I smell smoke all the time as well

I am always smelling smoke as well and my eyes and throat hurst like I have been in a smokey room all day. I feel like I am losing my mind. I am just glad to see there are others....Why all of a sudden there is more and more of us????


This discussion is related to constantly smelling cigarette smoke.

[Bhupinder Kaur, MD]

Hello,

Without examination it is very difficult to confirm a diagnosis, but the symptoms are suggestive of allergies to smoke or air borne allergies.Other possibilities may be recent sinusitis,nasopharyngeal problems, olfactory hallucination {(phantosmia)you detect smells that are not really present in your environment}and disorders in the smell perception centres.

In my opinion,a consultation of an ENT specialist or an allergist will be the best.People who are allergic to smoke can smell it even if a little smoke is present in their surroundings..

Hope it helps.Take care and pls do keep me posted on how you are doing or if you have any additional doubts.

[kitty39]

I have had a headache for 5 days now all I can smell is smoke.  What could this be related to.  I have a lymph node in my neck that is enlarged and my breast but was all cleared.  help

[truckdrivingman]

I'm glad to see like everyone else I'm not alone.  5 years of smelling smoke when there is none.  Doctors have no reason one said I was making it up!  This is what I think it is, I also found out 4 years ago I have really bad acid reflux.  I didn't know most of my adult life I had this I just thought everyone had heartburn no big deal.  I have the beginning of burning my throat.  I have to take acid reducers for the rest of my life to keep this under control.  I started having the smell of cig smoke a year prior to my condition getting so bad a new doctor finally said lets do a throat scope!  Now I still don't know the rhyme or reason to kicking this off but I do think they are related.  I'm 45 now never had this before in my life but like I said I have burned my throat with stomach acid so my acid reflux has increased with age.  I tried taking tums during a episode last night and it worked the sensation went away hasn't come back yet.  For me it makes me feel like I'm not breathing right but I know I'm getting breath but still it makes me panic about it until I get calmed down and it always goes away. Also, when I'm driving in my truck in a sitting position it worse, I guess because of the pushing on my lower stomach by my pants. So that's my addition  to the conversation, weird how the doctors can't find out that this must be some thing coming from inside me causing the smell.

[retiredMSW]

I have been smelling cigarette smoke several times a day for about a week. However, I have not been exposed to smoke. Nobody has smoked in my home. It's driving me bananas, so I decided to do some research tonight to see if anyone else was experiencing this and if I could find out what could be causing it. One possiblility according to WebMD was epilepsy but I don't have any of the other symptoms. I have been experiencing some anxiety this past week but what the heck does that have to do with smelling cigarette smoke? I hate that smell. Why can't I smell chocolate instead?

[Shubun]

I am surprised and relieved too to find so many people having the same problem as mine. I do not smoke myself but, last month when some friends came over to my house, they smoked. Though they had been in my house only for an evening, I cannot get rid of this smoke smell everywhere around myself. At first I thought something was burning or somebody smoking in the neighbourhood, but after I found nothing of the sort, I understood that this smoke and burning smell is only within my respiratory tract. Whats the solution? Its killing me!!

[daisy104]

I had radiation therapy on my eye 5 years ago for skin cancer. For the
first few years I smelled cigarette smoke every so often. My doctor
said it had nothing to do with the radiation. I couldn't stand it. It smelled
like an old ash tray. I put perfume on my wrist. When the cigarette smell
came to me, I smelled my wrist and it cleared me up. Eventually, it
all stopped. Try it-it might help you. Oh, I don't smoke and no one near me does.

[Seashellady]

You all just saved my sanity!!  I thought i was completely losing it.  An Acidlady wherever you are, (I cant seem to find the post) she's my twin!!!!  Thanks for posting that solution. now everything that has been happening to me begins to make sense.  The worst smell in the world is the smell of between cigarrette smoke and burning wood!    FOR NO REASON!!!!!!  Then the doctors look at you as if your crazy!!!  I'm fit to be tied now! If there are so many people (as there obviously is!!!) and I am not talking out of the back of my head, why is it that none of these doctors, including some top specialists and ENTs seemed ot have ever heard of it????!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!  I have been going through this hell with the smell and walking around feeling tired then nasueos then horrible headache then bam! ER..cant breathe! shapr knife running up my nose trhough my skull into my jawbone and what feels like superman squeezing my lungs trying to burst them!!! 5 days in the hospital and sterioids antibiotics pain killers, test after test, cat scan etc I'm able to breath..now that my blood pressure is back down from 169/115 to its normal 110/78  and if I can just get the dizzy ness and the heart racing palpitations  to stop...maybe I can get back to my life!!!!!!  Will someone please tell the AMA that we are not crazy and that Acid reflux can be cause!! Don't you hate it when doctors dont listen!!!! or worse dont seem to believe you?!!! Sorry i'm raging like this but I'm really highly upset!!!!  God bless all you...I'll let you know what works for me.....

