I'm watching an old movie. On the tv it's night and there's diesel motor running and instantly I smell diesel fumes. 40 years ago I worked in the oilfields and often worked the night-shift loading and unloading oil pipe to be transported to cargo boats. The smell of diesel exhaust has remained in my memory all this time. And now I smell it as I watch this old movie.
Loss of smell is one of the symptoms of PD. What about the opposite? That is, smelling things that aren't real? I've had this symptom for 20+ years. Long before I was diagnosed with PD.
Losing the sense of smell occurs in the brain. For me it's called olfactory hallucination. But losing takes time. And before it's gone the brain might latch onto other memories of odors? Sort of says the brain is trying to make sense of what's going on?
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kaypeeoh
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. . . popped open the garage door after not having been there for a month. Wife immediately smelled the disgusting bag of garbage we forgot to dispose of before we left after our previous visit. Of course, I didn’t notice a hint of such! Sometimes a lack of that olfactory sense a good thing! lol
Yes, olfactory hallucination. I have not been diagnosed with PD, but a few years ago, before I was diagnosed with REM Sleep Behavior Disorder, I kept smelling burning diesel fumes in my house. My wife smelled nothing. Finally I had the furnace guy over to check my furnace.
He confirmed there was nothing wrong with my furnace. There were no fumes. It was then that I was sure I had some type of a problem.
My partner with PD got a ton of exposure to volatile organic compounds and exhaust in every possible form between age 16 and 30. Started out working as a filling station attendant in a truck stop with raw diesel fuel on his clothes next to his skin. Went on to work in the motor pool to pay for college, then at a large auto testing facility. VOC fumes are all over PubMed as a potential cause of PD. I wonder how they might have affected you?
Oddly enough, his case has been slow progressing (symptom onset 2009, dx 2011, started taking Azilect last month but no C/L and no assistive devices although his QOL would probably be better with both). And he still has a decent sense of smell. This disease is a complete mystery at times.
A common olfactory hallucination for several neurological disorders is smelling burnt toast. Recently, I've reduced my levodopa usage in an attempt to reduce dyskinesia. In the process, I've dropped below the therapeutic threshold and some of my PD symptoms came back. Surprisingly, the smell of burnt toast was one of those symptoms. I never had that symptom before. Raising my levodopa dose made it go away again. Never a dull moment with PD, I guess.
Years ago when I was first diagnosed I would smell cigarette smoke all day every day at work in a non-smoking office and in the evenings at home. It's been at least 10 years since I've experienced that to that degree. However on rare occasions I will smell cigarette smoke if I see someone smoking on TV.
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