Olfactory hallucinations - deceptions of the sense of smell of various contents. The list of possible imaginary odors would probably be very extensive. We will limit ourselves, however, to a description general. There are three large groups of perceptual deceptions.
The first consists of hallucinations of unpleasant content. These are imaginary odors associated primarily with a depressed mood, often also including anxiety, fears, and suspicion of patients. These are the smells of some poisonous substances, rotting, decomposition, decay. For example: “I smell a corpse... It smells like hydrogen sulfide, carbon monoxide, nitro paint... It smells unbearably of something putrid, like a garbage dump.” Trying to somehow weaken or drown out these odors, patients plug their noses with cotton wool, put on respirators, ventilate the room, turn on fans, spray deodorants, etc.
The second group consists of imaginary smells of something pleasant: “It smells like violet perfume, my favorite... I feel like it smells divine, something inexplicably pleasant, I’ve never smelled such smells before... It’s an indescribable aroma, it gives me indescribable pleasure... Such smells must maybe there is only in heaven, it smells of something unearthly pleasant.” Such deceptions of smell, in comparison with the previous ones, are observed relatively rarely and are short-lived. Patients inhale these “smells” with visible pleasure, and this is noticeable by the joyful expression on their faces. Hallucinations of this type are more characteristic of an elevated mood, sometimes including elements of ecstasy.
Finally, the third group of olfactory deceptions is represented by imaginary odors of a relatively neutral nature. It “smells” like something ordinary, ordinary, to which patients pay almost no attention and do not formulate it in complaints about their well-being. Olfactory hallucinations also vary in where patients identify their source. Thus, patients often localize imaginary odors somewhere in the space surrounding them: in a room, on the street, in a work area, etc. In such cases, their explanations often boil down to the fact that someone is trying to poison them, is warning them of danger or with someone -something irreparable has happened, for example, the corpse of a murdered person or their stolen cat is decomposing.
Patients explain the appearance of pleasant odors somewhat differently. For example, by the fact that they are associated with some miraculous phenomena, as imaginary as the smells themselves, happy events. The sources of imaginary, usually unpleasant odors are often localized by patients somewhere within themselves. For example, there is a smell of decomposition internal organs, cadaverous smell, the smell of sweat, urine, etc. In such cases, olfactory deceptions are accompanied by appropriate interpretations.
Finally, imaginary odors, according to patients, have a completely unusual projection and localization. For example, a “smell” is felt in the stomach, chest or even head. Olfactory hallucinations also differ based on whether patients identify their character or not. In most cases, with more or less certainty in hallucinations, they recognize smells that are familiar to them. In some cases, patients assure, it smells like something completely unfamiliar to them, something they have never encountered before in their lives. In the latter case, obviously, we can talk about a phenomenon similar to other hallucinations, when patients are presented with some completely new images that have arisen as a result of the disease.
A disturbance of perception, when a person hears, sees or feels something that is not in reality, is called a hallucination. There are several types of this disorder according to different types sensitivity. Special attention deserve olfactory hallucinations. A person does not always go to the doctor with such an atypical complaint as the feeling of foreign odors. But behind this symptom there can be quite serious illnesses, so delaying a visit to the doctor is dangerous.
Symptoms and etiology of olfactory hallucinations
Olfactory hallucinations (phantosmia) involve the sensation of some aromas in the absence of their real source.
There are also olfactory illusions (dysosmia, cacosmia, parosmia), when a person perceives an odor that is not what it really is. These concepts are quite close. Sometimes in practice their differentiation is difficult, but still there is a difference. Pathological nature phantosmia is recognized by most patients, while visual or auditory hallucinations are perceived by patients as reality.
An olfactory hallucination is described by the patient as a sensation of the smell of rotting, feces, smoke, vinegar, tar, and decomposition of flesh. There are times when more than one is constantly present pleasant aroma, for example floral, but the vast majority complain about the stench. A person, even realizing the illusory nature of this perception, still tries to fight the imaginary stench: opens the windows for ventilation, turns on the fan. It is also impossible to eliminate the sensation of aroma with the help of air fresheners, perfumes or aromatic oils. The smell is supposedly present not only in the air, but also in the food that the patient eats.
