Smoke Smell

I smell smoke at home, office, in the car etc. Sometimes I wake up at night cause I feel suffocated and open the windows although no one in my family smells anything (no smokers). I discussed with my doctor today who thinks it may be some respiratory problem and prescribed puffers for 2 weeks to see if it improves. Has anyone found out the cause of this? What is your doctor saying about it?

[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},viral infections and disorders in the smell perception centres.

In my opinion,a consultation of an ENT specialist or an allergist will be the best.

Hope it helps.Take care and regards.