Diagnosis
The most challenging task for the examiner is to determine and obtain the correct symptoms and associate them with one of the olfactory disorders, as there are several of them and they are related to each other.
The first step the examiner usually takes is to investigate if the problem is olfactory or gustatory related. As it may be that the patient releases certain bodily odors that are causing them to have this perception.
If the examiner is able to confirm that the problem is olfactory related, the next step is to determine which olfactory disorder the patient suffers from. The following is a list of possible olfactory disorders:
- anosmia
- dysosmia
- hyperosmia
- hyposmia
- parosmia
- phantosmia
- troposmia
The second step is very difficult for both the examiner and the patient as the patient has some difficulty describing their perception of the phantom odor. Furthermore, the patient is a in a position of stress and anxiety thus it is crucial that the examiner be patient.
After determining the nature of the disorder, and confirming phantosmia, the examiner must then have the patient describe their perception of the phantom odor. In many cases, patients have described the odor to be that of something burning and rotten and have described it to be unpleasant and foul.
The third step for the examiner is to determine the past history of the patient in terms of if they have had any head trauma, accidents, upper respiratory infections, allergic rhinitis or chronic rhinitis. Although these may be events that have resulted in the phantom odor, studies conducted by Zilstrof have found that the majority of phantosmia patients have no previous history of head trauma and upper respiratory infections.
Read more about this topic: Phantosmia