Sometimes patients note that the olfactory hallucination began to appear after some memorable event. According to experts, a memory or emotional experience patient. For example, the smell of cut grass after working on the lawn, or the smell of smoke after a fire. It happens that after a significant event a person begins to smell a pleasant aroma. However, its constant presence is very painful for the patient, as a result of which living with this feeling becomes unbearable.
The main causes of olfactory hallucinations:
Important! Phantosmia appear only when the central part is affected olfactory analyzer, that is, brain structures.
Often phantosmia is combined with other olfactory disorders (parosmia, hyperosmia). The mechanism for the occurrence of olfactory hallucinations is the irritation of the hook neurons in the brain. This occurs when a pathological focus forms in this area (inflammation, hematoma, tumor). Violation plays an important role in the formation of phantosmia. neural connection between the hippocampus and the cerebral cortex. Vegetative-vascular hallucinations (palpitations, sweating, increased salivation), vestibular (nausea, dizziness) disorders.
Localization tumor process determines the sequence olfactory disorders:
Olfactory hallucinations are also characteristic of a certain localization of the epileptic focus. Most often they appear before the onset of a seizure as part of the aura, or occur as simple sensory seizures with secondary generalization. Sometimes patients complain of hallucinations of this nature before the onset of a migraine attack. With brain damage herpetic infection(encephalitis) sometimes phantosmia appears in combination with taste hallucinations.
In the case of taking narcotic substances, the presence of various hallucinatory reactions, including olfactory ones, is possible. Sometimes hallucination is the result of intoxication due to poisoning certain types chemicals, as well as for some infectious diseases. In this case, the impaired perception is restored after leaving the state of intoxication. Cases of phantosmia have also been recorded in patients with disorders cerebral circulation, cerebral hemorrhages, demyelinating diseases.
Hallucinations are also observed when mental illness. For example, schizophrenia is characterized by a combination delusional disorder and hallucinosis. Patients most often complain of a feeling of cadaverous stench. The same symptoms can be observed with depression. Rarely do patients with olfactory hallucinations complain of senile dementia. Sometimes phantosmia is part of clinical picture alcoholic delirium along with visual images of a zoological nature.
Diagnosis and treatment of pathology
Since patients rarely come to the doctor with complaints of phantosmia, their presence is discovered by chance during the collection of anamnesis when visiting for other symptoms.
Attention! In matters of diagnosis and treatment of phantosmia, you should trust a qualified specialist. Self-medication in this case poses a serious threat to health, and sometimes life.
Often, the patient initially goes to an ENT doctor, believing that problems with his sense of smell are hidden in the pathology of the nose. If the presence of such complaints is observed, it would not be superfluous to exclude objective cacosmia. It occurs when chronic tonsillitis, chronic and acute sinusitis, frontal sinusitis, ethmoiditis, sphenoiditis, and other lesions of the mucous membrane of the olfactory zone of the nasal cavity. Dental pathology, digestive system can lead to smell disorders, so these should also be excluded.
Next, the diagnosis is carried out by a neurologist or psychiatrist. Neurological examination is aimed at identifying additional symptoms damage to the central nervous system (dysfunction cranial nerves, pathology of reflexes). It is also important to identify associated olfactory symptoms using olfactometry. Psychiatric examination can exclude the diagnosis of schizophrenia, depressive disorder, dementia. An olfactory hallucination is an indication for a number of additional instrumental examinations:
Treatment of phantosmia is a labor-intensive and lengthy process. It depends on the specific diagnosis:
- Surgical treatment for operable tumors, brain hematomas.
- Antipsychotic drugs for schizophrenia.
- Psychotherapy, antidepressants for depressive disorders.
- Anticonvulsants for epilepsy.
