Phantom Smells are Annoying
I had my first phantom smell. Dr. LaKeischa warned me about them as a possibility but I didn’t realize it would temporarily make me feel CRAZY! Not long ago, I was in my bathroom and could smell a sewer smell. I asked my husband to see if he could smell it thinking we needed to fix the drain. Naturally, he couldn’t smell anything.
“Smell harder!” I said as he’s sniffing as hard as he can while walking around the bathroom.
“No, I don’t smell anything. It doesn’t smell like sewer gases.”
I was confused. It was SO CLEAR that the sewer gas smell was in my bathroom. A few days later while running errands out of my house, it happened again. Immediately I knew it was a phantom smell.
<cue annoyed eye roll>
I posted about it on IG and received so many responses from you and others who were experiencing the same perplexing symptom!
Many of you said the top smells were cigarette smoke or burned toast (or a burning wire smell).
Naturally, this can make anyone concerned! Is something burning? Is someone smoking? Is the toaster burning? Is something plugged in?
And in my case, did I need to call a plumber?
Why can’t it be a pleasant smell like jasmine, vanilla, or roses?
There are a number of reasons for phantom smells (also called olfactory hallucinations or phantosmia) such as hypothyroidism, sinus issues, Covid infection, and brain injury. Please be sure you don’t miss these!
When it comes to perimenopause and menopause, there is NOT a lot of information out there on this transition and odd smells specifically.
A Korean study looked at 3863 female participants and found that olfactory dysfunction was 3.5% for premenopausal participants and 6.2% for postmenopausal women. They conclude, “These data suggest that a longer duration of endogenous oestrogen deprivation is associated with subjective olfactory dysfunction.”
Another study in 2002 stated, “Since estrogen and progesterone protect the olfactory function, changes in their levels in particular physiological states in women (in pregnancy and postmenopause) exert an influence on the ability to feel and recognize smells.”
It’s also known that women’s bacteria can change going through menopause. This includes the bacteria on our skin and in our arm pits. This can lead to increased body odor or simply a change in our personal odor. If body odor is something you’re noticing, you’re not crazy!
Lastly, this 2023 Letter to the Editor explains that using essential oils to retrain the nose (olfactory bulb) to have better smelling acuity improves several things including sexual function! They argue that olfaction (smelling) “modulates vegetative, visceral and sexual activity in humans…The limbic system and reticular formation of the brain analyze the particular aroma which integrates emotions and behavior. Aromatherapy enhances sexual function by increasing olfactory acuity.” They pointed out scents in the citrus family were best. While this might seem off base, if I’m smelling sewer gas or if I think my husband stinks (when he doesn’t), I’m happy to try citrus scented essential oils to strengthen my smelling acuity!
Given the changes our brain goes through in this transition, phantom smells don’t surprise me even if they do annoy me. I do believe they are temporary and go away once you are postmenopausal.
Lastly, I don’t know yet if using phytoestrogens or actual estrogen replacement changes things - let me know if you went on hormones and stopped smelling smoke or burned toast!