Parosmia, Everything Smells Bad To Me: Why Is This Phenomenon?

Parosmia defines a distorted olfactory sensation when faced with a smell. An example, we can take our favorite perfume in the morning and when we smell it, we think we are putting our nose in a garbage can or in the pipe of the sink where we wash the dishes. It is unpleasant, conspicuous, and often devastating for the sufferer.

Let’s put ourselves for a moment in the shoes of those who suffer this alteration every day. It is not easy to appreciate the relevance of the sense of smell until it fails us or is absent; something as basic as eating can be an ordeal. If there is something that whets our appetite, it is the smell of our favorite dishes when we cook them or when we have them in front of us at the table.

This condition can be the direct cause of many disorders, such as smoking, infections, head injuries and the current virus itself. We analyze it below.

Parosmia: definition, symptoms and causes

Sometimes this alteration is temporary: it disappears within a few months on its own. At other times, especially when we talk about brain injuries, this phenomenon can become chronic. Parosmia was a neurological disorder that was quite neglected until recently and, however, it has always been present in patients who, for example, suffer from multiple sclerosis.

Studies, such as the one carried out at the University of Messina (Italy), define this condition as an alteration of smell that causes any exposure to an olfactory stimulus to be an unpleasant experience. Likewise, they affect a fact, and that is that we have always paid more attention to senses such as vision or hearing, assuming that loss or a problem in smell does not excessively alter the life of the patient.

However, if there is something that we are seeing as an effect of the current viral infection, it is that this change in the perception of odors has a great impact. The smells make you dizzy from your revulsion. The person even feels unable to cook. When they go to consume something, they may vomit because of the unpleasant smell that food gives off before their nose.

What are the symptoms?

Symptoms of parosmia appear after a head injury (a fall, for example) or after a person is recovering from an infection. It is then that the patient:

• Bring your nose closer to smell something and it takes a long time to feel that olfactory stimulus.
• You can’t always identify the smells around you. You may be in front of a rose bush and not notice its fragrance.

• Scents that were once pleasant (like perfumes) are suddenly annoying.
• Parosmia has as its main symptom experiencing great displeasure when having any type of food nearby.

Causes of parosmia

Thanks to advances in diagnostic techniques, such as MRI, we have valuable data on parosmia.

Studies, such as those carried out at the University of Dresden (Germany), highlight that we are basically dealing with a neurological disorder. There is hyperactivation in the medial orbitofrontal cortex, the anterior cingulate cortex, and the parahippocampal gyrus.

In addition, there is also a failure in those olfactory neurons that send information to the olfactory bulbs so that they inform the brain of the stimuli around us. Suddenly, the former can no longer report that what we are smelling is pleasant. It is as if a short circuit has occurred and the entire electrical system in that area is blown.

Now, what causes this neurological dysfunction for us to process odors in an altered way? On average, parosmia triggers the following medical dimensions.

• Congenital causes.
• Head accidents.
• Drugs or treatments such as chemotherapy.
• Parkinson’s disease.
• A common cold.
• Viral diseases.

Phantosmia and anosmia, two alterations similar to, but different from, parosmia

We know that parosmia defines a situation in which our world suddenly takes on an unpleasant odor. However, it is interesting to know that there are other similar alterations of smell, but with different nuances. We analyze them.

Fantosmia: an olfactory hallucination

The phantosmia arises when the person begins to experience smells that do not really exist. You can be sitting in your office working and suddenly smell a burning smell. It is also common to have the feeling that there is something decomposing near us.

The causes of this alteration are multiple, such as disorders in the nasal passages, xerosmia (alteration in the salivary glands), tobacco, rhinitis or sinusitis or environmental pollution.

Anosmia: the drama of not being able to smell anything

If experiencing disturbances in the sense of smell is problematic, it can be just as dramatic not smelling anything. In this case, anosmia defines that situation in which a person has completely lost the sense of smell.

Now, the complex thing is that this disorder also affects the sense of taste. Factors such as chemical exposure, sinusitis, Alzheimer’s, Parkinson’s, neurological lesions, tumors, and smoking are often the consequence of this phenomenon.

To conclude, all these conditions trace personal situations of great impact not only medical, but also psychological. And although it is true that in many cases realities such as parosmia are temporary, there are those who live permanently without being able to feel the stimulus and the absolute richness of the world of smells.