Other Sensory Symptoms

[summer]

Hi,

I just responded to the post about visual disturbances and was going to add this but thought I should post it in a new thread instead.

For years now, I occassionally think I smell smoke just faintly. It's actually a joke between my husband and I now because when our kids were small, I would say to him two or three times a month, "Do you smell smoke?", and he would answer, "no", but assuming I had a better sense of smell, we would go thru the house sniffing to try to find the source. I unpluged several suspect lamps, and other electrical devices over the years, but was unable to eliminate the recurring smoke. After years of searching and sniffing I have concluded it is just me. My husband and I no longer search for smoke unless he smells it too!

Anyone else have weird recurring sensations like this? When the smoke smell comes it can stay for a few hours but more often it will be there for a couple of days. Yes, I do have migraines, and can have both at the same time, or either one without the other. I have not been able to really pin down a relationship between them.

Can anyone relate to this?

Summer

[firewatcher]

I too am hypersensitive to smells and I have migraines too. I think that if our nervous systems are hypersensitive, all our senses could be too. My hearing is far more sensitive than anyone I know, and sometimes touch or certain clothes are just too painful, that smacks of neuropathy.

[pat57]

http://www.migraine-aura.org/content/e2789...1/index_en.html

[momofsara]

Sara "smells" smoke sometimes too. Occasionally other odors, but mostly smoke. Susan

[Katja]

I recall reading that a "burning" smell is very characteristic of migraine auras or simple partial seizures. You can have a migraine aura independent of the headache itself, as you probably know. Visual snow is also characteristic of a migraine aura, I think (I wrote some more about it in the other thread).

[summer]

Thanks for all your replies and for the link, Pat. Yes, I'm thinking this must be related to my migraines. Although they don't neccessarily come together. I would have thought that an aura would always preceed a migraine, but it seems not.

Susan, does Sara have migraines as well?

Summer

[momofsara]

Summer--Sara has had migraines in the past, but not so often now. She has so much pain in the occipital area, its hard to tell sometimes which is which....When she was a few years younger she had migraines fairly often. Gentle hugs and healing thoughts---Susan

[icthus]

I, too, smell smoke from time to time, and like you, there were times when I woke my husband or sent my children on wild goose chases - trying to find the source of my smelling smoke. The smell was that pronounced and always came on suddenly.

And so...the doctor was concerned. He had me tested for seizures by doing a 8-hour (?) seizure study. I had to stay awake at home for 24 hours, and then they put me in this special hospital room. I layed on a bed in pajamas and for 8 hours (?) they ran a multitude of tests for seizures. Eventually they provoked the smoke smell, which was really exciting.

The results - the brain showed NOTHING abnormal!

Conclusion: based on the test results for me, a dysfunction resulting from the dysautonomia.

[delphicdragon]

Weird! I get this too. That's how I know I'm going to be having a really bad time- when it smells like burning. It's usually a short-lived thing and just never associated it with the POTS attacks before. Interesting.

Sara

[mountainsunflower]

I agree! Weird. I get phantom smells, too. However, i smell ammonia, like someone is cleaning the house (and since i don't use chemicals to clean- only vinegar and soda) it is even more bizarre. I have never really been able to associate it with anything- even though i get migraines, it really doesn't seem related- but who knows. I gave up trying to pin point it.

[jump]

I don't get phantom smells, but I do get other sensory symptoms, like strong sensations of extreme hot and extreme cold alternately flashing all over my body. I usually get these if my other dysaut symptoms are acting up.

jump

[Megan]

This makes me wonder if my occasion insisting to my roommate or my boyfriend that something is on fire is related to my migraines. I never really thought of smelling smoke (when it's not there) to be a symptom. Hmm...

Meg

[juliegee]

This might be different, but if I am bent over (or squatted down) and stand up too quickly, I smell a strong chlorine/amonia smell. At the time, I feel as though I'm going to pass out. It takes a moment for the blood to get back to my brain and that smell persists until I stabilize. Any one else?

Julie

[stampingamy]

Thanks for posting this. I have been meaning to ask about this for awhile. When I wake up, if I don't get out of bed right away I start to smell coffee. However, we don't set the automatic coffee maker. I like coffee a lot - so I thought for awhile it was just me really wanting some coffee. However, after talking to another POTS friend I found out she has phantom smells too.

I have another one, but the brain fog isn't letting me remember it right now.

Amy

[jjb]

Hi there. I don't smell smoke, but I smell a burnt smell every now and again.

I have small sz occasionally and so does my daughter.

As above posters mentioned, sometimes these types of smells are auras ... either migraines or seizures.

But the smell I smell is "real" and specific to certain areas. It is in my sweat sometimes.

My daughter gets the burnt smell to her hair.

I am assuming it is some sort of metabolic thing. We also get a metallic like smell to us ... again, it is an actual smell, not an aura.