I smell things that aren’t there.

[Gilead]

Always have. Doesn’t bother me most of the time although the soap powder smell by my bed is particularly overwhelming this evening. I know it’s fairly rare but was idly wondering if anyone here has it too?

Every now and then, I've always just assumed it's a smell wafting from somewhere.

Yes, I often smell coffee

My son was able to tell who was the owner of each of the 22 jumpers in the school pegs by the smell. He often described smells in strange ways like “that kid smells like Y’s spare room, etc. It has worn off with age.

I have olfactory hallucinations if I am particularly stressed or depressed - it's very rare, and not the same as when you get an unexpected smell like a waft: it's hard to explain, but it's very intrusive, and not scents that can be explained otherwise. I don't personally find it distressing, but it is odd (and also a useful indicator that my MH is deteriorating).

Yep I can smell so much more than my family and husband. I thought everyone could smell like me until I was about thirty and heard a radio interview by jo malone and realised what she was describing was what I could smell.
I think the smells are actually there (although sometimes I get a ‘small memory’ from a photograph or something and I can actually smell it, like if you close your eyes you can ‘see’ pictures of memories, if that makes sense), it’s just that not everyone can smell them.

I used to work in a nursery. In a room of 20 babies/toddlers, I could tell you which of them had done a poo without even checking because I found that they all had their own distinctive smell. I could tell you which clothes belonged to which child without checking name labels too. Since having pregnancies my sense of smell has totally changed and something has to smell really strong before I notice it.

Motherofalldilemmas - yes I used to do stuff like your son. My mum says when I was little if she took me somewhere new, (like I’m holiday for example) I would smell all the bed, the curtains the and the carpets even. Apparently I used to sniff the cutlery and napkins but strangely never the food!

Wow, really hadn’t expected this! It’s not something you really talk about! I only worry when I can smell bacon cooking when I know it isn’t, it’ll be the precursor to a big migraine.

TheMotherofAllDilemmas, my ds does this too.

Theres a difference between being a 'super smeller' which means you have a greatly heightened sense of smell compared to others, I can detect really faint notes of things and easily establish a whole host of smells which constitute a perfume or wine for example. I didnt realise for a long time that everyone could smell things in the same strong way.
This super smell ability is linked to migraines according to research.
Olfactory hallucinations are different. I have these. They are literally a completely imaginary smell, often unpleasant but always completely out of the blue and very strong. I have to ask people if they are real. If they aren't, for me they are the warning sign I'm about to have an epileptic fit .

I often smell things that no one else seems to smell. Sometimes the smell persists and sometimes it's fleeting. It's a bit odd but it doesn't bother me.

Yep I smell things that aren't there. Especially coffee 🤷🏻‍♀️

I have a strongish sense of smell, but these are definitely hallucinatory, and I’m usually aware of what is and isn’t. I can smell cigarettes smoke sometimes although nobody has been or is in the house, baby powder, soap powder, other things. I’m lucky that they, for me, a rarely unpleasant, not fabulous or even ‘nice’ just sort of there.

I went to the GP about my imaginary smells some years ago. I began "you'll think I'm mad but....." and he said it was surprisingly common! Often after a virus, which I had noticed, and it is probably migraine related. Unfortunately the smells are usually not nice ones. Mine tends to be a burning smell. Touch wood, I haven't had it for a few years. Hopefully it will pass for you too.

Do you get the smell of a cold coming before you get one? I do, and assumed everyone did. But people at work were amused and disbelieving I can only describe it as a kind of "oaty" smell.

I smell something very like bamboo shoots on people. I really don’t like the smell. Luckily my daughter stops getting it, but for ages I could not be near her, but I smell it frequently on others. I also smell pipe smoke in one area of my house, but only fleetingly and not consistently.

I can smell when my kids are coming down with something on their breathe. I only realised I was going through the menopause when I realised I smelled "different" like a teenage boy.

I can remember smells too, for example if I see a picture of bacon, I can smell it.

Worryingly I think I can smell cancer on people's breathe too, I smelled it recently on a friend's breathe. I haven't said anything to her in case I am mad!!!

I get a strong smell that drives me mad each month when it should be my period week. ( Should be due to not actually bleeding )
I can't describe it, it's not particularly pleasant nor unpleasant, but it's there from waking till going to sleep for around 3 days.
I've asked the husband and kids if they can smell it, they said no.
I asked the husband if it was me, he said no.
It started around 4 years ago. It actually stops me from getting to sleep as it's so strong and driving me crackers.

If I’m watching a programme or even an ad, I can smell what I’m seeing, ie. something burning, or coffee etc. There’s a name for it but I can’t remember it.

I get olfactory hallucinations. Usually cigarette smoke

Weirdly I have practically zero sense of smell the rest of the time.

Oh, this just happened to me one night a couple of weeks ago. I walked out the front door to my car and got a massive hit of men’s cologne that knocked me backwards. It was so strong that I actually thought some man with an entire bottle of cologne dumped over him was hiding in the shrubs. I wish now I’d called my sons to come out and see if they could smell it.

I’m 50 now, and it’s been happening (very occasionally) for the past 10 years or so. One time (outside, in November, in the dark) it was a strong women’s perfume, like a heavily perfumed woman was hiding in the shrubs near the house. A couple of years after that (outside, in November, in the dark), it was a very strong citrus smell.

Two years in a row, in the middle of July, I smelled cigarette smoke. I was inside, but the windows were open, and the smell was coming from outside. It was so strong that I thought someone was sitting under the window, smoking, but I looked and there wasn't anybody around. And we don’t smoke.

I’m glad I’m not the only one this happens to.

I generally have a strong sense of smell but think at times I have also smelled things that are not really there. Quite a few times I have caught a strong whiff of cigarette smoke when inside my house and been sure someone must have passed an open window with a cigarette too but have been sitting right beside the window and can see there has been nobody passing. Sometimes I can’t use cutlery as it seems to have a horrible smell but nobody else I ask can smell anything. I suffered from bad migraines as a child and smells were a big trigger.

I'd say something. This woman can smell cancer
www.google.com/amp/s/www.dailyrecord.co.uk/news/scottish-news/scottish-gran-who-can-smell-14198795.amp

That was to YellowJellyfish

. . . I have caught a strong whiff of cigarette smoke when inside my house and been sure someone must have passed an open window with a cigarette too but have been sitting right beside the window and can see there has been nobody passing.

Exactly what I've experienced, Vellichor.