Hi, I just thought i'd let you all know that I have been smelling the smoke too, I was given the z-pack which took it away for about a month, then it returned, I also had a mri, but it was normal, pretty much all the test have shown to be normal with the exception of the sinus infection, but they didn't seem to think that it was a serious sinus infection, they were only concerned that I was smelling the smoke two weeks before I ever got any other symtoms of sinuses. The smell drives me crazy, and the doctors don't really know anything about it, since their isn't really any literature on it. I am going to pray about it, since god is the only one who can take this away.

Solange - what is the point to your post?

All others:

i have dealt with this problem since november of 2004 - smelling cigarettes and sweet cigars. At that time a kaiser nurse told me to check out webmd.Com (?) - not a lot of assistance or information from kaiser. I will pursue at next appointment . . . Don't hold your breath. Although I would not wish for anyone to experience this, it is nice to know I am not the only one.

(interesting . . . I did capitalized the first i.)

I too have been experiencing a smoky smell that no one else is. I live in a very smoke free enviroment so I am not sure what is causing this. Many of you mentioned that you had coughs, sore throats etc and then started smelling the smoke. I have just recovered from bronchitis that lasted over a month and took 2 rounds of antibotics to cure. I had a similar problem twice within the last 9 months (1st in may, then in august/sept and then in march). Each time I had to go to the doctor and recieve a few rounds of antibotics to cure me. My doctor is unsure why I have been having this bronchitis problem but he attributtes it to my having started working in a hospital. I don't smoke and am not around smokers. However the smoky smell did not start till after this last bought of bronchitis ended. I am just glad I am not alone and would appreciate if anyone has any suggestions on where to research this because so far all I found was this message board.

I have also been suffering from the mysterious scent of smoke just about everywhere I go for a little over 3 months now. I am only 14 and i'm in perfect health apart from a permenently damaged ankle which I severely sprained about 2 months ago.

Oh wow! I'm another who can't believe I found a forum where others are smelling it, too! No one in our house smokes, and we live in a rural area where my closest neighbour is my mil and she has never smoked. I am the only one smelling this, and I thought my mother must surely have come for a visit. She passed away 6 years ago. Tonight I decided to google "i smell cigarette smoke." as I was sure it must be a sign of a disease. One thing I see is that a lot of you have sinus problems. I have had an on-going sinus problem since october. I know my breath smells bad when I have sinusitis because my husband has told me so many times. :oops: and now as I read the other posts i'm thinking that perhaps the "cigarette" smell is really the result of the sinus infection. Lately I have been smelling cigarette smoke continuously. I hate the smell of it and it drives me nuts. We bought new livingroom furniture in september and at first I thought the smell must be in it so I was spraying it with deodorizers. Well, the smell follows me everywhere I go. I thought I was going crazy until I came to this forum, and yes! It is so bad my eyes sting from it as if I were in a room with a smoker.

I have the same symptoms, and share some points of history with the other posters here. Something else we all have in common, that no one else has mentioned, is that we are all computer users!

I probably spend about 10 hours a day in front of my computer, and sleep in the same room. What's more, I usually leave the computer running all of the time.

I wonder if something in our computers or monitors could be the cause?

I just discovered your forum. What a relief! So sorry to read that you all are suffering the same or similar symtoms as mine, but then again, i'm glad i'm not alone. I keep smelling cigarette smoke. I have never been a smoker, but both my parents were. I have always hated the odor. I have always had a sensitive sense of smell. And I have a long history of sinus problems. Just finished a double round of antibiotics for a recent sinus infection. The first rx was avelor (?) and the second was a 3-day z-pak.

Yuk. I'm smelling the cigarette odor again, right now. It's 11:45pm, i'm sitting alone in my lr, all doors and windows are closed. My lips burn, just as they do if I am exposed to a real lit cigarette. I had this same experience several times today. At home, at my office, and while I was having a mamogram. The tech didn't smell it, but was sympathetic when I told her my phantom smell problem. Maybe she was just being kind?

Good luck to you all. Hope we can find some answers.