- Detoxification therapy for poisoning, infectious diseases, alcoholic delirium.
- Metabolic, nootropic and vitamin therapy for cerebrovascular disorders and degenerative processes.
Thus, olfactory hallucinations are a symptom that cannot be ignored, because you may miss time to fight the underlying disease. The diagnostic and treatment processes in this case require considerable effort on the part of both the patient and the doctor.
Olfactory hallucinations are a condition where a person can perceive tastes and smells that are simply not there, or perhaps never existed. Most often, this disease occurs in those patients who have schizophrenia. It can also be other sores that have a similar severity. If any olfactory hallucinations, then it is best to contact a specialist who could help carry out therapy.
Olfactory hallucinations
Like all other hallucinations, this variety can occur under the influence of the most various factors. Among the most pressing causes are: diseases of a neurological and psychiatric nature, previous head injuries, and various neoplasms.Possible causes
The disease can also appear due to a violation of the nasal mucosa. If identified this reason, then getting rid of the disease is much easier. It is impossible to get rid of hallucinations using other pungent aromas. The main factor in the appearance of the disease is the appearance of abnormal processes in the area of the hook of the brain. If a person has schizophrenia, then most often he smells a corpse.Treatment
Therapy for olfactory hallucinations will require a lot of time and effort. When treating, the patient’s age and lifestyle are very important. Will definitely be held computed tomography, which can either confirm or deny the presence of neoplasms.After all the tests have been completed and the research results have been received, the doctor will be able to confirm the presence of the disease. Individual treatment is prepared for each person.
People who suffer from olfactory hallucinations complain that the food they eat smells like ammonia or sulfur and smells like decay. Or, they may be haunted by the smell of a tea rose, which they felt once upon a time, while visiting a flower exhibition. Undoubtedly, a floral smell can be classified as pleasant, but if it accompanies a person throughout his life, then a completely opposite effect occurs. Olfactory ones are otherwise called phantosmia. Their peculiarity is that in their obsession and associated with them unpleasant sensations they are in no way inferior to auditory or visual ones, when the patient can perceive them as if they exist in reality.
In addition, with olfactory hallucinations, pleasant odors are much less common; patients are mainly bothered by the rather pungent odors of smoke, petroleum products, tar, feces, bird droppings, rotten eggs, patients often call the cadaverous smell, and much more. Patients treat olfactory hallucinations critically and realize that these are phenomena of a painful nature. At the same time, it is known that many patients try to constantly ventilate the apartment in order to get rid of the non-existent irritating smell, turn on fans for this purpose, and so on.
It has also been established that patients rarely focus their attention on them, and doctors sometimes reveal this violation only during a survey related to a certain disease. As shown clinical practice, statistical data are incomplete due to the fact that patients in in serious condition do not provide accurate information, and it is difficult to collect the necessary information. Therefore, experts suggest that there are many unreported cases. In addition, among patients suffering from olfactory hallucinations, there are also those who cannot give precise definition smells. Usually they just say there is a foreign smell.
Olfactory hallucinations, as well as other forms this violation, are caused by a number of reasons, both the simplest and quite serious, requiring
long-term treatment. The list of the most common reasons includes mental disorders, traumatic brain injuries, various tumors. But sometimes olfactory hallucinations are caused by damage to the nasal mucosa. In this case, solving the problem is much easier. There are people who put up with olfactory hallucinations all their lives, not even suspecting that this condition can be extremely dangerous, since it is alarming symptom that the body requires immediate help.
It is known that you cannot get rid of phantosmia by smelling something else, for example, spices, perfumes, etc. The patient’s futile attempts to spray air fresheners in the air of the room also lead to nothing. For example, one patient told the doctor that for several years she had been smelling freshly dug earth after landscape designers tidied up the area around her house and prepared the soil for sowing lawn grasses. Another Man Was Injured in a Car Accident and Was Haunted by the Odor cigarette smoke and burnt rubber.
