Is anything else happening with you when you smell the smoke? Any loss of time or feelings of daydreaming, any deja vu?

Wow, I had no idea that other people suffered with this. I have had it over a year, the smoke smell is getting so bad that I feel like I can't breathe when I have to take a deep breath, all my food taste like smoke and I am about to lose my mind because of this! I keep reading about sinus and allergy problem's can cause this smell, but does anyone have any other info on this, I am desperate!!!

Do you have anything else that is happening? They may occur at different times. Any sudden, random flashes of memory, deja vu, lapses of time where you have no memory of what just happened, confusion? These are all indications of seizures. Smelling smoke can be an aura that is experienced before a seizure. A seizure presents in many ways, not just in the classic grand mal (now called tonic clonic) seizure. Sudden rapid eye blinking for a few seconds can be a seizure. Momentary lapses in time can be a seizure. If you think you experience any of this go see a neurologist.

I've been smelling burning wood on and off for a couple of years now. I have the sensation right now and have for about 5 days. I smell it at work. I smell it at home. When I stand in my back yard in the breeze, for some reason it diminishes. Although the moment I go back in the house I smell it. I have "Febreezed" my house although my husband and dad say they can't smell a thing. My sister (lives next door) and brother think I'm nuts. I think I recall that once I read that brain tumors can cause you to smell burning things and coffee and such. But I don't know where it's coming from...all the tests I've had don't reveal anything. I guess I just have to live with it.

I had a cold for 2 weeks. I lost my sense of taste and smell. It's now been 3 wks that I can't taste or smell anything.....but cigarette smoke. This happens day & night, everywhere I go. I'm asthmatic so I need my inhaler alot lately because I smell smoking. There has to be an explanation for this. I've seen messages back to 2004 of people who are experiencing the same thing. Some doctor must know something. We aren't making this up. It's really happening. There has to be a common thread among all of us. My doctor has never heard of this, so I asked her to mention it at her next medical convention. Is there anyone out there who found a solution?

When I was ten (14 years ago), I was on a plane in the smoking section for about 15 hours. From then on, I think I smell cigarette smoke for long periods of time. When this happens, I can't smell anything else, unless I really concentrate. I feel like I am in a stuffy room filled with smoke. Every time I inhale I feel as if I am breathing in smoke and tastes it a bit.

When this happens and I feel like I need fresh air, this is usually when I realize that I think I smell smoke. This condition would go on for 2 weeks to 2 months. Then all of sudden, it would stop. And when I smell smoke for more than a minute or so, something would trigger and the cycle occurs.

Does anybody know how to stop this? Does anybody have any resources on this topic?

This is so crazy... I too am amazed that there are others who keep smelling smoke like me. There are so many people asking but no answers. I saw a website that metioned temperal lobe seizures and brain tumors etc which is very scary. When I talked to my doctor he told me it could be something that can happen before the onset of a migrane and gave me migrane meds but it didn't help, so that can't be it. I used to have migranes but never when I have this smoke smell. It gets so bad I feel like I am suffocating and need fresh air. I pray someone can shed some light on this.

I realized today that there was something I ate that triggered the smoke smell that is suffocating and won't go away. I ate a hot sauce and immediately everything went smokey and now I have been smelling smoke non stop all day. Another trigger I noticed was I smelled someone's cigarette smoke and tada it was stuck in my nose and won't go away. Has anyone else noticed any triggers that brings this smoke smell on? I hope this info helps others, perhaps we can use this info to avoid the onset of this "smoke smell" dilema.

This started for me about 9 months ago. I don' t have allergies, nor have I ever had a sinus problem as some of you have. Like all of you, no one else smells it, but me . . . it can happen anywhere - home, work, while I'm out. Sometimes it stops for a week or so, but always comes back. It's so annoying and just drive me crazy since I never smoked and can't stand anything about cigarettes! I didn't realize others had the same problem until I was talking to my son about it and he "googled" it. Lo and behold - it's very common. No cures but a lot of us in the same boat. At least, I know, I'm not alone!

