I had gotten used to not smelling but then I developed a sweet-smoky phantom sense in my nose, but I was not smelling anything and it followed me everywhere.
Then, that went away and now I "smell" a chemical smell and this has affected my taste sensors. I have read online and saw that it might be my brain sending me caution signals because the nerves have been sheared. It makes my coffee taste like moonshine alcohol or some kind of chemical salt, and it the smell feels like a burn.
Please, I am desperate for this to end and if anyone has any idea what this is about I would be gracious. I'm looking for people that have experienced this and knows if it stops.
Replied by Aclo (Los Angeles, Ca, USA) on 07/24/2013
I lost my sense of smell from traumatic head injury almost 2 years ago. A few months after began my "phantom smells". They are never pleasant, almost always a chameical or burning smell (the most recent, I could only describe as "burning sweat"), and last several weeks to several months at a time but always changing. My anosmia specialist said that my olfactory nerves were not shorn in the accident, but if I didn't get my sense of smell back after a year, that I probably wouldn't. His advice was to live with it, check expiration dates on dairy products, and get smoke natural gas detectors.Replied by Balton (San Diego, Ca) on 04/08/2013
I have experienced the exact same phenomenon. I had a traumatic brain injury 2 months ago and lost my sense of smell and taste, presumably due to shearing of the olfactory nerve. However within recent weeks, I frequently experience phantom smell/taste that seems to be a mix between a chemical and malt. My neurologist said it could be a mild form of seizure or possibly the olfactory nerve trying to repair itself.Replied by Patrick (Savannah, GA) on 06/02/2022
Hi!
I have been having phantosmia as well for couple of months now. It's a cigarette smell and I'm losing my mind. Drs don't seem to understand or do anything. I have been trying many things. I saw this was way back in 2012! Do you have anything of an update? God bless
Replied by Patrick (Savannah GA) on 06/02/2022
Yeah, they say it may come back it may not. But they do not understand and do not listen about the phantosmias. I smell cigarette smoke and it's going to drive me crazy, literally. Maybe even to the point of hurting myself if it doesn't stop.
