I have been smelling smoke on and off for a year now. Went to an ENT who sent me for a brain scan that I never had done. Went back when I had a terrible sinus infection that (this is gross) my doc called a "true infection" because I had yellow/brown liquid dripping out of my nose every time I bent down to pick something up (which is a lot with 4 young kids) and double ear infection. Was treated with a zpack that didn't do a thing to the infection. Went on another antiobiotic that gave me a reprieve for maybe a week. Went back to the ENT and was put on stronger antibiotics and nasal spray for a month, then sent for a CT scan of my sinuses. Thought I was cured, but sure enough there was an infection.

Looking back over the last two years in which I had headaches and the smoke smell....it all started after having my tonsils taken out. Two months after the removal of my tonsils (which were severely infected), I had terrible migraines for 4 weeks. They disappeared and I started a regular exercise routine that helped. The days I skipped my workout, I got terrible headaches and always got one when I put my hair back in a ponytail.

Just had sinus surgery two weeks ago and was feeling terrific with my energy levels back up to "normal" when the smoke smell returned. I've switched all personal care and cleaning products to natural/organic stuff, use a humidifer regularly at night, and use a nasal saline rinse and nasal spray everyday. Interestingly enough, the smoke smell started a year ago, so maybe its pollen. Who knows, just want it gone. Until then, I'll keep my grapefruit essential oils around to sniff and hopefully avoid the watery eyes and smothering feelings that accompany the smoke smell. It definitely is reassuring knowing I am not alone, but disappointing to find no concrete answers or cures.

Forgive my english, as Im from belgium and english is not my mother tongue.

OK,

I wanted to write everything that happened to me because maybe my experience will help others.

I was a smoke smeller for about six months half a year ago.

First, Id like to say that my health was not very good previous to the smoke smelling. I had an eczema under my lips, had infections on my throat and had fungus on my tongue.
Then one day I woke up smelling smoke that wasnt there.
I was smelling smoke very heavily for about two weeks. I noticed it was stronger at night -it even woke me up every night for those two weeks-

I came here and it really helped me alot on several facts:

1- it is an allergy.
2- it has something to do with fungus or mold.

I already had fungus on my mouth, white stuff that even caused some irritation so it did not surprised me that I might have had some on my nostrils and ears. Plus, I had ear infections all the time !

The first thing I did:

I went to the drugstore and I bought Probiotics. Probiotics are the ferments found on yogurt (it is not medication, it is a supplement, that means you can take all you want, it is not bad for you) I still take it to this day.

The result of taking probiotics: smoke-smelling was reduced of about 80% ! I continued to smell smoke for several months but very rarely. If I stopped taking the probiotics, the smell would return...and so on..
I also took fluconazol as someone on here adviced. It did help to kill fungus I had on all parts of my body, I was infested with it ! I even had problems digesting food because of it.

BUT.

The problem was that I wasnt attacking the allergy but the consequence of the allergy. The allergy causes the fungus. You can try and kill the fungus all you want but it will keep coming back because the allergy is still there.

I had several allergy tests.
The first one was just for dust and it came out negative.
The second one was for Food and I was allergic to several things, especially olive oil. Then I was given a antihistaminic for the fungus.

I stopped eating the food I was allergic to and took the antihistaminic (chlorphenamine and something else).

The smoke smell NEVER returned.

BUT.

I still had a bit fungus on my mouth, and the infection on the ears was still there, though not as aggressive.
I had a third set of allergy tests and it was all negative, but the soap I used did cause some irritation. That's why the doctor told me to buy hypoallergenic soap, as well as a different product to clean my cloth and bed sheets.

The result: no more fungus on my mouth and I felt the allergy my body had endured for so long was not as strong. I woke up the next day for the first time without fungus on my mouth (after cleaning everything with hypoallergenic products) and a lot less tired after a night of sleep.

However, to this day the infection on the ears is still present.

I take cetirizine (antihistaminic) every day, as well as probiotics, vitamines, and catsclaw (catsclaw helps getting rid of infections and getting sick)

So Im a lot better after almost three years of having troubles because of allergies...

My advice is , to take good care of your body, watch what you eat, take all the allergy tests that you need, do some sport because it helps, and DO NOT give up. Most of the people I know, even some doctors, friends and family think Im imagining the whole thing and that it's psychological. DO NOT let stupid people make you think you're insane.

Im a lot better now that I was two years ago and I will keep pushing to be even better.

Next on my agenda: Im going to see if omeopathy works.

