My wife is 73 and suffers from odors that are not there, for example exhaust fumes. When she smells something like that, she also has a headache, pain in her left breast and a nauseous feeling. Doctors cannot help her and she is at her wits’ end. She takes various medicines, including Oxynorm. How does she get rid of those odor complaints?
Joris Bartstra, journalist with medical diploma
That’s difficult. But I also have the impression that your wife’s problem is not an isolated one. The sense of smell is made by nerve twigs that travel from the nasal mucosa to the brain and the brain uses the incoming information to make a ‘smell picture’.
The smell of bad odors that are not really there, usually has to do with a viral infection in which certain nerve branches have been disabled. This can create a kind of imbalance in the information. But smell is also influenced by mood. Your wife has several complaints that you could interpret as stress complaints.
I don’t know why she’s on Oxynorm, but that’s an opiate; these drugs are addictive. If you decrease the dose, or when the last dose has worn off, you will have an increased sensitivity to unpleasant sensations, including odors. I think she should stop opiates, and that a low dose of a tricyclic antidepressant can lower the sensitivity to unpleasant sensations. Consult with the GP again; it could be that your wife depressed and then that needs to be treated.
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