I too have been smelling cigerette smoke all the time for the past two weeks. I have asked my wife and co-wokers if they smell the smoke and the answer is always no. I smoked for about twenty years but quit 6 to 7 years ago. This really starting to bother me and worry me a little bit.

Thanks woody for replying. I'm sorry that you have the similar problem, and hopefully we can come to some conclusions if more people come forward.

This has been going on for a years and it happens off and on. Once and awhile my mom would say she smells smoke, but the problem is that there is no smoke around. I can give you what she thinks the problem is. She tells me that she is not getting enough oxygen to her brain. So she thinks that it is a heart problem. This is not a definate answer, so if anyone find out what is going on, please share with everyone. Thank you!

Lately (past week) I have been smelling cigarette smoke all the time too...

I went to the doc last friday and they said I had broncaitis(sp?) ... I have been wondering what is causing this as well. It smells like it is deep in my sinuses.

Don

I've been waiting for another post for a few weeks, and after reading your post I wish that there was not another one. I am sorry to hear that you have such a condition. I wish you the best and hope you recover from this ailment a.S.A.P.

About a month ago, I began to smell smoke all the time throughout the day. I smell it right now. Sometimes it feels as if my eyes are stinging or are about to water like when you are in a smoky place. However, there is no smoke. I tell my wife about it every once in a while. I've told my mother and father about it.

I smell it at home in all rooms. I smell it outside at home. I smell it at the gym. I smell it at work which is 25 miles away on the other side of some hills. I smell it by the beach. I smell it when I eat. This has never happened to me before in my life. I am 40. I am in great shape. I have never smoked, never taken non-prescription drugs. I do not have any diseases that I know of. I workout four times a week.

This began about a month ago. I have been having a bad time with my allergies since january. I was very sick for about a month in late january to late february. I got a bloody bad sinus infection that kept receding and coming back because I kept getting one cold or virus after another (five in all!) over a period of six weeks. Finally, I went to the doctor in early march and got some antibiotics for what he called "a very bad sinus infection." I took a z-pac and it knocked it out almost immediately. Shortly after I was well, I began to smell smoke.

When I asked others if they smelled it, they said that they did not. This has concerned me, but I have been hoping it would go away. Tonight, my wife was very close to my nostrils when I was breathing out and she reacted very surprised and said that she smelled smoke coming out of my nose. She was shocked. She smells it anytime she is close to me. She is worried. She found this forum and I joined because I am becoming more concerned that it will not go away and that there is something wrong.

I do not have bronchitis. I am wondering if maybe there is a secondary fungus or mold infection in my sinuses that is causing the smell. Now, at least, I know it is not just a condition that is confined to my nervous system, that I just think I smell smoke. Since my wife smells it coming out of my nostrils, something physical is causing it.

I was also given a z-pack... My smoke smell has cleared up now though...

I would go back to the doc if I were you , especially if your wife can smell it in your nose while shes close.

I never had anyone try that with me, but this seems pretty common , so I bet mine was giving off an odor too.

Let us know what you find out!!

Don

Not to worry you and I am not saying this is what is wrong with you, but phantom smells is a sign of abnormal brain function such as tumors. Definately go to your doc and get it checked out. Good luck to you.

I have read recent posts and been to many web sites and web md's. I have had the most horrible smoke smells for the past few weeks as well. They are intermittant, they happen at work, sometimes in my car and some places in my home. I do not smoke nor does my spouse. I am an ex smoker and have been for over 4 years. Being around people in restraunts that do smoke (which is not often, doesn't stink as bad and hasn't made me this ill?

Our home has never been smoked in nor our car. Sometimes it is so overwhelming my eyes burn and I get short of breath and have to get up and move around? I spray air freshner everywhere including the car! I have even gone as far as to put cotton in my nose, I sometimes have a hard time speaking as I get choked up as if there was smoke? I have had asthma and bronchitus for many years and this problem has just come up. I am waiting for a response from my Dr. As well. Has anyone found out anything for certain?


Thanks for your help
-d-

I started smelling smoke about 3 months ago. Like the rest of you, it comes and goes and can be anywhere at any time. With no smoke around. I had sinus surgery and didn't smell the smoke for a couple of weeks. Then it came back. It even makes my eyes water. Others do not smell the smoke that I know of. I haven't tried asking someone if they smell the smoke when I breathe, but i'm going to try that next. I have found that if I inhale very deeply the smoke smell is not there.