Good luck to everyone.

i have an appointment with a neuologist on april 11th for this problem, i have been smelling the smoke for about 6 weeks, and it is about to drive me crazy! I smell it all the time. it wakes me up at night and i too feel like i am choking. no one in my family smokes, i don't want to take unnessary cat scans or mris or tests that will only prove nothing and still be at ground zero!!! all this information seems hopeless, you would think there would be more information about this with so many people complaining with it. Surely it can't be in all of "our heads"!

So glad I found all of you. I, too, think that everyone around me thinks I am crazy or imagining things.

I am eager to try some of the things I've read that some of you have tried. Please, if everyone will continue to post what they have tried that did or did not work, we will hopefully narrow down some good treatments.

I have only had this for about a week, but it is already driving me crazy.

I have avoided Aspartame for years, since reading of the horrible affects it has on the human body. So that is not my problem. I do have nights, like tonight, where I can't sleep so the possibility of being tired or stressed causing this is not totally out of the question, I guess.

I am 51 and post menopausal, if that helps to add facts to anyone's journal.

I don't have a lot of allergy problems or runny nose currently.

I haven't been to the doctor with this yet, but after reading all these posts, I'm not sure that the doctors can do anything about it anyway. The fluconazole and some of the other things are prescription, however, and can't be gotten without a trip to the doctor, so I'm not sure what to do next.

This started about 6 months ago and I haven't smoked for 24 years and I am totally allergic to smoke so no one smokes around me or anywhere I go I avoid any places that allow smoking. I smell it mainly in my bedroom at night. It gets so bad it makes it hard for me to breathe thru my nose then I have to breathe thru my mouth to keep from choking. There has never been any smoking allowed in the house and it worries me this may be something really medically wrong. I told my daughter about it and she told me to make an appt asap with a doctor, which I'm doing tomorrow.

My Mom too has been smelling and tasting smoke. I have read alot of forums on different sites and there are a whole lot of people smelling smoke. I have also read some medical sites on sinuses.

The Olfactory and the sinus are dirrectly over top of eachother. There are only a millimeter or less between the two. The medical sites talked about important the mucus lining the sinuses is. The mucus breaks down and absorbs the smell.

People talked of many different things that might have trigered the smoke smell. The one thing in common is that all trigers tend to dry out the nose and sinus. Well if it dries out the membrains too much I am sure it interupts the natural process.

I had my mom draw warm water up into her sinuses and right away she noticed abit of improvment. Then we had her use some nasal lubricating gel(none medicine just natural lubricant) called "SECARIS NASAL GEL" believe it or not the very next morning the smoke smell was gone. I forgot to mention she did the warm water 3 more times the first day. We had mom stop with both the warm water flush and the gel and YES the next day the smell was back. WE then went back to the warm water and nasal gel and wahooo the smoke smell is gone again. Mom is buying a vapourizer for her bedroom tomorrow.

Allery and sinus meds tend to dry out sinuses. Plus do not use salt in the warm water as it too dries out the sinuses. The main idea is to build back the natural moisture in the nose and sinuses. It may take a while but we do know the warm water and nasal lubricant works.

Hope it helps everyone Please let me know if you try it.

The smoke smelling just started for me five days ago. I decided to google it and here I am. I just got over a very bad cold which included sinus problems. I have smelled other odors in the past mostly floral but nothing like this that has stayed with me. When I cough stuff up it has a horrible taste that doesn't go away. That leads me to believe that it must be in my lungs. I, like most of you, am a non-smoker and am not around anyone who smokes. I use listerine on a regular basis and scrape my tongue to remove the taste at least for a little while. I take vitamins on a regular basis. I am a tea drinker. I eat few sweets, breads, or pastas. I do spend much time on the computer.

I started smelling firewood smoke about 2 weeks ago. We weren't near a fire or anything, it was strange. I searched several website forums and didn't like the reasons others smelled it. Cold, sinus, bronchitis, brain tumor. Yuk. And I didn't have any symptoms for a cold or a brain tumor. Pretty scary reasons.

I then came across one persons comments that they just started taking a new multi-vitamin and that caused their smell. I then remembered I just bought One-A-Day vitamins and starting taking them on Saturday. I started to smell the smoke on Tuesday. I found the vitamin reason on Friday and stopped taking the vitamin. By the following Tuesday the smoke smell was gone.

Coincidence? Maybe, but my reasoning is the new vitamins I took. I'm leary now to start any other vitamin. But I'm one that took fish oil pills for my diabetes on the suggestion on my doctor and found I got yeast infections all the time. I went off the fish oil pills and no more infections. Although the doc said diabetics get infections all the time, maybe it's the fish oil pills. Maybe.

Just my findings but I liked my quick results. I hated the smell especially when it made my eyes water as if I was in a room with a big fire in it. It was terrible.

