Weird Smell in my Nasal passage will not go away.

[jpp2000]

I have had nasal problems for years, nasal polyps, sinus surgery sinus infections etc. For many years I have experien ced smells that reside in my nasal passages. I recently had nasal polyps removed for a second time and am on an aggressive treatment of antibiotic, antihistamine, and allergy medications.
Since I have had this smell for many years when people ask me to identify it, I can't because I have only this smell to reference so I can not compare it to anything else.
What I have noticed, and what I have yet to read in my research is that WHEN ANY OTHER SMELL IS PRESENT, I CAN SMELL MY WEIRD SMELL IN PLACE OF IT. So, if a strong smell is present, I smell my smell stronger. It appears the smell comes and goes, but it actually gets triggered by other smells. I have spoken to my ENT and she hasn't got a clue. I wonder if there is some kind of study being done on this phenomenon? I have cleaned out my Sinuses with alkalol(not misspelled) and a baking soda and salt water solution on a regular basis, but it does nothing to reduce the smell. I can even put vicks vaporub under my nose to try to overpower the smell but nothing helps.
Are there any real Doctors out there that can come up with a solution? I'm totally at a loss...

[Luc59457]

READ ALL! THIS IS A LIFE SAVER.

I describe the smell as mostly like Honey and in conjuction I also describe it as a mouldy socks/perfumey/old garbage can/landfill/dump/rot-like smell. A perfumey smell could also be described by some but I consider it more like the first ones I mentioned.

All of them have very similar scents and It's definitely a fungus type of smell.
It smells exactly like what my refrigerator smelled like after I moved into this apartment and the last tenants left it in a mess. The refrigerators
drip pan was full of greenish, yellowish growing mold/bacteria. It stayed active and moist because of the dripping from the pipe of the refrigerator
to release the excess condensation. If you have any mold/bacteria/dust in your home, even after any medications/irrigations/surgeries/antibiotics/ETC
to attempt to or successfully remove this infection, it will always come back and potentially worsten, if you do not REMOVE THE SOURCE OF WHAT'S
CAUSING IT. After 2 weeks of trying to find the smell, I finally discovered, with some help, that it was from my refrigerator. Any area with mold/moisture spores/bacteria,
you must neutralize the problem with Bleach, as it will kill all of these things. Once you have let the bleach work in ALL areas of the source, you then must wipe
it all entirely, with an clean but not needed towel or rag, and throw it away without it droping anywhere! You may think you neutralized and removed all of the source,
but if it is for hard to reach places, THINK TWICE! It only takes a bit of bacteria/mold/spores to survive and the problem will escalate again and again! They are very
active lifeforms, with a lot of energy to quickly multiply when the conditions are right for them to do so! Unplug your refrigerator before doing any of this:
Take only your food that was frozen or in the fridge which is contained in thick containers, such as glass, to another Refrigerator/Freezer.  Anything in thin cardboard/plastic/etc, THROW THE REST AWAY! Don't take any chances!

1.
For a refrigerator, make sure you wipe all around the compressor,
even where it is very hard to reach. Take a sponge with a container of mostly vinegar (2 cups to 1/2cup of water), less water, and a "load of baking soda", but pour it slowly at a time, so it doesn't
foam over, and pour it until you see a small layer of it at the bottom of the container. Also springle it on your sponge. It is also good to add a cap of bleach with that solution.

Clean every corner of that refrigerator with it, inside at out! For the inside, make sure you clean it with water, several times afterwards. Keep the doors open, with a fan blowing in it, if you want to speed
up the process. Change your drip pan to an entirely new one, throw the other one away and make sure it doesn't touch anything other than inside your garbage can. Use gloves to do this. Do not touch
door knobs, etc, with these gloves! Do not open the garbage can with these gloves, do not leave them resting on a counter or anything! Throw the gloves away by making sure the lid of the garbage can
is already open, or use your arm to do it, as hard as it may seem. These gloves are contaminated, and you must think about that at all times, which means you cannot touch anything with them,
without contaminating whatever you touch, especially yourself directly!

