Phantom smell

[Eminybob]

This is driving me crazy.
I have been smelling this phantom smell for probably coming up to a year now, on and off.
It's a horrible mix of smoke/burning and mustiness.
I have been trying to pin down when it comes, ie if it's linked to my cycle, but it doesn't appear to be. It does come approx monthly though, and stays for a few days, then miraculously vanishes.
Anyone else gave this? What could cause it? Menopause? I am getting to that age and my cycle is becoming a bit erratic. How can I get rid of it? Is there a cure.
It's keeping we awake now, it's such a horrible smell

It could be menopause....this is a known symptom of estrogen deficiency.

There's another possibility... did you get Covid during the pandemic...especially early on? Parosmia is a known side effect of Covid. My dd got covid early on and got Parosmia...everything smelled and tasted like moldy rotten food. It has finally faded now (2+ years later), but she lost precipitous amounts of weight because the doctors didn't recognize it as a Covid symptom until over a year into the symptoms.
Maybe you have a combination of the two.

P.S. Look up olfactory training related to Parosmia. There seems to be some good evidence that it works.

Does it happen when you look at something particular? I have a weird thing that sometimes I can smell something I can see a picture of.

Thanks so much I'll do this.

No, it's all the time (until it goes away again)

I had covid in 2021, I did lose my sense of smell then, but this didn't start until a year or so later.

Just been reading about parosmia and I don't think it's that. I can still smell other things normally, but this phantom smell hangs around in the background. I thought it was the house originally until I realised it followed me out can about. I'm pretty sure it's not coming from me either, DH can't smell it.

I don’t want to in any way alarm you but it may be worth consulting your GP of this as there can be a link between smelling smoke/burning and brain tumours so its worth ruling that out. Most likely a result of covid I would think though.

I started getting phantom smells as well about three years ago. Smells like stale ashtrays. It mostly occurs in the evening and is maddening, like a ringing in the ears or an itch that won't go away. I chalked it up to a covid hangover although I am also menopausal. The NHS website has a name for it ( can't remember now) but it often starts with an infection. No advice on getting rid of it, I'm afraid, and the smells do vary🙁

Not trying to make you worry but phantom smells can be a symptom of brain tumors like a poster above said. There are other causes too but best to get it checked out.

I also suffer on and off with this and have for years. I’ve also got selective smell, so can smell some things very strongly and other things not at all. For example, DC had a terrible nappy once and I couldn’t smell it.

I don’t know what it is, but had a clear MRI just before covid. The ENT doctor wasn’t interested in it really, which could have been because I saw him the day before the first lockdown.

I suffer with migraines and have hay fever, so am putting it down to them.

I would be interested in hearing other people’s experiences as it’s very irritating!

As above posters have mentioned, please go and get this checked properly with a GP, phantom smells of smoke can be an indication of a problem in the brain which needs looking at.

@Nik2015 dh has had "the full works" investigation (unfortunately its a brain tumour) and one consultant said that the phantom smells can also be considered as a kind of migrane, so you're not wrong there!

@Timeforabiscuit I’m sorry to hear about your husband, I hope his treatment is going well?

I do think medical staff are too quick to dismiss things like this, I had to keep going back to get my MRI and did feel ‘fobbed off’. I haven’t been back since covid kicked off as the ENT doctor was so dismissive.

Wouldn't there be other symptoms with a tumour? I do get headaches but not very regularly currently. I went through a spell of having awful headaches for days at a time but I put that down to stress as had a lot going on at the time. I haven't had a bad one for a while.

@Eminybob a tumour is very rare, but the phantom smells can be a sign that the electrical signalling in your brain is going awry. With dh it was a lot of stress headaches, slight changes in vision and phantom smells for around 4 months, then it was a very large seizure out of the blue.

It took several months for his diagnosis of adult onset epilepsy to be "upgraded" to brain tumour.

I really am not saying this to frighten, but the only thing dh said afterwards was "thank god I was working at home and wasn't driving when I had that seizure."

The symptoms are so easy to pass off and ignore, but it's absolutely worth while getting it checked with a professional, especially if it's bothering you enough to start a thread about it.

I have exactly this! My GP thinks it's covid but not neurological and so I have a referral to the ENT specialist to take a look at my passages

(I have had it in and off since first getting covid in Jam 2020 - before it got cool)

Ive had this since 2017 precovid and at its peak is very distressing.

It comes and goes for days or months and i went to GP who diagnosed olfactory hallucinations and referred me to ENT. The consultant checked mu sinuses with a scope and referred me for an MRI to rule out anything sinister. He said it was probably the result of a virus and peak allergies (easter bad cold and hay fever bomb) damaging the olfacotrh receptor cells in my nose. He prescribed some strong nasal steroid drops.

HE ALSO SAID GET A CO2 ALARM AND CHECK FIRE ALARM AS YOUR REACTION TO SMOKE SMELLS REDUCES!!!! Intentional capitals. I thought this was incredibly insightful

I still have I but i can manage it now. Ht it has tsken a while. I had some allergy tests done and was alergic to house dusdust mite and various plants but not the dog! and the worst place was in the living room. With huge sofa and brick inglenook (dust gatherer)and dog bed!

I found if i covered my face (often found with nose under t shirt!) the problem lessened so knew it was something i was breathing in. I bought a nasal rinse from Amazon (water pulse). I asked for fexofenadine and a stronger steroid spray. Fluctisone or somwthing and rhis combintation manages it.

Usually i smell smoke (it started as cigarette smoke smell) now its a dusty musty smell and after using the nasal spray and a fexofendine or two it goes aftet 24 hours.

Sometimes it comes on very suddenly and intensely without an environmental change ie can be sat in the living room fkr hours then it comes on strong, which makes me think it also somethings in my body, not just simple response to allergens.

Once after a bad cold or covid the smell changed to bleach. I sent me a bit crackers that did - i thought id i haled bleach driving my car!

Its better in winter snd on holiday 80% i am symptom and drug free and the other 20% i manage with above methods.

Olfacatary hallucination and phantosmia are interchangeable. Paraosnia is smalling the wrong thing, so rose smell like decaying matter and so on.

Hope this help- it might be self limiting and go away.

I have this. I used to get it all the time, a horrible smoke smell.

I started taking perimenopause supplements and it's pretty much stopped. I only get it now just before a headache.

My mood swings are non existent now as well x

I get this as well. A sort of burning ashtray smell, often in the evenings. I’ve also noticed that I’m more sensitive to smells generally, and things smell not quite right.
I lost my taste/smell for a couple of weeks 3 years ago due to covid, and my current problem started about a year ago.
I assumed it was due to covid, but am now wondering if it’s menopause-related. I might speak to my doctor about upping my oestrogen.

This has started happening to me. I searched for a thread and here you are. Did you speak to a doctor OP? Thank you for all the contributions to the thread. Very interesting.
@Timeforabiscuit I'm sorry to hear about your DH 💐

No I didn't. It has completely gone now, but from sept it for long. I'm going to book an appointment next time it comes back.

• from experience not for long

Bloody autocorrect and I'm on app so can't edit