constant smell of ammonia in my nose

Donna184 · Newbie Joined: 25 Jun 2008 Posts: 1

For the past few weeks I have been smelling exhaust fumes constantly. It's making me nauseaus. I had the same problem about a year ago and a nurse practitioner told me it was probably my sinuses. I didn't have a cold and hadn't had one but it was all she could come up with. It lasted about a month. I was on NO meds, prescription or otherwise. Now again I have the same smell constantly and again, NO meds, and no illness. I may check out that Candida reference in an earlier post since there doesn't seem to be any other link. I'll repost if I find anything.

RoyP · Newbie Joined: 02 Jul 2008 Posts: 2

Found these posts a week ago after looking for clues about this nasal problem for months.
My nasal smell [that know one else can smell] began last September [2007] bit like wood smoke and similar to ammonia, various visits to GP followed with antibiotics, nasal sprays prescribed - none made and difference.
Referred to hospital, more antibiotics still no change so I had a scan which shows I have a sinus infection deep in my sinus tubes, they think the only way forward is an operation to flush all the infection out.
It all sounds a bit dodgy, as the area is close to the nerve from the eye and if they touch that during the op at best I will have double vision or completely loose the sight of that eye!!
Still awaiting operation appointment.
Saw the reference to the antibiotic 'Cipro' as a possible cure, therefore have seen my GP who has started me for a week.
Has anyone tried these and did it work?
Any side effects? I have very dry tongue and bitter taste.
Anyone had the nose operation and any comments?
Will let you know the outcome of the 'Cipro', do hope it gets rid of it all!!!

Guest · Guest

My problem may differ from everyone else's, as I recently realized my car has a leaky manifold. Exhaust fumes are constantly coming inside the car. What I'm trying to figure out, is the smell in my nose? My lungs? My skin? I'll take a shower and put on clean clothes and the smell is still there.

I guess I will have to go to the doctor to find out how to get rid of this! (of course after fixing the car!)

ngksobe · Newbie Joined: 06 Jul 2008 Posts: 2

Like many of the other people who have posted here, I have been suffering with a constant bad smell in my nose and it affects the taste of certain foods. I have found that any sort of food that is a kind of meat, like chicken, turkey, ham, beef, all tastes pretty much exactly the same to me and just really bad, like as if it's rotten. However, other types of food are just fine. Any sort of juice tastes normal, fruits are fine, bread is fine, I haven't figured it all out yet. But I always am smelling something really bad, sort of like rotten meat. About 4 weeks ago I had severe food poisoning from some contaminated ground beef, I got a really high fever, chills, was vomiting every 20 minutes and diarrhea every 30 minutes for about 24 hours, during this time I was traveling and stuck in my hotel room drinking lots of water and gatorade to stay hydrated and maintain my electrolytes, about a week after that I got a severe sinus infection, runny nose, all kinds of flu-like symptoms, now I don't have any symptoms except a lot of fatigue, I'm constantly tired and sleepy all the time. But my nose is clear and I can breathe fine, my lungs are clear and I'm not a smoker, but I always have a "rotten" smell in my nose. I have been taking showers, brushing my teeth, using mouth wash, overall maintaining good hygiene and always have drank lots of water and juices, no sodas, etc.. next week I'm going to have blood tests and I'll try to remember to come back here and post what happens if it might help anybody else. I don't have any sort of heart burn or stomach aches, my feces seems to be normal and I go at least once or twice per day regularly.

Guest · Guest

I have been experiencing the "exhaust smell" on and off for well over a year now. It appears and can last anywhere from a few days to weeks and then is GONE....only to reappear at another time...sometimes months later. I am MARRIED to a doctor and when I describe it to him he just stares at me like I'm nuts. He spoke to an ENT about it who suggested I might have a sinus infection however I have no other symptoms. I exercise daily, am slim, eat sensibly, drink wine but I do smoke. However, i have smoked for years and never experienced this until the last 18 months or so. It really does sometimes drive me crazy and i am constantly aware of it.

I am somewhat relieved to find this post, even if only to be reassured that I'm not nuts.

Guest · Guest

I googled this problem, and came across this posting. Does anyone have answers? I too am not medicated with anything. I work in an administrative office, no chemicals. But about 8 weeks ago after a 5 day serious sinus infection, I have had this bad smell kind of like amonia and cigerette smoke. I don't smoke by the way. It makes food taste horrible! Any Answers!!!???

Guest · Guest

I too suffer from this problem and was astounded to find so many others do as well. It's been going on for about a year now, and it's very intermittent. When it comes, it's only a few seconds, and the smell is very similar to strong, pungent cat pee. It does appear nobody else can smell it. I get very dry skin and use a lot of moisturizer/vaseline. I thought perhaps it was the culprit. I also smoke, and thought perhaps it came from switching to cheaper cigarettes since the name brands are so expensive now. My nose has been perpetually stuffed up for a long time, something I just attributed to smoking. I've had liver tests/blood work recently and it was fine. I dated a girl 10 years ago that had a huge problem with candida, so from what everyone's said so far, to me it appears to be either:
- sinus infection
- too little water
- candida
I don't think mine is stress related, I've been through much more stressful periods in my life than now. It's also worth noting that mine is highly intermittent, just a little flash of cat-pee scent. It doesn't affect my taste (doesn't last long enough to) and isn't reminiscient of car exhaust at all. This is really great that we can all see we're not crazy, and that we're not alone. I will try drinking a lot more water, if that doesn't work, i'll see a doctor about sinus or yeast infection. Hopefully something will work, and I'll be sure to let you know if it does.

RoyP · Newbie Joined: 02 Jul 2008 Posts: 2

Regarding my previous post and being given the antibiotic 'Cipro', did not in my case remove the smell so it looks like a sinus operation for me.

My advice to anyone with this proble is see your Doctor or ENT specialist, for me nothing has worked by trying this or that using my own very meagre medical knowledge, all this will do is prolong the symptoms.

Good luck.

Guest · Guest

Sinus infections are the most probable explanation.

constant smell of ammonia in my nose

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