Smelling cigarette smoke

[chrisbradshaw]

My husband is a nonmoker and I quit smoking 3 years ago, but I smell cigarette smoke all the time, what's going on?  No one has ever smoked in my house, I didn't even smoke in my house when I did smoke.  I have lived here for 14 years so there is nothing residual, my vehiclese the same.  I even smell smoke in Walmart!  Am I crazy?

[Bhupinder Kaur, MD]

Hello,
Smelling exhaust fumes or such strange smell can be present in certain conditions and it is termed as Parosmia (abhorrent odor perception). It is usually associated with rhinosinusitis, head trauma, viral infection, or oral problems.

It frequently disappears with successful treatment of the above mentioned conditions.

Apart from treatment of the cause or in conditions wherein the cause remains unknown, in such conditions Anti seizure or anti epileptic medication like clonazepam against prescription is sometimes helpful esp. in persistent cases.

It is very difficult to precisely confirm a diagnosis without examination and investigations and the answer is based on the medical information provided. For exact diagnosis, you are requested to consult your doctor. I sincerely hope that helps. Take care and please do keep me posted on how you are doing.

[bsmsl]

NO, YOU ARE NOT CRAZY!!  

This is a very common  question on medhelp with about 1500 posts that turned up in my search.  The condition is called phantosmia and has many possible causes.  You should be evaluated by your doctor.  One possible cause is a sinus infection.  A rare but possible cause is a tumor.  It can also be caused by head trauma or a virus.  Some people find that the condition goes away, others deal with it for years.  Most people smell smoke, but others have different odors.

Here are a few links to the more popular threads:

http://www.medhelp.org/posts/Allergy/constantly-smell-cigarette-smoke/show/582417

http://www.medhelp.org/posts/Allergy/same-problem-with-the-smoke-odor/show/557777

The second link has a post from one of the doctors early on that has a link to a Mayo clinic article on the subject.

I will be posting a Health Page on the subject soon as I have been diagnosed with a related condition, parosmia, and have done a lot of research on both conditions.  I hope to get that done in the next a week or so.  The school I teach at, just let out and I will have more free time after I get finals graded and grades posted.  I hope that will help you and many others who truly suffer with this condition.

Take care and God bless.