Samson wrote:
>> In article <32AF62E4.30E4 at total.net>, FLEX <flex at total.net> wrote:
>> > Good day. Lately, a member of my family has been complaining of having a
> > 'smell' stuck in their nose, every waking minute. It was discussed with
> > the family doctor, who could provide no solution... no referral to a
> > specialist of any kind was given.
> >
> > This has become a major concern to this individual.
> >
> > Would anyone know if there is any neurological problem that causes one
> > to develop such a disorder.
>> The one that will be on the tip of the neurologist's tongue is temporal
> lobe epilepsy...
>> One of the chapters in _The Man Who Mistook His Wife for a Hat_ describes
> cases like these.
>> --
>smisch at tiac.net
It is not necessarily temporal lobe epilepsy. Whilst it has been
diagnosed for patients with phantosmia or olfactory hallucinations,
the length of the condition sounds much longer than for normal
seizures (see Leopold, 1995).
Phantosmia has been associated with upper respiratory infections
(typically viral) and also head trauma. Almost all phantosmia patients
experienced the sensation in one nostril only. Olfactory
hallucinations occur in both nostrils, and have been associated with
schizophrenia, alcoholic psychosis, depression, epileptic seizures and
olfactory reference syndrome. However, in these cases the olfactory
distortion duration generally only last from minutes to hours.
Another possibility, and one that is reported to last all day, is an
internally generated odour from metabolic problems. It usually starts
in the teens, and patients experience the smell only when they exhale.
Reference:
Leopold D. 1995. Distorted olfactory perception. In: Doty R. L. (ed.),
Handbook of Olfaction and Gustation. Marcel Dekker Inc., pp: 441-454.
Please note that I am not a physician. I am only a PhD student,
working on olfaction (of insects in fact) and I just happened to
stumble onto this reference (there are actually many similarities
between the olfactory systems of vertebrates and invertebrates).
Regards,
Craig Hull.