Has anyone else experienced olfactory hallucinations? Phantosmia?

[seamuspg]

Im wondering if anyone else has experienced this.

I’m really struggling to deal with this FND or whatever it is. Tonight I was laying in bed falling asleep to a Netflix show and I kept getting, in my right nostril, a really foul sewage like smell. I obviously got up smelled my bedding smelled my clothes smell my breath as any normal person would trying to figure out where it was stemming from. I laid back down watched about another five minutes and once again I caught a whiff. It comes for about five seconds and then it’s gone. I finally Google it and sure enough it comes back as Phantosmia which is olfactory hallucinations, often foul smelling, caused by temporal lobe epilepsy, Parkinson’s, amygdala dysfunction, etc…

I was diagnosed a month ago with FND. It is no exaggeration when I say I have had every damn neurological symptom that one can think of. Every time I get myself to a place where I accept my condition and know I can handle things, I am blindsided by a new symptom that I didn’t even know existed.

I am picking up on a pattern, I get about 5-6 days of relief, and then a flare up of symptoms that lasts for 7-10 days. This has been the pattern for the past five months . It obviously took me a while to recognize it as such. Many of the symptoms are ones I’ve had in the past but then something new always presents itself. Thankfully they do not all come at the same time and thankfully they do not all stay. But I am so defeated. I am obviously in a flareup right now dealing with hearing issues, burning hands, muscle twitches, and the smell issues. It feels like my brain is electrically charged/buzzing. My guess is this will play itself out for the next week and a half and then I will get four or five days where I believe I’ve made it through the last time , and I be made it to the other side!!! and then randomly one morning I’ll wake up with a finger twitching and I’ll know that it’s starting again…

A nice way to live.

[Misstea]

My experience with that symptom is fairly recent (It started in mid 2018) When I was getting migraines more often, I'd often smell that scent of butter and eggs cooking at work. The problem with that is that I was nowhere close enough to the cafeteria to smell something like that and when I did, it was far too late in the day for them to cook breakfast items. I usually suffered headaches when I smelled that scent.

Now, it still serves as a warning that I have little time to ward off a migraine.

[Denise1968]

I've heard of this happening after having covid. Most people just lose their sense of smell and taste but others go on to get that symptom and it can last for a long time. I hope it passes quickly never to return

[whirlygirl16]

Hi Yes I've experienced it, only I was smelling burning toast like a smoke smell. Mine thou was slightly different to you as it lasted for a few months and went away, then i didn't have it for months and months and it started again but went after a few weeks so mine seems to follow that route. I'm very much the same as you thou and have loads of neurological symptoms which i know are very hard to cope with, as you never know when they will flare up. If you're like me then any stress is the trigger. I know its horrible but take comfort that you're not alone. This site is brilliant if you're worried about anything as there is always someone on here to chat with who's going thru the same as you 🙂

[Orge]

Yes luv I have this smell constant but mine smells like gross cheese I have to use tissue with soap every other day.