# Olfactory Hallucinations



## CopadoMexicano (Aug 21, 2004)

Anyone ever experienced smelling things that are not there? :um


----------



## Keith (Aug 30, 2008)

Ive had hallucinations where i smell something that isn't there, never anything bad though. Ive had auditory hallucinations before as well.


----------



## UltraShy (Nov 8, 2003)

This is the first time I've ever even heard of anybody smelling things that weren't actually there. Learn something new every day.


----------



## CopadoMexicano (Aug 21, 2004)

UltraShy said:


> This is the first time I've ever even heard of anybody smelling things that weren't actually there.


late response but I feel they come out the blue like Ill be listening to music than all of a sudden Ill start smelling flesh, feces, or urine.


----------



## kev (Jan 28, 2005)

That sounds frightening. Fortunately I never had those. I had exclusively auditory hallucinations (people conversing mostly).

How often do you hallucinate? Is it all day long? Do they come mainly in times of stress or in deep depressions? If the depression is your dominant complaint and the hallucinations are secondary, then your diagnosis is probably correct. However, if it is the other way around you may have been misdiagnosed. You could have schizoaffective disorder or mild schizophrenia (Actually "mild" schizophrenia is a misnomer, since all forms of schizophrenia are extremely painful). However, there are some people with the so-called "milder" forms that respond very well to medication and stress reduction, and may only have flareups in times of crisis.

If you truly have MDD with psychotic features, then you might respond well to a an antidepressant combined with an antipsychotic (to control symptoms quickly and prevent relapse).

Are you on any medications now?

Try to keep your stress down as much as possible. Psychotic depression is caused by high levels of cortisol and cortisol is a stress hormone, I believe. From my experience there is a direct correlation between stress and hallucinations.


----------



## Cerrada (May 26, 2009)

This happens to me sometimes...I don't usually smell something bad though. It's usually something pleasant like berries or cookies or something.


----------



## CopadoMexicano (Aug 21, 2004)

kev said:


> How often do you hallucinate? Is it all day long? Do they come mainly in times of stress or in deep depressions? Are you on any medications now?.


Not very much since I was on antipsychotics and one antidepressant. my sense of smell is sometimes confused with reality because when I do hallucinate I'm lost not knowing whether theyre real or not. They also make me feel worthless and helpless when in a slope of depression.


----------



## Arachne (Jun 25, 2009)

Sometimes I freak out because I smell gas in my room. Gas or something burning. I run around the house searching for signs but usually nothing is wrong.
Once again, I blame my bad eye-sight. I see so badly that my strong sense is my olfact. I smell everything, miles from my house. But sometimes, I'm allucinating.


----------



## tutliputli (Feb 22, 2009)

I don't smell things but I sometimes get a weird taste of something in my mouth. It started when I was first taking Prozac and I'd randomly taste chemically products like soap or bubblebath, sometimes toothpaste. It was usually when I was about to take a bite of a sandwich or something and it'd make the food taste horrible. I stopped taking the Prozac months ago but I still get the weird tastes in my mouth sometimes, which is strange :roll 

I remember learning about this in a Psychology lecture. 'Scent' and 'taste' hallucinations are called auras and are experienced by epileptics before or during a seizure. Maybe people with anxiety have similar chemical imbalances in the brain to those with epilepsy or something, might explain the shared symptom?


----------



## nothing to fear (Mar 23, 2005)

that sounds terrifying, MavenMI6Agent009. 

i once read about a case in an abnormal pscyh textbook where a women who had depression or some kind of psychosis always had the taste of tomatoes in her mouth then the doc or nurse with suggested she try eating a tomato and when she did the feeling instantly went away.
uhh i guess it's not very helpful with your situation but just found that interesting.


----------



## CopadoMexicano (Aug 21, 2004)

I heard their could be many causes/reasons for smelling perceptions being distorted. Im sure Im not a hopeless case with a brain tumor or hopefully not some ghost haunting my environment. :um


----------



## kev (Jan 28, 2005)

MavenMI6Agent009 said:


> Not very much since I was on antipsychotics and one antidepressant. my sense of smell is sometimes confused with reality because when I do hallucinate I'm lost not knowing whether theyre real or not. They also make me feel worthless and ultimately helpless when in a slope of depression.


That's good that you have some sense of when they are real and when they are not. That means the medications are probably working. Even still, I'd bring it up with your doctor. Often times, medications don't completely eliminate hallucinations, but I still think you should mention it to your psychiatrist. The hallucinations sound disabling enough that it may be worthwhile to try a different dosage or medication.


----------



## bowlingpins (Oct 18, 2008)

Do you know why were you put on an antipsychotic? (ignore if this feels too personal a question)


----------



## Bouffon (May 18, 2008)

Cigarette smoke for me, it's a very strong smell and it usually lasts for two or three hours without a solid explanation. It comes and goes, according to google it could be related to the sinus or the mind D:


----------



## CopadoMexicano (Aug 21, 2004)

bowlingpins said:


> Do you know why were you put on an antipsychotic?


For hallucinations. Got kicked out of reality at one point thinking that God was punishing me for sin.


----------



## Ununderstood (Jun 8, 2005)

I don't really get these odor hallucinations, I get visual hallucinations all the time. Like I will be doing something then I will turn around to see a place and my mind thinks I saw someone there then I turn back to what I was doing and turn back again to the place and there is nothing there. Another example would be like, sometimes I am doing some stuff while working (mostly stocking items) then I make a U turn to enter the next aisle and I stop suddenly cause I think I see someone I am going to crash into but there is nobody.

I get these all the time, I just ignore them. I will look at something, my mind will think I saw my friend, a person who I know that was there 5 minutes ago, or sometimes I just think I seen someone doing something and then when I look back again there is nothing.


----------



## radames (Jul 6, 2009)

At times I have smelled some kind of soda, like Coke or Pepsi, also pizza, and peanut butter all while in the privacy of my big rig driving down the highway or in the privacy of my home without having any of the aforementioned foods within "nose shot."

I always thought that I had been smelling the food that a friend was consuming at that moment in time. I have an active imagination.

I have also heard a chorus of singers singing for split seconds at a time more than once in my life. It actually shocked me and made me turn my head suddenly trying to place the origin of the sound.


----------