..It's relief to find you all here too...! I had my worst smoke smelling event today to the point I felt nauseous. I'm a migraine sufferer about to turn 40, & I had a twinge of a headache & took an imitrex, but finally took a nap to escape the smoke smell. It's weird, because if it was real smoke, it wouldn't bother me this way, but since it's trapped in my head, I can't stand it. :x (and, nose is burning, a bit runny, etc)
anyway, am going to mention to my neurologist after the holiday, & will mention "horseluvr's" (sp? Sorry! :oops: ) advice from the thread in the headache section of this board, to him, in case it's that. Just wanted to post here, since I think it's the largest thread on the subject here. :)

I also have a cigarett smell in my nose that I cant seem to get away from. A funny thing is that I actually like the smell of a burning cigarett but this smell is different, its stale and disguisting. I notice that other things smell yuckie also, stale and musty. I also experience a metal taste on my tongue quite frequently.When I have this taste in my mouth most foods taste nasty. Though I deal with sinus trouble from time to time, right now my sinuses feel fine. I also get a weird tight burning sort of burning feeling in my lungs and a tight feeling in my throat as though I need to cough up a cat, the sensation is similar to the feeling that you get when a really bad chest cold is coming on,but for me it never comes, its so annoying! Can anybody relate?

I, too, have been experiencing the smell of cigarette smoke, which is sometimes so strong that it makes my eyes sting and my throat feel a little choked up. At first, I thought my next door neighbors must be smoking in their back yard and it was just wafting through the windows. They weren't there the several times I checked, though, and I began to think I must just be imagining it. It started around 3 weeks ago, and has gotten progressively more frequent (now lasting off and on for more than half the day). I have also had two odd episodes of smelling buttered toast where there was none, but other than that, the rest of the time it's that cigarette smell. It occurs most frequently inside my house, but i've smelled it outside too. Like some of the others have posted, I also had a pretty nasty sinus infection a couple of months ago, and finally got it treated with antibiotics (augmentin). It went away, and then a few weeks later this phantom cigarette smell started. It's incredibly annoying and unpleasant (i've never smoked, and no one in my household does either.) anyway, I called a friend of ours who is an ent doctor, and he suggested that I get a ct scan of my sinuses and cribiform plate (whatever that is), and he said to be sure to get it without contrast. I plan to call my primary care physician tomorrow (my friend is not on our hmo) and i'll keep you posted as to what I find out. I'd sure appreciate any updates from any of you as well -- any resolution, any tests you'd recommend, etc. My best to all of you. Alison

I haven't done anything about my smelling of the smoke, because for some reason, after some mild days of it previously, & then that horribly intense day, (when I first posted here), I haven't had anymore episodes...? As soon as I do again tho, if I do, i'm sure i'll give my Dr. A call. :? (and post anything I find out here! :wink: )

I'm in the middle of a "cigarette smell attack" and it's probably the worst ever. My episodes usually last 4-7 days and then are gone for a long period (and completely went away during my entire pregnancy). I've been suffering this for over 3 years, but am afraid to go see a doctor because I dread hearing that it's all in my head or that they can't pinpoint what's causing it. I finally called a new doctor and hopefully will get an appointment soon. It drives me nuts to smell cigarette smoke constantly and makes me sick to my stomach. Yuck! Glad to hear i'm not alone, but sorry to everyone else who is also dealing with it.

I see many have the same problem. I am 43, healthy as a horse, have always had an exceptional sense of smell and haven't been to a dr for over 20 years for nothing. In the last few months my smell has been diminished but I can smell and taste most things but smell a campfire all the time. No matter where I am I smell fire/smoke and sometimes it's worse with burning eyes. I tried the "girl firiend sniff test" - negative, and when I cover my nose with say..My shirt, I don't smell the smoke at all......Very strange. I would think that if it was inside my nose/nasal cavity it would still smell of smoke. There must be something causing our senses to smell smoke in the ambient air. Antibiotics, steroids, irrigation....Nothing works. I am pretty sure I know what it is, i will find an answer and post it here as soon as I do...Promise I will.

For several months, I had been smelling cigarette smoke a lot. I smelled it at home, at the office, everywhere, and no one around me was smoking. It was very troublesome. And then, I had a basal cell carcinoma removed from my left cheek, rather close to my nose. It has been several weeks now since surgery and I have not smelled any smoke. I feel confident that the reason I was smelling it was that the skin cancer was touching on my nerves connected to my nose. That had to have been the reason.

