People with parosmia may be unable to experience the full range of scents in their environment. Or the odors they detect smell “wrong.” For instance, warm cookies from the oven — which smell sweet and delicious to most people — might smell unpleasant and rotten to people with parosmia.
Phantosmia is a condition that causes you to detect smells that aren't actually in your environment. It can happen in one nostril or both — and the odors may be foul or pleasant. Common causes include colds, allergies, nasal polyps and dental issues.
Phantosmia may be caused by a head injury or upper respiratory infection. It also can be caused by aging, trauma, temporal lobe seizures, inflamed sinuses, brain tumors, certain medicines and Parkinson's disease. Phantosmia also can result from a COVID-19 infection.
Rinsing the inside of your nose with a salt water solution may help in the meantime to stop the strange smell.
A person with kidney failure may have breath that smells like ammonia or urine. Serious liver disease can make breath smell musty or like garlic and rotten eggs. Compounds that are transported through the blood can also be released through your sweat glands. That can make your armpits and skin smell bad.
a brain tumour in the temporal lobe could lead to sensations of strange smells (as well as other symptoms, such as, difficulty with hearing, speaking and memory loss)
If parosmia is a symptom of nasal polyps or a brain tumor, then your healthcare provider may recommend surgery. Sometimes, a surgeon can remove the damaged sensory receptors in your nose to restore your sense of smell. But this is a complex procedure and the risks often outweigh the benefits.
If your breath smells like acetone -- the same fruity scent as nail polish remover -- it may be a sign of high levels of ketones (acids your liver makes) in your blood. It's a problem mainly of type 1 diabetes but also can happen with type 2 if you get a serious condition called diabetic ketoacidosis (DKA).
The first signs of parosmia are usually felt in the experience that food is “off”. Because the experience is so unexpected, it is common that the condition is initially associated with spoiled food or other environmental factors as we have noted elsewhere [6].
Treatment: Usually, drinking lots of fluids is advised, and so is using a saline nasal spray. If you live in a dry climate, then you can get a humidifier or a vaporiser to provide sufficient moisture to your nasal cavity.
Olfactory reference syndrome (ORS), also known as olfactory reference disorder, is an underrecognized and often severe condition that has similarities to obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) and body dysmorphic disorder (BDD). People with ORS think they smell bad, but in reality, they don't.
Sweat is a combination of water, salt, and other chemicals. When it comes into contact with bacteria on the skin, it produces an odor. fungal infections: Fungal infections thrive in warm, moist areas, such as the groin area and inner thighs. They can cause a red, itchy rash and produce an unpleasant odor.
Sinuses become infected when small particles such as dust, pollen, or animal dander enter the nasal passages and become trapped. This can cause inflammation, which leads to a buildup of mucus and bacteria in the sinuses. As the bacteria and mucus accumulate, they produce a foul odor that can smell like rotten eggs.
Still, it's possible that things like diet, medical conditions or a bacterial buildup on the skin could be causing odor, Kopelman says. Hyperhidrosis, the medical term for excessive sweating, could also contribute, because bacteria thrives in moist environments.
Chronic sinusitis is a persistent condition, with symptoms that include: Nasal obstruction that blocks airflow in one or both of your nostrils. Thick and/or foul-smelling or tasting nasal discharge or postnasal drip. Loss of smell.
A strong onion-like odor may not always be a sign of an STI and could instead be caused by other factors like body odor, diet, or a forgotten tampon. Other causes of onion-like vaginal odor are: Poor hygiene: Excess discharge or improper cleaning after urination.
Smelling smoke, or experiencing phantom smells that are not actually present, can be a symptom associated with certain types of brain tumors. These olfactory hallucinations, known as phantosmia, can occur when a tumor affects the brain regions responsible for processing smell signals.
While aging is a common cause, phantom smells can be a sign of underlying medical conditions or endocrine disorders such as hypothyroidism. Hypothyroidism is a deficiency of thyroid hormones - thyroxine (T4) and triiodothyronine (T3).
While thyroid disorders don't directly cause sour-smelling sweat at night, a change in thyroid hormone production can impact the rate of sweating. In turn, more sweat can result in body odor.
Stomach infection (Helicobacter pylori)
H. pylori is a bacterium that lives in the stomach, causes inflammation and ulcers, and can lead to stomach cancer in infected people. Breath that smells like ammonia or urine is a common symptom.
Some common characteristics of the foul odor may include: Fishy or Sour Smell: The odor associated with staph infections is often described as fishy or sour. It may have a pungent, unpleasant, or somewhat rancid smell.