I smell cigarette smoke all day long inside my house and nobody smokes in my house. I keep all the windows closed and the AC on most of the day. On nice days I will open my windows and let the house air out for a few hours. I don't know if this is a peri-menopause symptom or if it is just my imagination. DH and DS don't smell anything. I am the only one who smells this. Does anyone else smell burning smoke without a source?
MaryB26

Mary: I almost fell out of my chair when I saw your post. My husband is like this. He smells cigarette smoke in our house every night. Neither of us smokes, and we live in a rural area, with only a small church across the street, set way back from the road.

I have no idea what is causing this. Let me throw a couple of ideas out though...remember, I'm just thinking out loud:

I have epilepsy and one of the more common features of the disease are olfactory hallucinations...in other words, smells that aren't really there. I've had the experience, just prior to having a seizure, of smelling mold, or a bleach type smell. I'm not suggesting you have epilepsy, but that the brain can trick you into thinking you are smelling something that isn't there. Maybe it's some sort of chemical fluctuation?

OK, so now for the more far-out theory: My house is almost 100 years old and the we are only the second family to own it. The original owner was a state trooper who was murdered--not here, but the story is somewhat well known in our town. We've had strange occurences...heard footsteps, the door opening, some other weird creepy stuff. You can probably see where I'm going with this...yup, I researched it and he was a smoker. Far fetched, I know, but I thought I'd throw it out there.

Robin...I love cool stuff like that!! Tell me more!!

Also, another PS lady I know used to smell stuff all the time that wasn't there...and I think it was also a smoke smell. I suspect is an odd symptom for some women when their hormones go all wacky!!

Mary,

I too have been smelling cigarette smoke for at least 6 years now and I am never around anyone who smokes!!

I have also never seen this listed as a perimenopausal symptom, but as I look back, I can almost pinpoint the beginning to when my symptoms became so severe.

It had gone away for a few months, but I noticed just yesterday that awful odor returning again.

I would be very interested in knowing why this is occurring.

Have not found many others who have experienced this.

bev

Bev! you WERE the PS lady I was talkin about!! Glad to see you post on this thread!!

As for Robin's possible theory...........I am the first to own my home and no one has ever smoked inside, so that is not even a possibility.

Hi RoundRobin,
We are the only family who has lived in this house. We had it built. The supernatural occurrence did cross my mind as from those who have "passed over to the other side" are in my area of consciousness.
Smells are very intense since peri hit about 8 years ago. The smoke smell started about two years ago and starting this year I smell it everyday all day long. I even had my AC checked because I thought maybe a neighbor was smoking outside and the smoke was coming in through the fresh air intake valve. The tech said no way.
MaryB26

Hi Bev,
I am glad to know that I am not the only one. Today it has really been bothersome. I baked some cookies and all I could smell was the awful cigarette-like smell. That's why I decided to post and see if anyone else had this symptom. I started smelling the burn scent about the time my stomach troubles started two years ago.
MaryB26

I have seen this symptoms a bit with another endocrine problem: thyroid. Being that the thyroid and the ovarian hormones are all part of that same enodcrine system, I am not too surprised to see this pop up in peri. I noticed this when I was going through thryoid problems. Joan

YES! This is something that I have started to notice.The other day I smelt something strange in my teenage son's room and might have been suspicious that he had started smoking, if I did not know him so well!
It all started just over a year age when the mucous membranes in my nose dried up like a prune. My sense of smell went through the roof. Quite ordinary smells became overpowering and made me nauseous. I recoil when I open my cleaning cupboard, the fumes appear to be so noxious.
It must be a combination of the inability of the nasal membranes to produce adequate amounts of mucous which has a protective function and the brain causing heightened sensation due to hormone instability.
Just look on the bright side. We could all become sniffer dogs for the police force!!!!



XIII

Oops. Sorry, I didn't mean to do that. Anyway, my husband had a brief period of amnesia and they tested him for epilepsy, and the test was not conclusive. Anyway, they asked him if he ever smells odd things out of place, and he said smoke, and they said something about it being related to seizures. Personally, I think it's a bunch of bull. Many, many people smell strange things, I for one also. I think they were just looking for some illness to tie his amnesia to. By the way, he's been fine ever since. I wouldn't worry about this at all.

Hi Mary, I too have had this same symptom off and on. Once though, there was a real fire going on. [I smell fire smoke as well], and DH had left milk warming on the stove, and had come up to his office. I smelt the smoke, and told him about it, and he said "that's just you again" and laughed at me. A few seconds later the fire alarms went off.

It's not only smoke for me, it also seems to be alcohol, and I went through a phase of thinking DH was drinking. This would be strange for him as he is a virtual t-totaller. It never was alcohol, it was peppermints, but I could swear it was alcohol.

As I have no had a period since Oct, this strange phenomena seems to be lessening, and as for anyone else having once lived in our home, no, it was new when we purhchased, and I wore myself out during a peri crash decorating.

All homonal. Don't we women have such fun?