After around 8 hours of airing out your refrigerator/freezer, plug it in again. Depending on how powerful your fridge is, it can take around 3-4 hours or more to be fully useable again.
If you have trouble reaching behind the compressor, thoroughly pour bleach everywhere behind it, only when the fridge is unplugged! This will kill anything that has been growing behind it!
I hope some readers will be helped by this. If there's anywhere in your home you get a foul smell or someone elses home, for some people that specific smell that caused your fungal infection
will be the EXACT smell that you will smell in your nose, time and time again, for whatever time it takes for you to get rid of it, if ever.  You must address this source, whether the foul smell
is coming from your refrigerator OR ANYWHERE otherwise, whatever you use to relieve or cure your sinuses, will come back, and back again! If one of the sources is at your work, wear a mask!
If you enjoy the discomfort that sinus (fungal) infections causes for you, disregard everything I just said. I am here to help you, and it is better that you do it in the early stages, read all of this in the
early stages, before going through all kinds of complications and other medical problems after it has been prolonged! Most doctors, as stated below, will not provide you will all of this information, and
I may make a video about it and suggest it to doctors to provide it in a booklet for anyone who has accute/chronic and reoccuring sinus conditions. This informations should also be presented to people
who have only simple allergies, before it amounts to some of what I've read in here. My condition in my opinion and in comparisons, is only accute right now as I write this but you don't want to have
to go through surgery(ies) or anti-biotics, ultimately, you want to address this before having to resort to that! Neutralize and Remove the source which TRIGGERS your sinus problems asap, and THEN
address your sinus problems OR ultimately, address both the outer source AND your inner sinuses at the same time!
I hope you all appreciate this wealth of informations, as I haven't seen anyone here present it all, yet.

Others in relation said: VERY IMPORTANT AS WELL:
I had something similar to that except it only seemed to be noticeable when I put saline spray in my nose. The smell was kind of like moldy socks.

I've been through a lot of trouble with my sinuses too. Surgery and such, treatment for allergies, but didn't get much improvement until I treated myself for a fungal infection.

[nose_all]

I'm so glad i decided to check online about this chronic condition that my daughter has. For a long time now suffering from phlegm- went to ENT and he just dismissed it. since it 'wasnt such a bother i thought phlegm means getting rid of some infection and left it at that. But now and then i can smell this strong ink like smell. I bought a neti and asked her to use it to clean but she has been procrastinating. Now i will definitely make sure that she uses it everyday and also will make her do the ACV steam. Thank you all. I hope you guys also try these natural stuff and dont take too much of antibiotics.

[lorabel61]

Im in the middle of a bout of Influenza A, I have chronic Asthma, and my breathing is an issue.  Today out of the blue my breathing got worse and I started smelling dirt, like right when it starts to rain in the dirt kind of a choking kind of smell like on the asphalt when it first starts to rain, kind of takes your breath away.  Right now I just have tissue shoved up both nostrils, lol, and it seems to help a bit but wow weird!

[helpmyarms]

Also, like many posters here, I have a deviated septum and the same frustrating experiences of seeing doctor after doctor who were clueless about a diagnosis or offered any help at all (but still charged an arm and a leg for their "expertise").

I live in a nice part of the country but the MDs here are quacks or puppets of the big pharmaceutical companies.

I'm placing more faith in forums like this and natural products. Trying the apple cider vinegar right now!

[helpmyarms]

Yesterday, I smelled poo and thought I had stepped in something. I changed my clothes and shrugged it off. Then I realized it wasn't on me...the smell was in my nose. I thought I was dying and went online to find the name of the terrible disease that was consuming me. Thankfully, I found this post!!!

I am not alone and not suffering from a rare disease - and not imagining this! Thank you, each one of you for posting!

[Ericartman]

I don't know if you guys use a humidifier or not. I bought mine a year ago when i got sick during the winter. Now a year later, I'm using it becuase I got the flu virus. I immediately changed all my air filters in the house (including the one inside the main unit). I started to feel better instantly, except for my nose. Now, after 3 days of using the humidifier, I noticed the same odor as everyone is experiencing. Like the after smell of rain or something moldy. I took my humidifier apart to clean it and noticed there was a lot of build up inside. I don't know if it was calcium deposits or what. But I took out the heating rods, dipped them in apple cider vinegar to loosen them up, and then physically had to rigorously scrape them off the rods. While scrapeing, i realized that these deposits turn into veryyyyyy fine dust. After cleaning and putting back the humidifier, i noticed my smell get REALLY strong. I don't know if I inhaled a lot of that while i was scrubbing it off. But it makes me thing that this stuff was inside the humidifer being mixed with the water, steamed, and released into the room this whole time. Now I could be a 100% wrong. But Apple cider vinegar did disolve or slowly break apart the build-up deposit. So I'm going to try the Apple cider vinegar sinus rinse and see if it works.