Does anyone know why I am smelling strange, heightened smells/odors this morning? I woke up smelling something like a dryer sheet or perfume. I smelled everything around the bed and found nothing. I even took off my shirt and walked around the house and realized that I smell it mainly when my head is turned to the left.
I seem to have heightened smell, too. This just happened this morning. Any idea what in the world this could be?
[ 11. August 2006, 12:15 PM: Message edited by: vachick ]
Posted by 5dana8 (Member # 7935) on :
Are you herxing?
With my lyme I often smell coffee brewing or burnt toast that isn't there
Hightened smell & smelling smells that aren't there is classic lyme.
My heightened smell often gets worse when herxing.
I hope you cn feel better soon.
If it gets too bad, breath thru your mouth. That can help me sometimes, specially in pulic where people where too much perfume.
Take care
Posted by bettyg (Member # 6147) on :
VA, you will get more readers/replies if you edit/pencil icon your topic line to:
can't find strange ODORS this am?
or something along that lines; forum to busy where we skim topic titles only ok...
WIERD! I have smell sensitivity too, but NOT this particular thing.
Have you CLEANED something lately on the left side of where you sleep & the odor is lingering? Bettyg Posted by Danser (Member # 7373) on :
Wow! I didn't realize that heightened smell sensitivity was a lyme symptom.
My husband is VERY sensitive to smells.
If I go out and eat a nice garlicy dinner and sneak into the room to go to bed and he's sleeping . . . he'll wake up and complain that my breath is burning his nose!!!
Posted by Lymetoo (Member # 743) on :
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Posted by Jill E. (Member # 9121) on :
While I've had chemical sensitivities to fragrances and cleansers even before Lyme due to other health problems, I have only recently noticed the occasional smell of cigarettes - and no one here smokes!
So I keep looking out the window to see if someone walked by smoking or something. This only started happening after a couple of years into treatment.
Amy Tan, the author, wrote about smelling things that weren't there as part of her Lyme symptoms.
I have also read about musical hallucinations.
I think it's all a weird part of Lyme.
Take care, Jill
Posted by 3greatkids (Member # 3838) on :
Oh boy,I had this.About drove my hubby crazy one day.I thought I smelled a rat!!!A dead rat.
I too finally put it all together after reading about others w/ these hallucinations.After reading about Amy Tan having them,well I started to believe in this Lyme stuff.
Oh, the music coming to me at night was fantastic.Wish I could have been able to put it on paper.
Even though treatment has been a you know what,those musicals at night and in the AM were very enjoyable.
The smells,I could do w/ out those.Perfume,cigs,being out in the mall was horrible.
Good luck.Hang in there.
Posted by chroniccosmic (Member # 7789) on :
This happens to me all the time. My family calls me the bionic nose and says I should be a crime sniffing dog.
I'm so sensitive to perfumes and colognes that we put the word out to please be smell-free when you come to my house. The two teenagers have to shake down their friends and many have had to leave or change clothes.
One night we searched and searched for the perfume offender and it was a piece of junk mail in the recycle bin that was advertising perfume and smelled like the scent.
I can smell real things in an exaggerated way and can totaly hallucinate with things that aren't even there. Posted by vachick (Member # 8353) on :
I have always been sensitive to light and smell - especially things like household cleaners (which is why I clean with baking soda) and perfume.
However, this new sense of smell that causes me to smell things that aren't there is really frightening. I know that brain tumors can cause this, but I had a brain MRI about 10 months ago and I am pretty sure it would have shown something like that.
Do you really think it is Lyme? I hate to blame everything on Lyme........
Posted by 5dana8 (Member # 7935) on :
Everyones different but for me and many others it is a lyme thing.
If you are concerned you could call you LLMD and get his/her take on it.
Posted by 3greatkids (Member # 3838) on :
For me,it was LYME.Oh,this stuff is full of all extremes.
The hallucinations,for me,did not last long. First I was hit w/ the smell,then the music,then dreams.
Chronic,you crack me up.I have had teenagers sent out to the porch swing!They could use me in the schools,sniff a few lockers,ha!!Some of those girlies and guys can really lay on the sweet smellin stuff .I don't know if it was a blessing or a curse,having Lyme during some of the teen years.Never a dull moment.
Vachick,I went from smelling everything and then some, to not smelling a single thing.
Next week on Medical Mysteries they are having a segment on smelling and shapes.People associating certain smell w/ shapes.A woman smells her soup and says...hmmmm...round?THAT will be an interesting show.
Always good to check in w/ your Dr.Time took care of my stuff,but it was annoying,the smell part.I'd like to have the music back. Posted by Areneli (Member # 6740) on :
It was one of my first Lyme symptoms. With time it has gone away.
