Smelling paint when none is around usually comes down to one of two things: a real chemical source you haven’t found, or a smell your own nose or brain is producing with nothing there. The second kind is common enough that about 1 in 15 adults report it.1PubMed Central. Factors Associated With Phantom Odor Perception Among US Adults It’s called phantosmia, and it’s a symptom with a cause rather than a sign of imagination. Most often it’s linked to nose and sinus problems, a past viral infection such as COVID, head injury, migraine, or certain medicines. Rarely it signals a seizure, a brain tumor, or Parkinson’s, so a smell that won’t go away deserves a doctor’s visit.
First Rule Out a Real Chemical Smell
Paint gives off chemical vapors, often listed as VOCs (volatile organic compounds), starting right after it goes on.2EnviroKlenz. The Hidden Dangers Behind New House Smell Depending on conditions, that release can go on for weeks or months.3EnviroKlenz. The Hidden Dangers Behind New House Smell Flooring adhesives, particleboard furniture and even air fresheners can create a similar “chemical” or “new” smell.4Rarefied Air Environmental, Inc.. Persistent Odors in Your Home? How Air Quality Testing Can Identify the Source So a paint-like smell months after a renovation or a furniture delivery can still have a real source. These vapors can also cause headaches, nausea, dizziness or tiredness, especially in tightly sealed homes.5Rarefied Air Environmental, Inc.. Persistent Odors in Your Home? How Air Quality Testing Can Identify the Source
A few simple checks help separate a real smell from a phantom one. Ask someone else in the room whether they smell it. Notice whether the smell stays behind when you leave the house or building. Pinch your nose shut: a real odor usually fades, while a phantom one often continues, though this is one clue among several rather than a sure test.
If you want to hunt for a source, start with recently painted rooms, stored paint cans and garage solvents. Then check new carpet, flooring glue and flat-pack furniture, and finally plug-in air fresheners and cleaning products.
Keep in mind that “no one else smells it” is a clue, not proof that nothing is there. People differ a lot in how sensitively they smell particular chemicals. Smell fatigue matters too: after a while in a room, people stop noticing an odor, while someone who just walked in notices it at once. So ask people who have just arrived, and ask neutrally, such as “what do you smell?”, rather than suggesting paint.
Ventilation is a useful test. Open windows and run fans for a few days. A real source in the room usually weakens with fresh air, though it may return when the space is closed up again. If it stays the same whether the windows are open or shut, and follows you into other buildings, an environmental source becomes much less likely.
What a Phantom Smell Is
Doctors call an odor sensation with no source phantosmia, or a phantom smell.6PubMed Central. Prevalence and correlates of parosmia and phantosmia among smell disorders Parosmia is different: a real odor smells wrong, such as cinnamon smelling rotten.7Harvard Health. Smell training can help fix distortions caused by viruses You can tell them apart by the trigger. With a phantom smell, the odor appears when nothing is around, such as sitting in a quiet room and noticing paint.8PubMed Central. Prevalence and correlates of parosmia and phantosmia among smell disorders With a distorted smell, the trigger is real: coffee, onions or a meal smell wrong, and the wrongness is tied to specific things you actually smell. Some people have both, so describing which situations bring on the problem helps a doctor sort out what is going on.
A phantom smell can start from faulty signals in the nose’s smell cells, or from nose signals that set off a process in the brain.9Oxford Academic (Chemical Senses). Distortion of olfactory perception: diagnosis and treatment Smell cells send signals along nerves to the brain, which turns them into a recognizable scent like paint. If those cells or the brain’s smell areas misfire, the result feels exactly like a real odor. The brain builds the experience either way, so the smell isn’t “fake” to the person having it.
An episode can come in brief bursts or linger for hours. It may be stronger in one nostril, and people with a phantom smell often have a weaker sense of smell in that same nostril.10Oxford Academic (Chemical Senses). Distortion of olfactory perception: diagnosis and treatment It often doesn’t change when you move rooms.