[bsmsl]

I am so glad that you have found someone you relate to so well.  I hope we can provide more information in the near future.  I will be working on a Health Page about Phantosmia and Parosmia in the next few weeks.  I have parosmia, but have researched phanotsmia as well since they are closely related.

Please keep us posted on how you are doing and what works for you.  This is a very complex condition and has many possible causes and solutions.  

Take care and God bless.

[Mob48]

Wow, I thought I was losing my mind, it just started this week also I keep clearing my throat and my eyes are burning. Whats the deal??? I see no solutions. My husband is looking at me like I am crazy. How long does it go on? Is it treatable? help!!!!

Thanks,

Mob

[Nee1955]

I can't believe this is actually a real problem.  I thought I was crazy!  I have been smelling smoke at home for a week now and have been secretly blaming my neighbors who smoke.  But now I'm back at work and smelling it there too.  I have acid reflux and had a medical procedure a week ago where they go down through the nasal passage into the esophagus with a catheter and I have been smelling smoke ever since.  My eyes burn terribly.  Could they have damaged something that caused this?

[metroccfd]

FOR 3 YEARS.  After extensive MRI's, CAT Scans, sinus surgeries, X-Rays....It turns out to be ALLERGIES!  I smelled smoke for 3 years.  At first it wasn't odd since I am a fireman.  So I discounted it.  Up until I transferred to a specialty station that no longer handles structure fires.  Maybe the smell was stuck in my turnout gear?  Nope, Got new gear issued to me and there it was again.  So off to specialists I go.  In short, an dover the counter allergy medication known as fexofenadine (ALLEGRA) without the pseudoephidrine, solved everything!   I just so happened to borrow some from my engineer when I forgot my traditional/antihistamine medication of choice (Claritin & Zyrtec).  I tried all other allergy meds in the past and over looked the Allegra stuff due to the cost and the ignorance that "all allergy and sinus meds are the same".  Well it took a couple of doses for me to realize that I no longer was smelling the smoke.  After my second dose, I could almost time it to when the smoke smell would start to come back  In the beginning, I smelled campfire type smoke along with the burning eyes.  After the fexofenadine, the smoke smell morphed to cigarette-like smell then ultimately to paper or lint burning smell.  After 6 days of taking the allergy meds, the smell of burning has gone away.  I can still sense when the medication is wearing down, when I start to smell a hint of a hot dry summer like day.  DRINK A BUNCH OF WATER on this stuff.  Not saying that this is the cure, since I don't dare discontinue taking the allegra yet, to find out.  However, it has given me back my sanity.  The guys at work razzed me about it for years saying it was my brain cells spontaneously combusting!  I hope this info helps someone.  I would try each med until I found the one that worked.  I imagine that each of us have a different reaction to the various OTC allergy meds.  Name brand to generic.  Give it a shot!  I CAN SMELL THE ROSES!!!

[ErikR1978]

To all of you who smell smoke or burning in your nose.. I occasionally get brief bouts of smoke smell in my nostrils.  . I have allergies and if I get dry sinuses, they start to bleed. Even if it is only a small bit of bleeding, I can get that smoky smell.  Most recently ( today ) it came after I got an upper left rear molar pulled.  It has to do with the tissue behind or around your olfactory nerves. If the sinus area or the tissue at the very back of your nose is actively bleeding or becomes covered with clotting blood, you can start smelling smoky or burning smells. I believe that even a bruising of this tissue can cause this.  This phenomenon can be caused by a wide variety of things ...such as allergies, medication, household products , heaters that dry your sinuses out, injury, disease, surgery , or any strain/ damage to sinus cavity.
I truly hope that this helps you all.