What medications can cause phantosmia?

Drug reaction: A person may need to stop taking the drug that may be causing the phantom smell. Potential medications that may cause phantosmia include antidepressants and antibiotics.

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What triggers phantosmia?

Phantosmia may be caused by a head injury or upper respiratory infection. It can also be caused by aging, trauma, temporal lobe seizures, inflamed sinuses, brain tumors, certain medications and Parkinson's disease. Phantosmia can also result from COVID-19 infection.

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What medications can affect your sense of smell?

Intranasal zinc products, decongestant nose sprays, and certain oral drugs, such as nifedipine and phenothiazines, are examples of drugs that may cause permanent loss of smell. Anosmia may also result from diseases of the nerve pathways that transmit smells to the brain.

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What is phantosmia and what are 2 potential underlying causes that could be considered serious?

Phantosmia is a qualitative olfactory disorder wherein an odorant is perceived in the absence of an identifiable stimulus. Although phantosmia is most often idiopathic, it may be associated with nasal mucosal abnormalities, migraines, seizures, and neurocognitive or mood disorders.

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Can antidepressants cause phantosmia?

Side effect of anti-anxiety and antidepressant medications, especially when withdrawing. Many medications, including anti-anxiety and antidepressants, can cause phantom smells as a side effect,[12] especially when withdrawing.

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Smell Disorders: Anosmia, Phantosmia, and Parosmia (Why and What Happens?)

33 related questions found

Can drugs cause phantom smells?

People who take 5 or more prescription medications, however, have a 69% increased odds of reporting phantom odors (OR 1.69 (1.09, 2.63)).

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Is phantosmia a neurological disorder?

Qualitative olfactory dysfunctions, such as parosmia and phantosmia, may be clinical conditions secondary to neurological diseases. The incidence of parosmia is underestimated, as well as its association with neurological diseases, due to poor self-reporting of patients and lack of objective methods for its measure.

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How often is phantosmia serious?

Phantosmia is relatively uncommon. It makes up around 10 to 20 percent of disorders related to the sense of smell. In most cases, phantosmia is not a cause for concern and will go away on its own.

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Should I see a doctor for phantosmia?

Smelling things that aren't there is called phantosmia. It can be unpleasant and affect how things taste. But it isn't usually serious and may go away by itself in a few weeks or months. See your GP if the strange smell doesn't go away in a few weeks.

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Can anxiety cause phantosmia?

Phantosmia, which is an olfactory hallucination, sometimes occurs with anxiety. It can cause you to smell something that isn't there, or rather, a neutral smell becomes unpleasant. Most often, this bizarre sensation is caused by antidepressants or withdrawal from them. However, sometimes it's associated with anxiety.

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How do you get rid of phantom smell?

People with phantosmia may find relief with these home remedies:
  1. Nasal irrigation. Rinse your nasal passages using a neti pot or over-the-counter saline solution.
  2. Nasal sprays. Use oxymetazoline spray to reduce nasal congestion. You can purchase this nasal spray over the counter.

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Can medication cause weird smells?

According to a 2018 review in the World Journal of Otorhinolaryngology Head and Neck Surgery, studies and reviews show that more than 350 drugs can cause changes in taste, and more than 70 drugs can cause changes in smell. Many drugs cause both.

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Can high blood pressure cause phantom smells?

Adults with diagnosed, but controlled, high blood pressure reported phantom odors more frequently than those without high blood pressure. We observed a threefold greater odds of phantom odor perception among adults aged 60 years and older with diabetes, but only among those who use both insulin and oral medications.

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Can phantosmia be psychological?

Phantosmia has been clinically related to schizophrenia and mood disorders: these mental diseases and perception of phantom smells have been linked to abnormal levels of several neurotransmitters such as acetylcholine, dopamine, and norepinephrine (27).

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Can a brain tumor cause phantosmia?

a brain tumour in the frontal lobe could lead to loss of smell (as well as other symptoms, such as, difficulty with speaking, concentrating or learning new information)

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How do you get diagnosed with phantosmia?

To diagnose phantosmia, a doctor will first perform a physical exam of the person's head and neck. They may ask about any other symptoms and perform tests to check the individual's other senses. A doctor may order an endoscopy or rhinoscopy to look into the nasal cavity and check for issues that could cause phantosmia.

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What kind of doctor treats phantosmia?

Your treatment team can include: Primary care doctor. Otolaryngologist, a doctor who specializes in ear, nose, and throat problems. Neurologist, a doctor who specializes in conditions related to brain and nervous system.

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Is phantosmia a symptom of Parkinson's disease?

It is usually reported in 65–90% of PD patients [7,8], may often precede the onset of motor symptoms, and may manifest as hyposmia/anosmia, parosmia (distorted perception of an odor), and phantosmia (perception of an odor in the absence of a relevant odor source), also indicated as olfactory hallucinations (OHs) [9,10] ...

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Does smelling smoke mean brain tumor?

Answer: Generally sinus disease or infection causes a foul odor and not the smell of cigarettes. Often odors can linger on clothing, carpet, furniture, automobile seats, drapery etc. Some brain tumors can cause olfactory (smell) delusions or hallucinations and these can be manifest as almost any odor.

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When does phantosmia go away?

Phantosmia usually goes away on its own, though this can sometimes be gradual and occur over several years. When caused by an illness (e.g., sinusitis), it should go away when the illness resolves.

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Can brain damage cause phantom smells?

More than 10% (n = 112) of people who had lost consciousness from a head injury reported phantom odors compared with 5.7% (n = 422) of those without a history of head injury.

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Why do I have a weird smell in my nose?

Several conditions may cause a bad smell in the nose, including sinusitis, tooth/ mouth infections, dry mouth, some medications, some foods/drinks, and olfactory damage. Typically, a bad smell in the nose is not life-threatening but can decrease the quality of life.

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What part of the brain is responsible for phantom smells?

Prior accounts have suggested that the phantosmic sensations originate either in the peripheral olfactory nervous system or in central brain regions (Stevenson and Langdon 2012), such as the amygdala (Acharya et al. 1998; Chen et al. 2003) and the orbital frontal cortex (Arguedas et al. 2012).

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What are the smelly warning signs of high cholesterol?

02/5​Smell hallucination

This can be an indicator of high cholesterol. This condition where an individual hallucinates a weird smell is called phantosmia or phantom odor perception.

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