Olfactory hallucinations occur when the secondary center of the olfactory analyzer is irritated, and often accompany epilepsy, manifesting itself in the form of simple sensory seizures that have secondary generalization. In addition, short-term olfactory hallucinations are combined with other types of disorders; they are accompanied by vegetative-vascular and other disorders, and are complemented by taste hallucinations. The causes of olfactory disorders are pathological processes, the location of which is the area of the hook of the brain. Disturbed communication between the hippocampus and the cerebral cortex also has an impact. Basically, among the causes of olfactory hallucinations, it is most often called. These patients are more likely than others to experience unpleasant cadaveric odors.
Treatmentolfactory hallucinations
The treatment process for any hallucinations is quite lengthy, and doctors are suitable
to this issue, taking into account the main diagnosis and concomitant diseases. The patient’s age, lifestyle, habits, and many other factors also matter. It has been established that olfactory hallucinations are often harbingers, so a person who goes to the doctor with complaints about similar phenomena, a full-fledged medical examination, which is not at all a whim of the attending physician, but represents an extreme necessity. Only after receiving accurate diagnosis, the specialist has the opportunity to prescribe effective treatment.
When establishing the correct etiological diagnosis great importance given a history of smell disorders. Sometimes patients complain not only of olfactory hallucinations, but also of taste ones. The doctor begins by carefully examining the nasal passages, upper respiratory tract, head, evaluates the function of cranial nerves. A contrast-enhanced computed tomography may be ordered. Thanks to this study, neoplasms are identified in the anterior cranial fossa, hidden fractures of the cranial fossa are detected, and various inflammations can be identified.
Have you ever noticed a ringing in your ears for no reason? It’s hard to concentrate on your own thoughts and concentrate on important things. People are accustomed to this phenomenon; they do not look for the source of this noise, knowing that it is just an illusion.
But sometimes reality is so distorted that a person gets lost in his feelings. Gradually he does not realize the line between his visions and real life. Different images come and are felt foreign odors or arise. The reason for these illusions is sometimes complex and serious illnesses. What do hallucinations indicate?
What are hallucinations?
Sensory hallucinations are distorted perceptions without an object, when images, sounds, and sensations appear in a person’s mind that do not actually exist, but at the same time seem real. Impaired brain function causes imaginary images. These images occur not only in mentally ill people, but also in completely healthy ones. They appear as mild illusions that disappear when their cause is eliminated, and treatment does not take much time.
Sensory hallucinations are a huge area of illness. Every adult should know the types of illusions in order to prevent them in time. complex disease and him negative consequences.
Nowadays, hallucinations are not something unknown; they are most often a symptom of a more serious illness. Treatment can be very different, depending on the type and severity of the disease. What types of illusions are there? How to distinguish between types of hallucinations based on symptoms?
Types of hallucinations
Auditory hallucinations
Auditory hallucinations are vocal illusions during which brain activity is disrupted and sounds are perceived without an external auditory stimulus. A person hears extraneous noises, speeches, melodies. It can be either voices in your head or extraneous knocks or creaks behind the wall. Auditory hallucinations can be a symptom of schizophrenia, alcohol or drug addiction, partial seizures, oncological diseases brain, disorders of the nervous system. Treatment often takes a long time, because it is very difficult to stabilize the body’s condition with such diseases.
Sometimes hallucinations occur in healthy people, for example, with postoperative syndrome. This is a temporary clouding of consciousness after a person recovers from anesthesia. Under the influence of certain components of anesthesia, brain function is disrupted in people. During an attack of hallucinosis, auditory hallucinations accompany haptic illusions or strange visions.
Deception can also occur during lack of sleep or insomnia. 48 hours without sleep is enough for a person to begin to notice strange sounds, causeless rustling and knocking, and experience musical hallucinations.
Visual hallucinations
Visual or visual hallucinations are the appearance of unreal images. The patient himself can participate in visible events, which don't actually exist. A person in this state sees fantastic or recursive objects, patterns, spots. Often it is not a new object that appears, but the shapes and colors of an existing one that change. For example, the tree outside the window changes color, begins to shine, expand, and move.