I, too, smell cigarette smoke but have never smoked. I'm not around anyone that smokes. I had the smell and taste terribly. Has anyone taken armour thyroid or phentermine and had this smell/taste? Stopped taking the thyroid and I think it cleared by doing that. Have started the thyroid again and i'm beginning to get the burning in the back of my throat.
When smell/taste first started a couple of months ago, I had had a severe sore throat 2 weeks prior for about 2 days.
Hate it...Looking for answers.
Good luck everyone. This is disgusting!

Wow--i've used phentermine before, but my episode around memorial day was when I wasn't on phen & hadn't been for some time...Hmmm...

This is so strange....I just recently have started smelling and tasting smoke, although neither my husband or I smoke. I am using phentermine now and have also in the past. Didn't have this problem in the past. Just before the smell started, I had a sore throat and slight cough. My eyes are burning all the time, especially in the inside corners....

My husband says he can smell the smoke when I breathe out my nose as he inhales.

This is driving me crazy as I smell it and taste it both when I inhale and exhale. I can only escape it when I eat or sleep. Even when I purposely smell candles or something else, it only leaves for as long as I am smelling the other thing.

I don't have many sinus problems, but did have a little problem with it just before this started. I am already going to my g.P. So i'll see what he has to say.

I am so glad I stumbled across these posts....I thought I was going crazy. I didn't even know how to search for such a weird thing.

Keep the posts coming and maybe we can help the medical community help us!

As promised.....This is only my opinion but it worked for me.

For years I have done work for environmental agencies with epa rules and regs for hazardous waste and municipal waste, or sludge. I have fought to keep the spreading of sewage sludge (disguised as fertilizer) off of the farm fields, highway right-of-ways, medians, city parks and property, and out of commercial bags of fertilizer sold as "organic fertilizer" but no, if you live in america you are exposed to this in one way or another. It is mixed with potent levels of chemicals, hormones (from pee pee that contain medications), and mutated viruses, fungus, bacteria, and mold. I have seen some scary data of the effects on wildlife, pets, and yes...People.

The cause of this smoke smell? It is my opinion that this is a mutated form of fungus/mold that people can usually fight off without a problem but since it is genetically mutated, it has been able to attack and survive in some people that have been unfortunate enough to have gotten it lodged in their sinuses. It is not actually smoke but the sensation of smoke when it irritates the nerves.

I have tried every anti-biotic/anti-viral available with prednesone, irrigation, even potent doses of cipro with no cure.

Here is what I did. I bought a pack of allergy pills and a bottle of nasal spray at wal-mart. I emptied the spray bottle and mixed 1 tbls of warm water with 1 - 100 mg pill of the anti-fungal medicine fluconazole. Since the pill didn't entirely dissolve, I had to open the end of the spray bottle a little with a common sewing pin. I sprayed just a little bit in each nostril and waited to see if any negative effects occured. After a few hours or so, all seemed ok, so I sprayed 3 good sprays in each nostril and did not inhale. I took two of the generic allergy pills and went to bed. I woke up for the first time in months with a clear smell, open sinuses and no smoke smell !

I sprayed once a day for a week with a new solution and I have been 100% great since that first night.

I would recommend you all ask your Dr. To prescribe fluconazole and see how it works. Don't take the anti-fungal drug nizoral (ketaconazole), it is way too potent and could cause liver damage or failure.

I don't recommend doing what I did...I'm goofy and was a willing guinea pig looking for a cure........go to your Dr. and ask for the anti-fungal fluconazole, hopefully if taken orally it will work for you as it did for me :) .

I'll write back in a month to let you all know if it stays away but, I am pretty confident that this is the cause and cure.

Mn mike

My husband is experiencing this phantom cigarette smoke smell, and we do not smoke in our house. He is on phentermine, just thought id mention that as I saw someone talking about smelling stuff like this and using phen... It is so weird!

This is the second or third time that I smell cigarette smoke all the time and no one else does either. I have been having sinus infections and bad headaches too.

My lymph node is also swollen too.
I just told my ear nose and throat doctor this today and he said it sounds like something to do with the brain.

Also a friend of mine just said that her friend had a stroke and then she started smelling cigarette smoke after that too?

Just something to keep in mind. You have to keep pushing these doctors
i don't care if they think I am nuts or not they are going to find out what it is.

Avonunitleader