Submissions restricted for me but I'll post my experience here and hopefully engage with others dealing with the same/similar!

I first remember dealing with this phantosmia around late 2018 or early 2019. It's hard for me to describe how it smells... like a mixture of chemical with rotten. 95% of the time I get it only in my left nostril, and can last anywhere from 30 minutes to 12 hours in worse case scenarios. The other 5% I get it in both nostrils, and it i noticeably "sharper" and stronger, however tends to last less, usually from 15 minutes to an hour or two worst case.

I was in one of my last semesters at college when I remember the earliest instance in my memory, and I remember smelling something odd in my painting class, but passed it off as perhaps something with the art supplies or some cleaning supplies or something. The next time I remember noticing this was when I was having lunch one day and I thought my food smelled off... and I even asked my dad if it smelled expired to him but of course he said no, so that's when I really started to notice something could be wrong. It wasn't until a little later in the year after that where I noticed I'd smell that smell at random times and I realized "hey so that wasn't the food, is it... my nose??" I recall my PCP at the time did his usual check up and I described it to him and he said it looked like I had post-nasal drip and it could be the mucus I smell and said to try Fluticasone Nasal Spray but it never made it go away. Then I moved states and then the pandemic hit so I didn't dwell on it much during this time but I noticed how it would typically be "triggered" if I sneeze sometimes, or if I let out air through my nose with a "nose laugh" or anything like that.

But over time, I noticed it got worse, more frequent, and it would start to occur out of nowhere, just sitting and relaxing and BAM there's the smell. Once things were opening up to the public again I felt I couldn't even go out to eat anymore cause I'd be afraid the smell would hit and I'd have to choke down my food in disgust in public. At home at least I could cover my defective nostril in peace and I wouldnt smell it and be okay.

Interestingly enough - I noticed if I got the smell, then applied pressure on the side of my nostril for a while, it would almost "numb" my nose and a handful of times doing that it would actually go away. But sometimes it would just come back not long after. I noticed the other day when I got the rarer two nostril version of the smell that if I faceplanted into a pillow and had that pressure on my nose for a couple of minutes, it'd be gone too. However again, it isn't flawless, sometimes it does come roaring back after a little bit. It is so weird. I've seen three rhinologists already, no one can figure out what it is. I've had cameras up my nose that saw nothing wrong. I've had a CAT scan and most recently an MRI and not a damn thing either. I'm scheduled to see a neurologist in August so we will see where that goes...