pleura2dura

Agreed, this is sketchy.

ENT resident here. This may be due to a different nerve being stimulated in your nose. The nerve for the sense of smell is cranial nerve 1, the olfactory nerve. The trigeminal nerve, cranial nerve 5, also runs inside your nose and can be irritated by things like ammonia/smelling salts, etc.

Just curious, but at the ENT clinic did you take a smelling test? I’ve administered the UPSIT a few times when seeing someone with anosmia.