Phantosmia?

[greaterexp]

Has anyone experienced an olfactory hallucination? Can MS cause this? I’ve never heard of this being associated with MS, but I do wonder, since MS has some bizarre symptoms.

[suzy20]

I have an extremely sensitive sense smell, especially during a migraine attack. Is this similar to what you are describing?

[erash in reply to suzy20]

suzy20 and greaterexp

I've heard of phantosmia as an aura with migraines and seizures.

Given the MS effects on the brain, I bet it could be a symptom of MS too. Is it a pleasant smell at least? Just baked chocolate chip cookies? 👃🍪

[jimeka]

greaterexp in what way do you mean? Taste, smell, touch? Blessings Jimeka 🦋 🌈

[Morllyn]

greaterexp , I have had that a few times. Around the end of last year I thought that I smelled👃a whiff of smoke, just a tiny whiff. I asked my husband if he had smelled it and he said no. It was so quick that I thought maybe I had imagined it. The second time it scared me!🔥 I checked everywhere and everything electrical in the house; every light bulb, plug socket 🔌, lamp, TV 📺, computer 💻, refrigerator, stove and dishwasher. I made sure that the smoke detectors were working and had fresh batteries 🔋! Nothing! It was so quick, like my brain did not recognize it until it was gone. My husband said that he smelled nothing, again. We had both been in our bedroom at the time, me on the bed with my iPad and him sitting at the computer. It happened about a half a dozen times, over about 2 weeks. About a month later I smelled a pleasant smell, cannot remember what it was now but I remember that it wasn’t something that we had in the house, like brownies or something like that.🍪🍩🍫

I have checked around the house, often, after the smoke incidents and even told my PCP about it. He always says that he never puts anything past what the brain can do and suspects the MS.

Who knows 🤷‍♀️!

[Jesmcd2 CommunityAmbassador in reply to Morllyn]

I have done that also Morllyn to the point of going flippen nuts trying to find the smell!😩

[goatgal]

greaterexp Oliver Sacks discussed this in one of his many books...which was a great relief to me since I have infrequently experienced both olfactory and auditory hallucinations. Hallucination is probably the best way to describe these as when they occur, I know they aren't real and are apparent only to me. I no longer would even mention them to my doctors because on the two or three occasions that I have (just out of curiosity, wanting to know what was going on), I was left with the impression that they though I was crazy. So, here's my theory for what it's worth: all of these hallucinations are memories somehow encoded in the chemical soup that bathes my brain so occasionally the scent of cumin, or lemon blossom, or basil floats past the nerve transmission to my nose, and voila, the scent is evoked. I have no idea whether this is a MS problem or something else. I have a brain scan next week, so perhaps the doctors will see a little machine in there sending out remembered scents and sounds.😜

[Jesmcd2 CommunityAmbassador in reply to goatgal]

Let us know how it goes goatgal ! If they find that lil machine in there let me know!😄

J 🌠👻

[jimeka in reply to goatgal]

goatgal please let us know how you get on with your brain scan. Sending big blessings and a hug, Jimeka 🦋 🌈 🤗 💐

[Jesmcd2 CommunityAmbassador]

starlight5 try a lemon drop.😊 The 1st time I steroid injections, a friend told me to try them. It takes the metallic taste out of your mouth.😊 it might work for you.

J 🌠👻

[Jesmcd2 CommunityAmbassador]

greaterexp I have smelled the smoke a few times, but I have to say that mostly I will smell a hint of a cigar, which my Papa used to smoke. And my Grandmother's perfume. Then I just feel a calmness.💕

Hard telling if MS causes this. Personally I just think it's my angels watching over us💕

~Hugs n Luvs ~

J 🌠👻

[greaterexp]

For a little over a year, I have on rare occasions smelled a whiff of cigarette smoke, but at none of those Times was a smoker anywhere around. It’s a little unnerving when it happens, but I guess it could be worse! If I smelled chocolate chip cookies, I’d want to bake them, and then I’d want to eat them...

[craftygranny]

I have experiencd that a few times. Once when I wad coming from a week of Salu Menidral I wad watching tv when a simi truck slammed on his brales I smelled the rubber burning. I often smell cigarette smoke also.

[BigMar7]

i have the opposite: I have lost my sense of smell unless it's really a bad smell. Guess I will tell my doc when I see him in February.

[greaterexp in reply to BigMar7]

I’m sorry that your sense of smell is gone. You’re evidently not alone in this.

[mhepler531]

I had pain in my jaw and the metallic taste over a weekend....also numbness in my tongue. Then that Monday, the Bell's palsy hit. That's how I started my MS road.....went to the ER and had an MRI that showed some white spots. Totally a God thing how I found out about the MS since I've never had a full on exacerbation....just frequent symptoms. That was five years ago. I'm grateful I've never had anything horrible, but I definitely have a lot of smaller things: heat sensitivity, vertigo, fatigue, etc.

[greaterexp in reply to mhepler531]

mhepler531 , MS is the strangest disease! We all have it, but none of us have the same symptoms, nor did each experience begin the same. It was a God thing for me that I bothered to go to the doctor for constant strange headaches, when I'd had migraines for years. The headaches were just the beginning of my first real exacerbation, though I didn't get an MRI until I had numbness and tingling in an arm. This olfactory hallucination happened rarely before the other symptoms began, but who would have taken that symptom seriously!

I hope you've recovered completely from the Bell's Palsy. Thanks for sharing your experience. We hope no one shares our icky experiences, but it does make us feel a little more "normal" to know others have such odd symptoms, too.