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Smelling Cigarette Smoke (Phantosmia): What could it mean?
Brain & Nervous System | Last Active: Mar 3, 2023 | Replies (52)Comment receiving replies
Hello, just wanted to chime in with my experience with phantom cigarette smoke. I'm a non-smoker.Smoked briefly 20+yrs ago. Started smelling very distinct cigarette smoke in July 2020 randomly in my 6mo old house that had never been smoked in. It started strong. After a week of constant smelling I made appt. with a very good ENT. He first suspected I had inhaled mold and had a sinus infection. Put me on antibiotic which did nothing.Next ordered a CT scan of sinus,which showed chronic sinusitis which he said was not relevant. Next was an MRI of the brain looking for a tumor,focusing on olfactory. This showed normal. He then suspected it might be an early sign of dementia / Alzheimers. He ordered a hearing test which show some loss that may be dementia related. By this time several months had passed and the smell slowly diminished and them went away completely. Then reappeared as strong as ever 3 days ago while sitting at home. The smell is now noticeable when I'm outside of my home,which wasn't the case before.I'm going to try to get an order for an MRI scan specifically for Alzheimers as I do have a very strong family history. I'm 54 yo male.
Replies to "Hello, just wanted to chime in with my experience with phantom cigarette smoke. I'm a non-smoker.Smoked..."
@orloffjr - I'd also like to welcome you to Mayo Clinic Connect. I'm also glad that you have taken control of trying to find out what is causing Phantom odor perception. I have had it. olfactory disturbance in which individuals perceive an odor in the absence of a stimulus. The cause of this condition is unknown. People with phantom odor perception may have a neural signaling imbalance that allows nonsense olfactory signals to reach the central nervous system. It's scary and definitely startling. I had migraines during that time and I remember riding in our car with the windows up. I had smoked but was no longer a smoker. I was also cooking a blockage in an artery.
I wish you luck in finding out what has caused yours. I never looked into mine. I hope that you let us know the results. What is your guess to the cause?
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@orloffjr, welcome to Mayo Clinic Connect. It sounds like you are doing a thorough investigation. I had understood that one possible cause of phantosmia is actually sinus infection or upper respiratory infection. So I'm surprised that the chronic sinusitis was declared not relevant. Did the antibiotics clear the sinus infection, but the phantom smell remained?
@iceblue, has your phantom smell disappeared?