Viktoria

mary ,

so sorry that this has been a persistent symptom for you, but perhaps as the responses indicate, it may eventually calm. i do get smell & taste sxs that come & go. sometimes it's a heightened sense, or an odd taste, or a change in smell. but it has included smelling things that aren't there, like smoke. since it does come & go, i have put it into the whole whacked out hormones scenario.

a friend of mine bumped his head a few years ago & blacked out during it. after that he smelled smoke continuously for several months before it finally disappeared.

best of luck,
ellen

Hi ladies,

Just wondering if any of you, when you're smelling weird things that nobody else smells, ever smell a strange, mildewy, moldy type smell. It just started today and it's driving me NUTS. Comes and goes, and sometimes is so strong I swear I can "taste" it!

You all have made me feel a little better, but I'm going to the dr. tomorrow and see if this is a sinus infection or something.

neaton

I can't beleive it I have been smelling a weird smell for years now. I think it is like acetate but I am not sure it is just some kind of chemical smell. I thought maybe it was me making a weird smell. I actualy googled it to see if there was something wrong with me. It has been less latley but I have been without a period for 15 months now. I would never had put that together with peri. so glad to hear this

Barb

Both DH and I have smelt cigarette smoke in our extension that was built 10 years ago. Neither of us smoke either.

However, since I had flu this year I have lost my sense of taste (I can only taste, sweet and sour, no actual flavours) and have no sense of smell (handy with grandson's dirty nappies -but I'm missing out on my virburnums heady scent). I even held a cut onion under my nose and could smell nothing. However, I often experience a smell and taste of wood smoke in the back of my throat..it's so wierd.

Yep I smell smoke all day long during the winter. not cigarettes but revolting wood heaters!! 100 times more toxic than the old cigarette.

I too have had cycles of smelling a smoky, moldy smell for lack of a better description. It used to drive dh crazy since he could not smell it...but it was SO strong to me. I used to think it was something in the house lke wet insulation up in the attic but now I am not sure especially since no one else could smell it. Luckily, it seems to have disappeared lately.

You can count me in. I smelled smoke - inside, outside. It didn't matter, but mine was mostly the scent of wood. In fact, I'd make casual remarks like...I wonder who's burning something? And people would look at me like I was nuts. Heck, I'd wake up in the middle of the night, thinking there was a fire so I'd go through the house checking every outlet - everything that was plugged in, thinking something was smoldering. (it never was, thank goodness). But, to me these smells were/are real, and altho it hasn't happened since last summer, it doesn't matter. If it happens again, I'll still check the house etc., just to be on the safe side.

I don't specifically smell the "smoking" smell but a lady (post) at work often comments and ask us if anyone else smells smoke. For me, there are times when smells around me are really noticeable... the dog smells, the blooming flowers, the meat I'm cooking, perfume, etc...all makes me nauseated...good lord it reminds me of when I was pregnant!

Plumeria

I occasionally smell cigarette smoke too - I WONDERED where that was coming from! - but lately this moldy smell is about to drive me nuts. I went to the dr. and they put me on a course of antibiotics just to see if it could be a sinus infection or something. And I think it's helping - a little.

What was scaring me was that when I went online and did a search for smells that no one else could smell, I came up with two things: epilepsy and brain tumors!!! Most people would say (and do!) oh, get a grip. But about 5 years ago, I had a tumor (walnut-size) removed from behind my right eye. They said it was a hemangioma, and it would have eventually taken my sight in that eye if I hadn't INSISTED that something was wrong, even when all the doctors thought I was nuts.

So I'm inclined to believe that it's not just menopause - although I'm sure that's probably part of it.

Then, this morning, I would swear I smelled burning hair.......or maybe burnt popcorn, something like that. I ALMOST said, "Phew, what's that SMELL?" Then I caught myself.....and sure enough a few minutes later, I didn't smell that anymore, and the moldy smell was back!

(sigh)
neaton

Count me in here too....... My sense of smell is heightened to the max of late again and yes it reminds me of when I was pregnant when I could always smell things that nobody else could, maybe I should have a change of career and become a drug sniffer human dog ..... Do you recall knowing any pregnant friends who insisted there was a strange vile smell in their refrigerator they couldn't get rid of , I do and there was no smell to the ordinary person but one friend insisted on a new fridge to get rid of it. Funny thing was once she had her baby she couldn't smell that smell in the old fridge anymore

I have teenage sons who I know smoke drugs and the smell that comes out of the pores of their skin at night while they sleep drives me absolutely nuts, they think they can hide their habit from me but the nose knows

My husband and both my sons smoke cigarettes and that smell drives me bonkers also even though they are not allowed to smoke in the house but I can smell it a mile off. I have become one of those horrible anti smoking people and I used to be a smoker many years ago too.

Most perfumes annoy me too and I love wearing perfume but so many of them are just too wafty for my liking these days except good old Elizabeth Ardens 'Red Door' and I've taken a liking to Gwen Stefani's 'Lamb' perfume.

And don't get me started on dog smells, my poor labrador Molly doesn't get much close affection from me these days cos I just can't stand her, ahem, doggy aroma (she probably can't stand my human aroma either )......

Oh well it's late and I'm off to bed now, I think I've bored everyone enough for one night.....

Rox

I do as well. I thought I smelled smoke in my bathroom this morning while doing my makeup. Nothing was burning. Then at work, I thought I smelled a bon fire. Nothing burning there either. Very strange. I used to smoke, maybe I am just hypersensitive to any trace of smoke in the vicinity of my home/building.