The most common phantom smell is smoky or burnt, reported by almost half of people who described theirs.11PubMed Central. Phantom Smells: Prevalence and Correlates in a Population-Based Sample of Older Adults Chemical smells, rotten odors, food smells, mold and metallic smells are also described.12Headache. Phantosmia and Migraine With and Without Headache13PubMed Central. Phantom Smells: Prevalence and Correlates in a Population-Based Sample of Older Adults Most people find the phantom smell faint or medium in strength, and fewer than 1 in 10 find it strong.14PubMed Central. Phantom Smells: Prevalence and Correlates in a Population-Based Sample of Older Adults
Nose, Sinus and Viral Causes
Chronic sinus inflammation is one of the conditions most often linked with phantom smells.15JAMA Otolaryngology–Head & Neck Surgery. Prevalence and Risk Factors for Olfactory Hallucinations: The Phantom Menace Nasal polyps, hay fever and other long-lasting nasal irritation are common nose-related causes too. Swelling and inflammation can disturb the smell cells and the way air carries odor to them, which may lead to faulty signals. Infections inside the sinuses may add odors from mucus or from the infection itself, which can seem chemical or rotten. Treating the nose problem often settles the phantom smell too, which is why a doctor looks inside the nose early. One-sided smells also point toward the nose. Each nostril feeds its own smell nerve, so a problem in one side of the nose often affects only that side.
Viruses, especially COVID-19, can leave phantom smells behind. Damage to the nerves carrying smell from nose to brain, usually after an infection, is thought to cause them.16Harvard Health. Smell training can help fix distortions caused by viruses Among people whose smell was affected by COVID-19, more than 1 in 3 reported phantom smells.17PubMed Central. Phantom smells: a prevalent COVID-19 symptom that progressively sets in These tend to build up over roughly the first 8 weeks and then level off.18PubMed Central. Phantom smells: a prevalent COVID-19 symptom that progressively sets in They were more likely when smell loss was partial, came and went, or lasted longer, and more common in women.19PubMed Central. Phantom smells: a prevalent COVID-19 symptom that progressively sets in
So a paint smell that appeared weeks after COVID or a bad cold fits this pattern. Think back over the last few months for COVID, flu or a heavy cold, and note whether your sense of smell or taste dulled at the time. A delayed start weeks later is common after these infections. Writing down when it began helps a doctor link the causes.
Head Injury, Migraine, Medicines and Stress
Head injury is one of the causes most commonly linked with phantom smells.20JAMA Otolaryngology–Head & Neck Surgery. Prevalence and Risk Factors for Olfactory Hallucinations: The Phantom Menace The fine smell nerves pass through a thin plate of bone above the nose, where a jolt can stretch or tear them even without a skull fracture.21PubMed Central. Head trauma and olfactory function The smell can begin days to weeks later, as damaged nerves start to recover and send mixed signals. If a smell begins after a head injury, tell a doctor, especially if it comes with headaches, confusion or other changes.
Overactive brain cells can generate a smell, which is why migraine is linked with phantom odors.22PubMed Central / Taylor & Francis Online. Distorted olfactory perception: a systematic review People with migraine usually describe an unpleasant burning smell, sometimes chemical ones.23Headache. Phantosmia and Migraine With and Without Headache A smell may come before or during a headache, so notice whether the two arrive together. Keeping track of headaches alongside smells helps a doctor decide whether migraine treatment is worth trying.
Medicines and solvents play a part as well. Taking five or more prescription medicines is linked with about 70% higher odds of phantom smells.24PubMed Central. Prescription Medication Use and Phantom Odor Perception Among US Adults In people 60 and over, diabetes medicines, cholesterol medicines and acid-reducing pills called proton pump inhibitors are each linked with higher odds.25PubMed Central. Prescription Medication Use and Phantom Odor Perception Among US Adults If you suspect a medicine, list every prescription and when each started, then compare those dates with when the smell began. Ask your doctor or pharmacist before stopping anything, because a link in groups of people doesn’t prove your medicine is the cause.
Anxiety and stressful life events are also linked with phantom smells.26PubMed. Olfactory hallucinations in a population-based sample The relationship runs both ways: the smell itself can raise anxiety, and worrying about a hidden gas leak or illness keeps your attention on it. Ruling out real sources can ease some of that worry.
