Smelling phantom smoke

[wishihadagoodone]

Ever since having Covid at the start of the year and losing my sense of smell for a week, I've been plagued with random whiffs of cigarette smoke.
However over the past week or so, I've had a bit of a runny nose and the "smell" is now present all the time.
My nose and throat feel like I've spent the evening in a smoky pub and now they're a bit irritated and I can smell smoke constantly.
I can smell other things too but it's really getting on my nerves!

Will this always be here? Is there anything I can do about if?

I had the same, it’s really unpleasant. It went about 7 months after having Covid for me.

My sense of smell is definitely not as sharp as it was pre-Covid though.

I have had exactly the same. Had Covid in June this year and ever since I keep smelling cigarette smoke. It lasts a few days at a time then goes for a a week or so and comes back. It is driving me absolutely insane and actually makes me feel sick. I wasn’t sure if it was due to Covid or because I am in perimenopause but it definitely started around the time I got Covid.
My 14 dd also had Covid the same time and her sense of smell has been really poor ever since.
I fear it’ll never go.

I had covid in 2021 and the smoke smell lasted about 5 months. Since then it comes back every time I have a cold.

I think you can help yourself with getting your sense of smell back. Buy some essential oils peppermint , lavender , rose and pine or similar. Open one up and sniff for 30 seconds or so ( you might not smell it at first ) then go through the rest .
keep doing it twice a day.
it's not a quick fix but things should get better after a few months .

I'm early 30's so I don't think it's menopause.
It's driving me nuts! I think I'll try the essential oil thing. Anything at this stage

I had this on and off for months. I found it helped if I took a really deep breath/ long sniff to really try and sniff the smoke. Then my brain would sort if recognise that actually there wasn't any and the sensation would go away for a few days. Such a weird symptom though

I developed similar about 20 years ago - so not Covid related! I only get it before coming down with a bad cold. I imagine it’s my brain misunderstanding signals from my nose about a virus settling in, but (clearly!) am not medical!

It’s really unpleasant. At the time I googled it and it said I had an inoperable brain tumour with very short (days/weeks) to live. I don’t google health things anymore...

I'm Covid positive at the moment. Belter of a headache, razor blades in my throat and weirdly forgetful and easily distracted. I kept smelling smoke in the two days before we tested, and don't have it at the moment. I occasionally get it as an aura for migraine as well, so I thought I was just brewing a migraine, not Covid! Not sure there's much you can do, as it basically the brain and the nose misinterpreting signals aka dysosmia.

I use a Neilmed sinus rinse every night anyway for allergies, maybe worth a go?

I haven’t had covid afaik, but went through a phase of smelling smoke and burnt toast. The GP diagnosed a sinus infection.

Oooh

I had this last month for two separate weeks. Coincided with my periods.

Hideous, smelt like there was someone smoking on the sofa next to me.

I think I must have had covid again as my smell is really lacking now.

I've had this for a full year since covid. I absolutely hate it! It's so real and kind of catches in your throat the same way cigarette smoke does.

I've had this since covid (March 20)

Pretty sure it's my life now.... If I could choose one thing not to smell, its this.

Yep had it on and off since covid, back in august 2021, it's lesser now but still get it.

I've just been googling what it could be as I keep smelling smoke and found this thread.

I haven't had covid - not that I'm aware of anyway. I did have a slight cold a few weeks ago but I wasn't particularly unwell apart from it triggering an asthma flare up.

The random smoke smell is really starting to irritate me now.

Similar for me. Covid destroyed my senses of taste and smell. They gradually returned, but very unevenly and with setbacks and weirdnesses. One of which was that about 3 months after having Covid for the second time I started feeling a disgusting fake smell. A bit like sewage but not quite. More acrid and with a suggestion of stale smoke. Sometimes it was so strong that I could taste it as well. Sometimes it was constant, sometimes it came for a few hours or days, sometimes it disappeared for a few hours or days. Gradually the gaps grew longer and the smell hallucinations generally grew weaker. I'm now 11 months after that bout of Covid, and haven't felt the nasty smell for 2-3 months. My senses of smell and taste are still disturbed, but much improved.

Around the same time as developing the nasty smell hallucination, I also developed a sudden and violent aversion to eggs. I used to adore eggs, but for several months they smelled and tasted utterly foul to me. Like rank poison. Sometimes chicken did, too. I couldn't eat anything eggy like a baked custard. Recently I tasted a custard tart and it was no longer revolting, but it didn't taste like something I would eat by choice. That's an improvement!

I wonder whether the smell hallucination and the egg aversion were connected.

Cold generally trigger a relapse in my losses of smell and taste, and in things tasting or smelling wrong. They did not do this before covid.

Interesting. The last couple of weeks I can smell cigarettes in my house. No neighbours smoke and I was perplexed…

Olfactory hallucinations apparently - I get it too and my sister and I thought my dead dad was lurking!

For at least a year I could smell woodsmoke . I didn’t link it with covid at first and was constantly checking to find the source of the smell. It was so disconcerting. Haven’t experienced it recently but my general sense of smell and taste has changed post covid.
I find tea and coffee a problem and sometimes I cannot taste even very strong coffee.