Thanks,
Gail

Please Try .........the warm water and nasal gel it really works. Any thing to get moisture back into your sinusis. I will put money on it. My mom has tried it a few times(what a great woman) going on and off the warm water flushes and the nasal spray as an experiment just to see if it really is the cure. EVERY time it stopped the smoke smell and taste. Just yesterday when I was visiting she told me that she doesn't need the warm water or nasal lubricant anymore that just the vapourizer in her bedroom is enough now. It has only been a week and a half since she first tried the warm water and nasal gel. It took me a while for her to give it a try she didn't think it would work or that the smell was actually from her sinus beening too dried out.....I guess it just seemed too easy for all these doctors not to figure this out. She was AMAZED and lets just say I am expecting a huge Christmas gift this year. HA HA JUST KIDDING

PLEASE let me know if any of you also try it.

What have you all got to lose besides the smoke smell, watery eyes and head aches

We have been away for a week. While on the trip, I used Hall's cough drops and Hall's Vitamin C drops. No smoke smells except where people were smoking. That smoke didn't trigger the return of the unknown smoke.

Maybe this will work for someone else. I know the vitamins I normally take were not the problem since I have been taking them for a couple of years.

I started smelling smoke about 3 months ago. It started occasionally, but now I smell stale cigarette smoke all the time. I do not smoke and I am in a smoke-free environment. At work, we have the plug-in scent dispensers. I thought they were pretty neat and plugged in a couple in my home. I think the strong scents have affected my sense of smell, or I have developed allergies. My throat is scratchy. I have unplugged my deodorizers--but no help yet. Has anyone with this problem been using lots of scent or plug ins? I am going to give this a little more time. I don't think the doctors have a clue about this.

i smelled it years ago.
went to family doctor, got an mri (no brain tumor), ent doctor, allergist, then finally chinese herbal doctor who specialized in antigens

i got cured by the herbal doctor. all the others were no help. so if you can find someone like him. go for it!

it's been 1 year 10 months since i smelled smoke. gL everyone

hello toall

Has anyone noticed smelling smoke when in a room with air condition versus a room without. I have been noticing I smell smoke through the entire house when I walk in the door and I smelled smoke at the Dr.'s office and other patients were having the same reaction. Now I have been on chemo and now on radiation. I also think it can be a lack of metal or a need to eliminate a toxic metal. I am an herbal consultant for 25yrs and I working on eliminating this. At the moment every where I go there is air condition because we are in a heat wave.
LindaAtL thanks

Has anyone notice smelling smoke only in an air conditioned room?

You call your doctor if you smell a burnt smell you might have something wrong with your Brain Smell things are colors that aren't there its in your mind, nervous system most likely Im no doctor but I know friends and family have smelled that before Brain tumor is highly unlikely, Do you get Migraines at all ? It is very important that you call your doctor and tell them what you smell and get test ran MRI and other things. post-traumatic stress? Check it out http://www.medscape.com/medline/abstract/1 0795084 I am sorry not trying to freak you out just trying to help go to the docto

I am not sure if I spelled arithimea but heart palpitations and even depression. I noticed I smelled smoke in my home. I went to the Dr.s office and smelled smoke again. No one smelled smoke. So I remembered as an herbal consultant herbalist discussed air conditioners that can cause depression, sinus problems, heart palpitations and anxiety. Google freon exposure and a list of topics will come up. Hope this helps everyone it's not in your mind and you don't have tumors. Walk out side and see if you still smoke....
LindaATL

I wasnt saying about your post the original post was what i was refering too sorry saying that because sometimes it actually is thats what happened to my Grandmother hence the reason for asking about Migraines.

You could be leaking freon check your pipes, When was the last time you checked the filter on your A/c, It could also be an allergy to like mold,dust vaporizer or air purifier might help,

I posted under the "headaches and smelling smoke". The headaches are gone for now but the smelling of cigarette smoke has gotten much stronger lately. CT scan showed nothing so I am going to take some of your advice and ask my doctor to send me to an ENT specialist. I could live with it until it became so strong that I get dizzy, get a headache but mostly I just get nauseous. I do have a question though. Does the smell only affect you when you are not talking? I ask because that is the only time I have never had an episode. I was wondering if my brain was to busy thinking to talk to smell the smoke. Am I the only weird like that?

I was having a drink with the neighbors up at the cab in and this smelling smoke phenomena was mentioned as it was one of the symptoms that led to the diagnosis of ALS. I was surprised as I too have smelled smoke when there is none. I hope that this is not the only reason for smelling smoke; it doesn't appear so after reading the other posts.