Hi.
I just noticed that everyone here is under strong medication are you also taking some kind of medicine? Mine started about a week ago when the doctor prescribed me strong medicine called ( Sirdalud ) I am planing to stop it for a week and see because I read the side effects of the medicine included manipulation of smell, you can try as well and we can see I started today and nothing yet, good luck and I will tell you more in few days time when I see how it goes.

I thought someone was burning outside. I have had sinus congestion for about 4 days now. Today I noticed I smell smoke (not cigarette). It smells like a woods fire, or a burning log. I will say, last year (2008) I was given a shot for pnuemonia (like a flu shot but lasts about 10 years). It has been off and on, but I really payed attention to it today, nobody is burning. I to am using an inhaler...Xopenex HFA. Anyone else reading this, lets compare... inhaler, vaccine's (pnuemonia), sinus or allergies. Maybe we just have real keen sense of smell, and can smell the fire from 2 miles away.

Hi Everyone,

I just started smelling smoke the last couple of weeks. I keep asking my husband if he smells it too, but he doesn't. I thougth he went back to smoking cigarettes because it is so strong. He assured me he has not. I have never smoked and when I would be around someone who did I would get very nauseas and feel awful. Last night I had to lay down because I had the same symptom that I would get when I would be around smokers. I am seeing a neurologist at this time for a small anuryseum I have in an artery on the left side of my brain. I go to see him next Friday and will mention this to him. I hope I can get some answers.

This is amazing to me!!! I thought I was going crazy, I've been smelling smoke for about two wks now and it driving me crazy!! I glad to know that I am not alone. No one else around me smells it and no one around me smokes. I am in serious need of some help or at least answers.

i was smelling petrol for 3 weeks then it stopped,now i smell wood smoke,its like im locked in a room with a fire its so bad i feel like im choking,noone else smells it but me and i think im going crazy.so glad im not the only one.

I have been smelling cigarette smoke so strongly or about the past 10 days. It can happen anywhere-and almost to the point I need to gasp and catch my breath. I have had that same feeling when around a smoker but no one in my house smokes and I have never fhad a cigarette in my life. Both my parents smoked. it is so disturbing that I even thought a spirit (deceased loved one) was trying to tell me I was sick and should get medical help. So I had a CA 125 serum drawn b/c I jsut found out a friend died last year-and she was a smoker. It is the strangest thing. I don;t know what to do.

I don't have a tumor, spinal inflammation, heavy medication or anything else people have posted here. Just the recurring smoke smell that i can smell anywhere for hours then it disappears. The only medication i have used in the past two months is occasionally Zicam gel nasal spray. I am looking for anyone else that might have that in common.

Since this smell problem became a steady problem these past two weeksm I started using my husband's FloNase ( just started 2 or 3 days ago) but prior to that had no change in meds. I do not have sinus problems nor do I have any indication that I am having any neurological problems. Just the usual 50 year old stuff. If you hear of anything write me please! Good luck!

Wow - I'm amazed at how common this "phantom" smoke smell seems to be. I too have this problem - and like others it follows me. Last night I could swear my husband was smoking (I was suffocating with the smell of cigarette smoke) - but he wasn't (he's not much of a smoker anyway). I'm on no medication - except for the occasional Advil for cramps and joint aches. And I have no sinus issues. No other symptoms either - brain function seems fine.

One thing we all seem to have in common is that we're non smokers - is that right? I too started thinking maybe it was a ghost ... but a brain tumor is more plausible (tho scary). I'm at work and I'm smelling it right now (but no one else does!)

I have been having this issue for about 2 weeks now. I can be sitting at home or at work and all of a sudden it smells so strongly of wood smoke that it actually gives me a headache and makes me feel like I cant breath. I am constantly asking "does anyone smell smoke, like a campfire?" No one ever does. Could this be a medical condition that I should have checked out?