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Dr. Andrew Rynne
MD
Dr. Andrew Rynne

Family Physician

Exp 50 years

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What Causes An Altered Sense Of Smell?

I have a persistent strong smell that has no physical origin. It has occurred frequently over the past several years smelling like diesel exhaust; for the last few days I smell a strong urine smell that is persistent. Last night I used Vicks on my nose to fall asleep because the smell was so annoying.
Fri, 28 Jul 2017
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General & Family Physician,  's  Response
Good day to you. I have read your concern about the sense of smell without physical existence. This is called olfactory hallucination. You have a long history of olfactory hallucinations that seems to change recently. there are many causes of this. i would like to ask you if
1) you have any history of long standing or frequent sinusitis or tooth problem.
2) If smell is coming through one nostril or both.
There are many causes of this problem like nasal polyp, sinusitis, dental problem and some lesions inside brain.
I would like you to consult ENT and do nasal endoscopy to exclude nasal lesions. After that you can go for CT scan or MRI brain to look for sinuses, temporal and olfactory lobe(Olfactory lobe is responsible for the sense of smell in the brain). I hope this helpful to you.
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What Causes An Altered Sense Of Smell?

Good day to you. I have read your concern about the sense of smell without physical existence. This is called olfactory hallucination. You have a long history of olfactory hallucinations that seems to change recently. there are many causes of this. i would like to ask you if 1) you have any history of long standing or frequent sinusitis or tooth problem. 2) If smell is coming through one nostril or both. There are many causes of this problem like nasal polyp, sinusitis, dental problem and some lesions inside brain. I would like you to consult ENT and do nasal endoscopy to exclude nasal lesions. After that you can go for CT scan or MRI brain to look for sinuses, temporal and olfactory lobe(Olfactory lobe is responsible for the sense of smell in the brain). I hope this helpful to you.