I also have an appointment with my ent next week and will tell him about it, too.

It's weird. I went to a bridal shower last saturday and people who smoke did so outside. I could smell the smoke in the house because the windows were open and it was very humid.

Four days later and I still smell smoke, but it seems more like wood burning, not cigarette smoke.

I asked my doctor about it and he said it's just the cigarette smoke around us, yet he didn't smell it when I did, when I was in his smoke-free office.

Thanks for posting the question here. Maybe all of us together can come up with the answers we're looking for.

After reading all of the posts, I see now that my mom is not alone. Thank you all for the feedback.

Katemp: I hope someone will find the cause of the smoke smell too.

All

i went to my dr and he said there were large pollups in my nasal passages that were infected? I have had no congestion, cold or feeling of any sort of infection. He said we would try z-pak, the tri pak and rhincort nose spray. It worked about 5 days (during the antib/nose spray. It is back, but not as intense and I am still using the nose spray. I have heard nose sprays can be very habit forming and I don't want that to happen. He said if not better by monday we would go to step 2?? Don't know what that is yet. Will advise.
Take care
mimee7

I too have begun to experience this. It started two days ago -- at home. I don't smoke and I live in a triple decker -- smoke free triple decker I might add -- and I am the only one who can smell smoke. Same thing at work. I have had maintenance come in to check the air vent in my office. Only I can smell it. It burns my throat, eyes and nose it is so strong.

I have an appointment with the doctor next week -- but it was somewhat comforting to realize that there others out there with the same problem.

Hi, I posted a message a few days ago but it didn't show up. I have been smelling smoke for months and really thought it was somehow in my environment and from/on other people. No one around me smokes and I dont so I guess that eliminates that.
No one else smells it, I had my daughter and some friends come sniff. It became a joke except that it is a bit scary.
I have an appt. W/ a ear nose and throat person.
Anyone else have some explainations?
Selfishly I was glad to see I wasn't alone. Thanks

I found this forum after doing a search on my symptoms. I have been smelling smoke for about a week. It started out smelling like food burning, but now smells like cigarette smoke (no one around me smokes). It first began after I was getting over a bad cold, so maybe it has something to do with that. I can't taste as well as I did before the cold, either. Anyway, it's very weird and unsettling - i'm comforted to know there are others too.

As this problem with your mother is for quite some time now, it doesn't look serious. But anyway, its always better to consult a doctor who can identify the exact cause of the problem.

I'm like one of the posts above mine: I did a search, hoping beyond hope that somebody else had possibly gone through this smoke-smelling things and had a solution.

Mine started last week. I do not smoke but I visited the casinos in las vegas and southern utah where there's tons of smoke. When I got home from the trip, I just thought i'd inhaled too much smoke and would take a few days to "get out of my system". But it's actually getting worse. Totally bizarre. Yes, my throat hurts. And it's worse in confined places. My daughter says she can smell it when she's near me. How gross!

Sounds like z-pac is the answer for lots of you? I haven't been sick for a long time, though i've had sinus problems for years.

Let's hope we figure this out fast!!

Hello fellow smoke smellers! :?

Well, i'm just back from the doctor who told me that this smelling-smoke phenomenon is not uncommon at all. It is a very common side-effect of a sinus infection to smell odors.

So ... Go to the doctor.

I'm on keflex for two weeks and a decon. Called entex.

Hopefully it'll knock it out. Good luck to all!

- marcia

Hi,

there are a few reasons that a person can smell smoke. I have chronic lyme disease and I have had some long bouts of this. I think that at this time it is related to the lyme. But the confusing thing for me is that the first time I had it was many yrs before I had lyme. It didn't last at that time. Since the lyme tho I have had episodes that have lasted two or three months. Thankfully after a year of treatment with antibiotics I only get it once in awhile and it is not as strong.

I was told to look up phantom smells and phantosmia. The reasons can be sinus infections or brain things, like neuro lyme . I was placed on anticonvulsants but all my eeg's (brainwave tests) were neg. If it is a very long lasting symptom I was told that it is probably not seizure related. I have had sinus problems but all kinds of other stuff too since the lyme. Since it seems to be resolving I am hopeful.

Try not to think of the worst case scenarios. I thinkl from what I read that it is most often sinus related. Other lyme disease patients have complained of this symptom. It could be worse, some people smell dead things, feces. I remember it making me so sick to my stomach.

Best to all,

gail