When a Phantom Smell Signals Something Serious
Epilepsy is among the conditions linked with phantom smells.27JAMA Otolaryngology–Head & Neck Surgery. Prevalence and Risk Factors for Olfactory Hallucinations: The Phantom Menace Some seizures cause only a sensation, such as a smell, with no shaking or loss of awareness, and can last up to several days.28PubMed Central. Prolonged sensory or visceral symptoms: an under-diagnosed form of non-convulsive focal (simple partial) status epilepticus. In some people such a smell is a warning sign before a more obvious seizure.29PubMed Central. Prolonged sensory or visceral symptoms: an under-diagnosed form of non-convulsive focal (simple partial) status epilepticus. A smell seizure tends to be stereotyped: the same odor, often unpleasant such as burning or chemical, arriving in short episodes that feel the same each time. A repeated, identical smell that comes on suddenly with no trigger is worth describing to a doctor, though most such smells have other causes.
Rarely, a phantom smell comes from a brain tumor, usually a benign one growing near the smell nerves.30UT MD Anderson. Phantosmia: 8 things to know about olfactory hallucinations More than 18% of people with Parkinson’s disease have phantom smells.31Parkinson’s News Today. PD Olfactory Hallucination More Common Than Thought, Study Suggests Loss of smell can appear years before Parkinson’s movement symptoms.32PubMed Central. Chemosensory Impairments and Their Impact on Nutrition in Parkinson’s Disease: A Narrative Literature Review Still, most people with a phantom smell don’t have any of these conditions. Smell loss is common for many harmless reasons, and Parkinson’s is diagnosed by movement symptoms, not smell alone.
Some signs need prompt medical attention: smell episodes with confusion, staring spells or lost time; a new smell with severe headache, vision change or weakness; smells following a recent head injury; or a new tremor, stiffness or slowed movement alongside smell changes.
Seeing a Doctor and What Happens Next
A family doctor or an ear, nose and throat specialist is the usual first stop. They typically look inside the nose and may test your sense of smell one nostril at a time. A small camera or light can show swelling, polyps or signs of infection, and this is usually quick and done in the office. Smell testing may involve sniffing scents in each nostril in turn, which shows how well the sense is working and whether one side is worse. A scan may be ordered if a brain cause or sinus disease is suspected.
Keep a log of when the smell appears, how long it lasts and what you were doing. Useful entries include:
- Time of day and how long each episode lasts
- Whether it’s one nostril or both
- Recent illnesses, injuries or new medicines
- Any headaches, dizziness or other symptoms at the same time
At the appointment, you might ask: Could my nose or sinuses be the cause? Could any of my medicines play a role? Do I need a scan or a seizure test? What should make me come back sooner?
Will It Go Away and How It’s Treated
Duration varies widely. In a study of older adults, about 1 in 6 people with phantom smells had them less than a year, and similar shares for over 10 years.33PubMed Central. Phantom Smells: Prevalence and Correlates in a Population-Based Sample of Older Adults A smell tied to a treatable problem, such as sinus inflammation, tends to improve once that is dealt with, but the course can’t be predicted from the smell itself, so check in with your doctor if it isn’t settling. Watching and waiting is a recognized option for many people.34PubMed. Management of long-lasting phantosmia: a systematic review
For persistent cases, smell training means sniffing a set of strong scents daily for months, and it improved phantom and distorted smells after viral damage.35Harvard Health. Smell training can help fix distortions caused by viruses At home, choose four distinct scents such as rose, lemon, clove and eucalyptus. Sniff each for about 20 seconds, twice a day, focusing on remembering what each should smell like. Improvement is slow, so keep going for several months.
Doctors have also tried migraine, seizure and other medicines for long-lasting phantom smells.36PubMed. Management of long-lasting phantosmia: a systematic review For severe cases, surgically removing the smell lining from the nose helped 10 of 11 people in the short term.37PubMed. Management of long-lasting phantosmia: a systematic review In a small group followed long-term, 7 of 8 had their phantom smell go away for good.38PubMed. Long-term follow-up of surgically treated phantosmia Surgery is a last resort and is offered only after other options fail.
Meanwhile, a smoke and carbon monoxide detector lets you trust real alarms. Saline nasal rinses may ease nose-related causes, and strong pleasant scents can briefly mask the phantom one. Tell family so they can confirm whether a smell is real.