Hyperosmia: Overly Sensitive Sense of Smell

    A few years ago I got a letter (from a visitor to my anosmia pages) from a woman who was desperately seeking treatment for HYPEROSMIA. She had developed an overly sensitive sense of smell that was overpowering and distracting. She said she would gladly trade her condition for one of anosmia. She had consulted numerous doctors, with no success. I searched the Internet for advice for her, but came up nearly dry. Hyperosmia seems to be associated with use of certain drugs, migraine headaches, and "hysteria." I found nothing about treatment. I do recall from my days doing research with rodents that their sense of smell can be reduced or eliminated, permanently or temporarily, by surgery or application of certain chemicals. Whether her case would warrant such treatment or not is another question. I suggested that she might be able to get help from the staff at one of the major smell disorder research centers, many of whom are linked on my web pages.

    I have received a few more such contacts in recent years, but am still at a loss regarding what sort of advice to give persons suffering from hyperosmia.

    I have not been able to find much of value on hyperosmia on the net.  Most of the documents I have found which mention hyperosmia attribute it to a psychiatric condition or to migraines.  I have listed here a couple of links:

When stopping to smell is a problem
Why is this Boy Overly Sensitive to Odors -- the usual suggestion that hyperosmia is a psychiatric condition.
 

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Dr. Karl L. Wuensch

This page most recently revised on 15. June 2005.