22, 2005

Has anyone on this forum experienced 'phantom smell' otherwise known as 'olfactory hallucination'? This is thought to be a sign of partial seizures. I have had this for many years though it is infrequent - often even years between episodes. An episode consists of brief sensations of a smell that is obviously not actually present. These last seconds and occur every few minutes or sometimes at longer intervals. Episodes may go on for a few days - as long as a couple of weeks - then the sensation disappears to come back some other time. Rather weird.

I am lucky - what I smell is not unpleasant (I cannot identify it). Some people have actually become suicidal because the smell was so intolerable - making it impossible to eat or sleep.

If anyone out there has experienced this I would like to hear from you. I have never spoken with anyone else with this bizarre symptom. Claire

skbird · August 22, 2005

This doesn't quite fit me but I have had several episodes of smelling something concrete then smelling it everywhere for the next day or so. Worst case was when we saw a cat that got hit by a car right in front of us, and for the next two days I could smell it at the oddest moments. In fact, during that time I was undergoing diagnosis for bipolar (which in the end I wasn't) and my doc thought I was having psychotic episodes and put me on a med for it! (risperidol).

This happened again recently, I can't think for the life of me what it was, but something like a food I'd eaten, and I could smell it repeatedly for about two days in the oddest moments.

Stephanie

cgilsing · August 22, 2005

I myself have not had experienced phantom smells, but I have an epileptic friend who claims to always smell cucumbers before she has a seizure. You mentioned partial seizure in your post....what is a partial seizure? Do you have any history of epilepsy? It is a blessing for my friend too, because when she smells cucumbers she knows to get to somewhere safe. That's some really interesting stuff!

Canadian Karen · August 22, 2005

That reminds me of a commercial that used to be on here in Canada. It is one of our "Part of our Heritage" series of commercials. It had a woman who always smelled burnt toast just before a seizure came on, and in the commercial it showed a Canadian brain surgeon operating on her brain and touching different parts of her brain until she identified that she smelled burnt toast (yep, she was wide awake!!! ). He then corrected or removed that part of her brain.....

Karen

kvogt · August 23, 2005

For a few months prior to diagnosis, I had the experience of getting whiffs of an amonia-like odor. Went away a few months into the diet.

jknnej · August 25, 2005

I get that when my reflux is acting up badly for some reason. Or when I get a sinus infection; then it's really bad. Stuff smells foul and sometimes I even ask people if they smell that. They think I'm crazy!

Carriefaith · August 25, 2005

Has anyone on this forum experienced 'phantom smell' otherwise known as 'olfactory hallucination'? This is thought to be a sign of partial seizures.

I would talk to your doctor about this. This may be a sign of a seizure which is a complication of celiac disease. Open Original Shared Link

That reminds me of a commercial that used to be on here in Canada. It is one of our "Part of our Heritage" series of commercials. It had a woman who always smelled burnt toast just before a seizure came on, and in the commercial it showed a Canadian brain surgeon operating on her brain and touching different parts of her brain until she identified that she smelled burnt toast (yep, she was wide awake!!! ohmy.gif ). He then corrected or removed that part of her brain.....

I remember that commercial too

Those commercials can be educational!