Phantosmia- an important warning your body gives, that you should never ignore..

Phantosmia consists in the perception of an odour for which, in the surrounding environment, there is no molecule. It is commonly referred to as an olfactory hallucination and can be caused by nervous system dysfunction or a symptom of a brain tumour developing on the olfactory cortex or a psychiatric illness such as schizophrenia. It usually occurs after a head injury or after an infection. In general, the smells perceived are unpleasant, but there are cases in which the smell is perceived as pleasant. To date, its causes are not fully understood. Phantosmia is therefore classified as a qualitative type of smell pathology, as it presents itself as an erroneous classification of the odours of the surrounding environment. It is distinguished from parosmia (misidentification of smell) and, above all, from cacosmia (perception of repulsive odours) with which it is often confused. Nor is it to be confused with hyperosmia, as the latter indicates an excessive perception of an odour present, perhaps to an infinitesimal extent, while phantosmia indicates the perception of an odor which is not present.