olfactory hallucinations

[monkeyb]

Does anyone else get this?
This has happened to me as long as I can remember,I smell things that cannot possibly be there(and for the life of me I cannot think of an example at the moment) and that noone else can smell.

I long ago decided that I either have an extraordinary sniffer or I am hallucinating and that hallucinations are probably more likely.

[V-Adore]

I've heard that recurring olfactory hallucinations are usually not a good sign in terms of neurological health -- allegedly they're an indicator of a possible seizure on the horizon, among other things.

That said... I have, once or twice, had really profound hallucinations of freshly-chopped onions. Needless to say, not the most fun few hours of my life.

[monkeyb]

yeah,that whole "i smell burnt toast" thing.
Fortunately I am not prone to seizures at all,  and the olfactory hallucinations seem to be unrelated to any possible health problems.They just...are.

[slink]

I get olfactory hallucinations fairly often, though I think with me they're fairly related to memory. They seem to be like olfactory deja vu.
I'll just smell something I haven't smealt for years, that takes me back to a memory, even if what I smell isn't there to be...
It's very odd, but then music does the same to me. It may just be the drugs in my case. Damn misspent youth! Oh wait, that excuse doesn't work anymore...

[ferocious j]

This happens to me, but usually -- usually -- it's a case of me smelling something before anyone else does; i.e. eventually someone will say "Oh yeah, I smell that too."  But maybe two times out of five, nobody else backs me up and I wonder if I've got something misfiring in my brain.

[Thak]

Yeah, same here. I sometimes jump up, saying "Do I smell watermelon", or something. I don't see any watermelon around me at all, so I just pass it off as a weird happening.

But when I go downstairs and see watermelon being cut up, or whatever I smelled, I'm relieved, and happy to have watermelon.


Other times though, when I can slightly smell odours unfamiliar to me, I just relate them to something that smells similiar, saying I smell beef jerky or anything else. I think.

[super collider]

I get phantom scents almost every day.  Usually I attribute it to my very bad sinuses, maybe the scents are getting caught up in there from days ago and I am just then getting them.

[sjlimmer]

I was convinced that I smelled gasoline almost all day Monday, but the people I asked didn't seem to notice anything.  However, I think it was just leftover fuel soaked into my pores from trying to change my trucks fuel filter the day before (I'm not mechanically inclined, so it was something of a disaster).

Maybe I actually reeked of gasoline, and everyone was too polite to say anything.  Compared to some of the smells in my lab (and, by extension, on me), it probably was a nice change of pace....

[AlohaDawg]

Maybe you didn't reek of gasoline, but the olfactory receptors in your nose were still sending that signal because of the amount of gas you smelled over a relatively long period of time....like when your ears ring after a concert....just a thought.

[ferocious j]

Maybe you didn't reek of gasoline, but the olfactory receptors in your nose were still sending that signal because of the amount of gas you smelled over a relatively long period of time....like when your ears ring after a concert....just a thought.

Does that actually happen?  I've never heard of such a thing, but it does make sense.  ::ponders::  Damn!

[sjlimmer]

Maybe you didn't reek of gasoline, but the olfactory receptors in your nose were still sending that signal because of the amount of gas you smelled over a relatively long period of time....like when your ears ring after a concert....just a thought.

Does that actually happen?  I've never heard of such a thing, but it does make sense.  ::ponders::  Damn!

It would make sense...kind of like the "phantom pains" that amputees experience.

Damn your logic, anyway...