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Original poster

Worried - please take me down!

35 replies

Plicket · 27/07/2022 10:14

My 7 year old has for a couple of days been saying he can smell smoke - there is no smoke anywhere (I have a really sensitive sense of smell myself). I'm really worried as I'm sure in adults smelling things that aren't there can be a sign of serious things. Am waiting for a GP callback but has anyone else's child had this? It seems to be common in adults but not children. He hasn't stuck anything up his nose and he hasn't got a cold or had a cold recently. Seems fine otherwise.

OP posts:
Original poster
Plicket · 27/07/2022 10:15

Ffs - title should read TALK me down.

OP posts:
ErrolTheDragon · 27/07/2022 10:19

Could he be smelling something that isn't smoke but that's the closest description he can find? Peoples sense of smell differs, my DH has generally a more sensitive sense of smell than me but there are a few things I can smell that he can't, or things one of us finds pleasanter/nastier than the other.

Is your DS smelling smoke just in your house or elsewhere?

Original poster
Plicket · 27/07/2022 10:21

Yes he says it smells like smoke - like old smoke. He smelt it in our garden but then also in our bedroom and in his room which are miles away from the garden. I can't smell a single thing and nor can DH.

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7 year olds Children's health General health
3luckystars · 27/07/2022 10:22

Covid does weird things to a sense of smell. It could be that or a sinus infection or a million and one things.
Common things are common. Good luck at the doctors.

Original poster
Plicket · 27/07/2022 10:22

We are about to go to the library so I'll see if he smells it there.

OP posts:
HollowTalk · 27/07/2022 10:22

Have you checked all the electrics? What about the fuse box?

girlmom21 · 27/07/2022 10:23

Do you have any new air fresheners or shower gels or cleaning products?

It might just smell different to him or on him.

Original poster
Plicket · 27/07/2022 10:24

The electrics are all totally fine, I've checked. Honestly I have a nose like a bloodhound so if there was a real smell present there's no way I wouldn't smell it.

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KweenCnut · 27/07/2022 10:29

I could smell bonfires when I had covid

Original poster
Plicket · 27/07/2022 10:34

No appts left at the GP so have to call back tomorrow. I suppose it could be covid (although there are 0 other symptoms) but I don't have any lateral flows.

OP posts:
VerifiedBot2351 · 27/07/2022 10:48

Sounds like covid to me. Can you nip to a local chemist and buy a test? In fact, buy a few. I have just got over covid, and tested negative for the first two days.

cocogoloco · 27/07/2022 10:54

Phantosmia:
I get this off/on over the last few years, have had a brain CT scan and everything.

I think it relates back to a bad chest infection about 5years ago

www.mayoclinic.org/diseases-conditions/temporal-lobe-seizure/expert-answers/phantosmia/faq-20058131

cocogoloco · 27/07/2022 10:56

NHS link:

www.nhs.uk/conditions/lost-or-changed-sense-smell/

Original poster
Plicket · 27/07/2022 10:58

In adults I know it can be due to a variety of things but I can basically find no reference at all to it in children.

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CockSpadget · 27/07/2022 11:14

Both my partner and I could smell smoke/burning during and for several weeks after we had covid. It really does mess with the olfactory nerves. Hopefully it's just that.

Shgytfgtf111 · 27/07/2022 11:17

My sister always used to say she could smell gas when she walked into our living room, no one else could. We got a carbon monoxide detector and there wasnt an issue at all.

Allmarbleslost · 27/07/2022 11:19

I vote covid. I was smelling things that weren't there for months when I had it.

SpongeBobJudgeyPants · 27/07/2022 11:21

Have got this from a Google

The term for this type of olfactory hallucination is dysosmia. Common causes of dysosmia are head and nose injury, viral damage to the smell system after a bad cold, chronic recurrent sinus infections and allergy, and nasal polyps and tumors. The brain is usually not the source

This assumes it not from a real source. Has he had a cold lately? I don't see anything which suggests the above only applies to adults.

Puddington · 27/07/2022 11:26

A friend of mine had this a while ago and it was eventually attributed to a symptom of severe stress. But as you say that was a woman in her 30s and not a young child! I hope you get answers soon.

Titsflyingsouth · 27/07/2022 11:40

Another vote for Covid. Totally messed up my sense of smell. Coffee smelt burnt to me. Milk smelt strangely sweet. Lemon smelt like weak vinegar and bleach didn't smell of anything at all....

Abra1d1 · 27/07/2022 11:42

I smelled weird burning metal just before I tested positive for Covid.

Original poster
Plicket · 27/07/2022 12:59

We've been out all morning and he says he can't smell anything. Bizarre.

OP posts:
AndSoFinally · 27/07/2022 13:42

Literally nothing? Or just not smoke?

Original poster
Plicket · 27/07/2022 14:44

Sorry, just not smoke. He smells all the other smells that I do.

OP posts:
usernotfound0000 · 27/07/2022 15:02

Has he had covid at all? I could smell cigarette smoke for months after I had it, not whilst I had it but a few weeks after I had it. No one in the house smokes but I could always smell it.

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