What's That Smell?

Ruining my relationship

This Article Stinks

One of the more unusual perimenopause symptoms is something called phantom smells or the medical term “phantosmia” (olfactory hallucinations). It’s something I deal with. This sounds like it would be a great name for a magician.

“Ladies and gentlemen, prepare to be amazed! You are about to meet the world’s most famous illusionist and be captivated by magic. Please welcome The Great Phantosmia!”

According to the recently published book, The Forgotten Sense, by Jonas Olofsson, the sense of smell was science’s favorite topic to ignore.

Smells were considered primitive and associated with animal urges (up until 2015!) and, therefore, were deemed not important. It wasn’t until the smell and taste issues of COVID happened that this sense was brought urgently to the forefront of scientists' minds.

It was once thought that humans had a poor sense of smell compared to other animals, but we’ve since learned that we actually have an amazing sense of smell.

Here’s some interesting smell facts from the book:

• We can smell through the throat, which makes eating more pleasurable.

• e-Noses, artificial human noses are a real thing and can detect some types of cancer (rectal, prostate, and bladder) in pee and poop. They are also installed in food production factories in Spain to detect mold and bacteria.

• Our olfactory system has not evolved like other parts of our brain

• There are many animals that we smell better than (meaning that we’re better smellers than some animals; of course, some of us smell better than animals, and some of us don’t - I’ve run into those guys).

• Dogs have 50 times more olfactory receptors, which helps them smell better than humans. However, the bloodhound has up to 300 times more smell receptors, making them the champion smeller of all dog breeds.

The sense of smell is the only one of our 5 senses that bypasses the thalamus, a sensory relay station in the brain, before reaching our brain’s limbic system. To learn more about our limbic system, read my article, That Thing on the Thing, about brain fog.

This direct line into the brain allows for faster smell detection and also helps explain why smells are linked to emotions and memories.

“The sense of smell does not act on its own, but is smarter than that – it takes in all the cues in the environment and assesses them using our accumulated knowledge.”¹

The book didn’t talk about any topics related to menopause, perimenopause, or pregnancy, but it was still worth my time to read. We know that these three events can affect our sense of smell.

Figuring Out the Phantom

Upon further research, there’s no definitive answer about what causes these phantom smells in perimenopause and menopause. It’s believed that, like everything, estrogen is involved and helps us from developing olfactory dysfunction or issues.

Interestingly, ovarian function and phantom smells have been linked as far back as I could find, which was 1894!²

Another quirky development during this time is what I call a supersonic sense of smell. I’m capable of sniffing out all sorts of smells. Plus, I can also conjure a smell by thinking about it. This unusual combo of abilities makes my family think I’m smell-obsessed, a smell weirdo is more like it.

My sense of smell, which is illusionary, hallucinatory, and supersonic, is ruining my relationship. I’ve always been like this, but perimenopause has brought it to new heights.

What’s Your Favorite Smell?

Scratch that – it doesn’t matter, those won’t be the ones you’ll probably be smelling.

Usually, the smells are more commonly offensive ones rather than pleasant. Smoke is a big one, as well as chemicals, sulfur (rotten egg), trash, musty, and burnt things.

My sense of smell also captures smells and saves them for days.

Once, I was behind a very sweaty young man at the airport security line, and they required him to take off his shoes. He left sock sweat stains on the ground where he stepped. His foot odor got into my nose, and it took weeks before I couldn’t smell it anymore.

I’ve become very careful about what I smell because I know this can happen, and I need air purifiers in my house running 24/7.

Pull My Finger

Every year, I come up with a list of the most frequently said sentences as a wife and mother. When the twins were young, it used to be, “Hold on to the railing coming down the stairs,” or when walking through grass in a park, “If it’s brown and round, step around.”

In recent years, my most frequently said sentence has been “Did you fart?”

I’ll be sitting on the couch next to a family member enjoying a show together and I’ll turn to ask “Did you just fart?” followed up with “Because you know, I’ve warned you many times that I’m going to smell it no matter what and a heads up would be nice.” 90% of the time they have not farted and I’ve been known to double check.

I can also smell people’s burps. That one’s fun when you’re trying to eat.

A Good Scent of Humor

But that’s not all, I have more interesting stories of how this is playing out in my relationships.

• In the morning, I can smell when my son forgot to take the downstairs kitchen trash out the night before … while I’m in my bed with the door shut.

• I can smell my daughter’s perfume when she sprays it in her room with her door shut AND my door shut.

• I smelled a dead mouse in the wall that no one else could smell. Called the mouse guy, and I was right.

• My husband can NEVER change deodorants because we found one that doesn’t bother me.

• I made a rule that no one can poop in the downstairs bathroom. It’s too close to the kitchen.

And, I got into an argument with my husband when I declared that the dude who just walked into the restaurant, on the other side of it, smelled like weed. He didn’t believe me (only because I’ve been calling out everyone smelling like weed lately, and his underperforming nose can’t smell it). I went over to check. I was correct.

Then, there was my first date with my husband, who took me to Yankee Candle’s headquarters, which had ALL of the scents, and I smelled them. We had to cancel the evening because I was so nauseous.

This is all getting a little frustrating for my family.

Scratch and Sniff

As I’m writing this article, it occurred to me that I may be responsible for causing my own powerful smelling capability.

When COVID stole people’s sense of smell, they used smell retraining therapy to help them regain their sense of smell. Smell retraining therapy includes repeatedly smelling various scents.

Then, I thought about my life, and several things became clear. My new theory is that I may have inadvertently participated in smell retaining therapy as a child and teenager.

Do you know what was popular in the 1980s? Scratch and sniff stickers. I had a very large collection that I smelled all the time. Yes, even the skunk.

Do you know what else was popular then? Mr. Sketch scented markers. Whose big idea was it to put scent in markers? You can still buy them today. Most of my art class time was spent smelling markers.

And … the 1980s were when perfume samples in magazines became popular.

I was a nose-brainer.

Get a Sense of What’s Going On?

Whenever you have something weird for you going on, it’s best to get checked by a doctor or healthcare professional because it could be a sign of something other than perimenopause, so we never want to assume.

I have gotten a full check-up, scans, and images and know that nothing serious is causing these symptoms, so I’ve learned to settle down my health anxiety and cope with these scent-sations.

For now, I’ve deemed myself just the family bloodhound.

A Whiff of Wisdom

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Be well, stay cool…

Shelby Tutty, MHA
Certified Perimenopause Educator
Founder of The Periprofessional, LLC

Disclaimer, Content Use Policy, Privacy Policy

1. Olofsson, Jonas. The Forgotten Sense. HarperCollins, 7 Jan. 2025.

2. The Journal of Mental Science. (1894). United Kingdom: Longman, Green, Longman & Roberts.