Shit… this is bad isn’t it?

[AJT43]

A few months ago I smelt burning on and off for a few days; I was about to see the GP about it and it just stopped.
Fast forward I’ve had it a few times since but it passed quickly.
The last 3 or so days I’ve been smelling burning and foul smells on and off. Then this morning I woke up with a terrible headache at the back of my head.
I plan on calling the GP first thing on Monday morning but I am honestly so scared. Google tells me the bleakest thing. I’m 31 years old with 2 small children and I’m just terrified.

Do you have health anxiety OP?

Well tbh I had funny smell of burnt toast, then promptly had a stroke, it wasn't a chronic thing though.

I’m feeling quite sensitive.
My best friend unexpectedly died alone; dropped dead at home after fighting for months with horrific brain related symptoms. So this has definitely triggered me.

I had those symptoms for a while and they gave me a brain scan and everything was fine, so try not to worry.

Like others have said, I could smell burning every morning for quite a long time after I had a sinus infection once. All gone now.

My husband had a spell of smelling burning (especially burnt toast!!) he then had a seizure and ended up being admitted to hospital, suffered with hideous head pain for months.
He had a CT scan, an MRI scan, saw three different neurologists and they declared he had…absolutely nothing wrong with him! (There’s plenty wrong with him, in my opinion, but clearly none of it is neurological!!)
Im not trying to minimise your worries - we were both petrified of the “worst case” when DH was unwell and symptomatic, but I guess I’m just trying to reassure you that not all symptoms of Brain Tumours mean a Brain Tumour. It could be several other things, or even “just one of those things”
Please try not to worryxx

I get a burning smell in my nose when I'm stressed @AJT43 . There are at least a couple of threads about it because I know I've contributed on two separate ones.

Sometimes it's like cigarette smoke (we don't smoke and aren't around any smokers), sometimes it's like burning plastic - that's the most common one for me actually - and occasionally it's like a sort of hot petrol smell. I don't have headaches to go with it though, so yours could be a coincidence too.

Hope you're ok.

Thanks everyone.
the smell today has been foul, I don’t know the actual name of them is… but what I call ‘poo farms’ like the water work places, today all I can smell is one of those on a hot day 😩
then it’s burning, back to that again, back to burning.
it’s actually so so distressing.

OP you have a GP appointment on Monday. Please read the leaflet I posted. 1 in 20 people have phantosmia. It is very common. It is very rarely anything serious!

I’ve had Long Covid nearly 2 years.

The smell of burning is constant. Sometimes toast, sometimes plastic.

Do you live in a rural area OP? I do and currently all you can smell is the poo smell as they spread the fields. It also makes the water smell and the air smell - even in the nearest towns.

@itsgettingweird I've suffered from cluster headaches for 25 years so I know the pain. If you’re a sufferer then it’s suggested (was by my neurologist) that you get an MRI. Not sure if this has been suggested to you as they’re sometimes caused by underlying issues. In my case it was a heinous malformation which puts me at a higher risk of stroke

Also to say the only way to battle them is to get a combination of drugs that work for you. If you do you should halt any attacks in they tracks

I’m so sorry. My best friend died completely unexpectedly and alone and it did quite honestly send me quite mad. I’m not suggesting that you are mad, more that you aren’t necessarily thinking rationally. Lots of people here have said this is a common symptom and it sounds very unpleasant but as junior doctors are taught, ‘if you hear hooves think horse not zebra.’

Try and listen to your rational brain and keep calm until you can see your GP.

Take care.

I smell that burning smell with lots of things like migraines, viruses, pre period, sinus infection

I understand , I am on day 5 of smelling cigarette smoke and it’s driving me mad!! Didn’t think it was anything to worry about but maybe it is!!

I had this just before Christmas, it came in waves; reckon it was some sort of sinus infection.
Definitely don’t Google, see the GP.

I had this a couple of years ago. Could smell burning in the shower at home and away from home and sometimes outside. It eventually went away, not sure what caused it.

Brain tumours are very rare, especially in people your age.

Please stop googling OP. You will find information you won’t understand and which will turn out to be irrelevant to the cause for yourself. There’s a condition called phantosmia and there are several different causes. The lingering effects of colds, flu, and Covid can cause it, as can nasal infections, upper respiratory tract infections, nasal polyps, and allergies. If you suffer from migraine (you mentioned headache) it can bring on the condition and it can accompany the onset of new migraine. You need to see your GP, and you’ll most likely find that there is a simple, treatable cause.

My teenage son had this sometime after having a virus and I was like you very worried but it stopped eventually and believe it was as result of the virus and ongoing sinus problems. This was about 2 years ago and it has not reoccurred. He kept smelling burning when nobody else could smell anything. Try not worry or google things until you have seen the gp.

The longer you out off being seen the longer you’re going to be anxious about what is wrong. You could go to the doctor on Monday and discover it’s long Covid, as others have suggested. Alternatively if by some slim chance it is a brain tumour or something very drastic then the quicker you know the better.

Migraine maybe or an infection. The more you think about it the worse it will be. I mean the actual smell. So sorry it's so upsetting.

I know a lot of people experience phantom smells as part of a migraine or cluster headache. Also COVID.

I have a brain tumour and I've never smelled random burning, or had any phantom smells for that matter. I hope that helps reassure you in some way!

Sewage works.

Don't fear the worst, there's plenty of very dull benign reasons. Plus I've got v sensitive smell and smell all kinds of things that other people don't ever notice.

I got that burned toast smell from covid, it was really weird

I've been able to smell things that no one else can. Usually gas mainly. I had an EEG as needed to be checked for epilepsy due to other issues and all came back fine. See the GP for sure but try not to worry.