Posted by Andie333 (Member # 7370) on :
I have had a very heightened sense of smell with Lyme.
I used to eat fish several times a week and for a year wasn't able to stand the smell of it. It's not uncommon for me to have to change seats at the movies or tables at a restaurant because someone's perfume near me is just too strong.
And garlic breath is awful.
I also had a heightened sensitivity to sound for months and couldn't stand to be around any loud music or sounds.
It's all gotten better over time.
Andie
Posted by Elizabeth in MN (Member # 8466) on :
Hi All.
I've been smelling wood smoke off and on for about the past six months. When I'm having a "smoke" day, it doesn't matter where we go, the entire world smells like I'm at a campfire.
My LLMD, who calls them" "gustatory hallucinations," wants me to get an MRI to rule out non-Lyme causes. Unfortunately, I had a near-full-blown panic attack when I tried to get into the MRI machine last week - I've had two MRIs in the past two years and never a had a problem before this! We're going to try it again next week after I've taken an Atavan.
I've never had claustraphobia before, only a slightly increasing phobic anxiety about spiders and other squeamish things over the past couple years.
I'm pretty sure both the smoke-smelling and panic are Lyme related. Which is a good thing, because I don't have high hopes about the getting through that MRI...
Posted by hshbmom (Member # 9478) on :
Hi vachick...you're not alone in the strange smell department.
A couple of weeks ago I kept smelling pefume in my bedroom. It wasn't mine or other family members. I was ready to accuse my dh of having another woman.
I also kept smelling something else...a different smell. I don't remember what it was, but it was unusual for our house. I never found the source for either smell.
I've always had a sensitive nose & taste.
Nancy
Posted by bettyg (Member # 6147) on :
docdave, yes, me too on those PERFUMED MAIL ADDS! I talked to the VP of Younkers dept. chain in DesMoines one day for 30 minutes. Mae no diference. Bettyg Posted by AlisonP (Member # 7771) on :
I definitely have this. Just today, I was doing some laundry for my husband, trying to put a dryer sheet in without actually touching it (because it's soooo stinky), and I accidentally touched it, and the weirdest thing happened. The instant I touched the dryer sheet I *tasted* it in my mouth on my tongue.
It's gotten to the point where I can not use regular laundry detergent or dryer sheets because the smell on my clothes makes me want to gag.
I also get the weird olfactory hallucinations, toast is definitely one, and always it's worse when I'm herxing.
I recall that when I saw a neuropsychiatrist and had a bunch of testing, he showed me the inside of a skull, and there are these tiny little bone protrusions that, if the brain swells against them or is jarred against them, it can affect your sense of smell.
I wonder if with encephalopathy, oh geez, I don't know if that's the right word, encephalitis, elephatitis...sigh.....anyway...I wonder sometimes if it's not my brain swelling that causes these strange olfactory symptoms.
It's gotten so bad that my mom will be in her bathroom, which is in her bedroom, which is down a long hallway, and I'll smell the hairspray she's spraying and start gagging.
I wish there was more fun things a bionic nose could do.
Posted by tic chick (Member # 9156) on :
Wow. I was going to ask if this was Lyme related and decided to do a search.
I can smell the cigarette smoke from the car driving in front of me and my windows are closed.
Good thing I quit years ago
I also quit wearing perfume and lighting candles....too much scent for me.
tic
Posted by pq (Member # 6886) on :
dead rat smell, about four times. inexplicable.
Posted by jsnyde2 (Member # 7888) on :
YEAST! I had lyme and never had heightened sense of smell (especially chemicals) until I had a problem with yeast. And I found some support of this fact in a search here. Julie
Posted by lemonade (Member # 9413) on :
I had this before I began treatment. It smelled like something was smoldering in the fireplace but we hadn't had a fire for months. It lasted seconds but was very distinct.
Posted by imanurse (Member # 7022) on :
The olfactory cranial nerve could be involved here. I have had olfactory hallucinations (smelling odd smells that weren't really there) due to lyme. These were occurring at the same time I had visual hallucinations and frequent seizures at my worst. Sometimes the strange smells would occurr just a few hours prior to a seizure, other times they were not in relation to a seizure but I was very, very ill.
Once I was convinced the house was on fire because I smelled smoke. Another time I was convinced my husband had been putting on fingernail polish, and another time it was formaldehyde. Mostly smells were not pleasant.
Once we had a chuckle because when I drove past a hog barn in the country that ususally smells like strong sulfur and ammonia, I thought I could smell cheeseburgers! Yumm! Cheeseburgers!
Posted by hatsnscarfs (Member # 6562) on :
I've been smelling cigarettes for weeks even when there is no one around smoking.
I smelled a campfire all the time when I was using original podi-patches!
I've always been super sensitive to smells. I think I've also always had Lyme. hats
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