Visual hallucinations can occur with impaired brain function, tumors, schizophrenia, delirium delirium, drug addiction, Alzheimer's disease, and after severe head injuries. Sometimes hypnosis treatment can cause visions.
In healthy people, visual hallucinations occur during sleep deprivation, when high blood pressure or temperature. Children often see unreal objects when falling asleep.
Olfactory hallucinations
Olfactory hallucinations are illusions in which a person perceives the presence of an unreal odor, most often it is putrid and unpleasant. Many patients in this case refuse to eat, believing that poison or poison was added there, which caused the strange smell.
Olfactory hallucinations have this peculiarity - it is impossible to get rid of the disgusting smell. No matter what sweet and floral aromas the patient tries to smell, they will not cope with the illusion.
This deception of feelings can have the most various reasons. Sometimes it is just a violation of the nasal mucosa. But it happens that olfactory illusions arise against the background of epilepsy, schizophrenia, encephalitis, brain damage, severe viral infections. They can also be caused by recovery from anesthesia, severe depression, abuse potent substances. If you have high blood pressure or temperature, you feel unpleasant odor accompanied by a change in the taste of food. The treatment of such deception of the senses consists in eliminating the underlying disease, which has become a false irritant.
Tactile hallucinations
Tactile or tactile hallucinations are the patient’s sensation of non-existent objects that he can touch, touch, feel. Such illusions arise against the background of infectious diseases, alcoholic hallucinosis, brain injuries, tumors, and mental disorders. Sometimes haptic illusions occur in healthy people during sleep. A person tries to grab a non-existent object, feels contact with the body. At temperature and high pressure, consciousness can become clouded, which provokes false signals nervous system, which creates haptic errors. They are often accompanied by visual, auditory, and musical hallucinations.
Taste hallucinations
Taste hallucinations are the sensation of the presence of a non-existent stimulus in food. Foods can have both a pleasant and disgusting taste. Such illusions can have negative consequences. For example, the patient begins to be overcome intrusive thoughts about poisoning.
The causes of illusions lie in infectious diseases (for example, syphilis), schizophrenia, encephalitis, and brain tumors. Sometimes they appear upon recovery from anesthesia and disappear as soon as active drug is excreted from the body.
All types of illusions include various types and subspecies. For example, color hallucinations are a subtype of visual hallucinations. They occur in schizophrenia, infectious diseases of the brain, delirium tremens, cataracts and glaucoma. During such hallucinosis, objects change color, colors become brighter and more saturated. Color hallucinations can be induced through special hypnotic practices or through the use of potent substances.
Auditory hallucinations have several subtypes. The first ones - verbal hallucinations. At this time, the patient clearly hears phrases and speeches of one or more voices. The second are imperative hallucinations. They manifest themselves in the form of voices that order to commit illegal acts, incite them to commit suicide or murder. Imperative hallucinations – dangerous look illusions, because behind them are the most negative consequences.
The third type is musical hallucinations. The same sound or a whole melody plays on repeat in your head. It is noted that musical hallucinations most often plague older people. Their treatment is not fully understood, as are the mechanisms of their appearance. However, it is known that strokes, cerebral artery aneurysms, infectious diseases may cause musical hallucinations.
Visceral hallucinations are a subtype of tactile hallucinations. Tactile illusions in this case manifest themselves in the form of an invisible object in the body or under the skin, which interferes with life, causes inconvenience and carries with it negative consequences. They are often accompanied by haptic and visual disturbances. Most often, this type of illusion occurs during delirium delirium, drug overdose, or brain damage.
Some illusions seem fun or not particularly bothersome, such as musical hallucinations. But it is worth remembering that any deception of the senses is a signal from the body that there is a problem. Timely recognition of the disease and its treatment will help the patient return to real world to loved ones and loved ones.
