Phantoms Attack

Ever since my fall on the ice in February of 2015, I’ve had the lingering problem of phantom smells. Occasionally I have difficulty concentrating and keeping names straight. Considering problems that I could have had, that is small. I very easily could have had more serious symptoms and physical disabilities of seizures, stroke, or even death. So I consider myself very fortunate indeed.

Initially I had only two phantom smells. One was automobile hot exhaust fumes, like a car was running nearby and filling my house with that odor. I soon learned that it was not real. The second smell was that of hot plastic. Every time that it “appeared” I wandered through my house just to be sure that something wasn’t burning. Those original aromas have faded over the years and I haven’t experienced them in quite some time, but occasionally, some other smell will arrive. Today is one of those days. I am unable to recognize what the odor is. The reason that I mention it at all, is because of its strength.

Yesterday I had a few varied odors that flitted into view before leaving almost as quickly, but not so this morning. Whatever I am “smelling” rolls in like the waves of an ocean during a storm. Unrecognizable and disguised, it fills my olfactory senses, then ebbs back to disappear. I’m almost afraid to take my morning medications or to make breakfast because at the height of the concentrated “smell” it brings along an unwelcome guest, nausea. The one good thing is that my morning blood sugar is middle of the road, where the delay in taking my medications or eating breakfast won’t matter for now.

I may just wait out the storm before I pop my pills and raid the refrigerator, until I’m sure that the storms have passed. Up to his point phantom smells are irksome and not bothered me to this extent. I’ve been able to coexist without any physical inconvenience. I am praying that the phantom smells haven’t charted a new course and decided to actually cause problems for me.