constant smell of ammonia in my nose

Me too!

I don't think I have sinus infection and I don't "taste" the smell. I just keep getting overwhelmed with whiffs of this "amonia-like" smell. I am making appt with my ENT today.

Also - I feel a little nauseous from this.

I would like to add my voice to this problem. Had this oddity for about a week and like a lot of the previous posts I am going a little mad with it which prompted an internet search and luckly found this site. May I ask how the last reviewer got on eith the ENT specialist?

I just read that poster who is sick with a sinus infection, and that poster on page 3 i think that said you probably have a sinus infection, and im sick too, and i found that things wtih vinegar and even some that dont smell too terribly like ammonia I cant even eat them.

Maybe it is sinus infections! Lets see if the ammonia smells goes away after antibiotics, im going to go to the doc soon to try to find out. I did have sinus pressure in the first few days of my cold.

pretty weird huh! But I guess if that poster was right and that certain sinus infections are ammonia spitters or whatever, and that causes the smell, then we should check it out! totally weird howt hings work!

I had that too, and I found a blog saying it was an infection and to get the antibiotic Cipro. I have had a reaction to Cipro before, so I got the doctor to prescribe me Levaquin (same family as Cipro), and it went away. It was horrible to smell that smell, so I highly recommend trying one of those antibiotics!

I first noticed it 8 years ago but thought it had something to do with my office facing a busy "Toll Way" (as we call them in the states) It comes and goes every 3 months or so.
Has a doctor ever given any ideas as to what this could be?

Anybody????

Joe

My entire family and all of my friends that I was just out to dinner with, thought I was completely crazy!!! Why was I talking about ammonia smell and taste! At lunch took back two hamburgers, because the smell/taste was so bad! Dinner I tried again, and the same thing! After reading all of the blogs I realized it was the ketchup, or sauces, even sour cream did it to me today.
The difference here is that I am NOT currently on any meds! I have had a chronic sinus infection and am on allergy shots weekly, and last week had a horrible reaction to the shots, suffered for days! I go back to the allergist tomorrow, and have my ENT read my Catscan on Friday.
I was on Levaquin and Avelox and had to stop those because I am an athlete and they can lead to tendon problems so then went on Augmentin XR and a steroid dose pack. I have been off of those for over a week now. So, I see the common denominator in most of the blogs is the meds, but I am on nothing! Have taken myself off of everything until I talk to my doc tomorrow. Is there anyone else who is free of meds who has the unpleasant smell/taste????
Please let me know! %-)

I've had the problem with constant ammonia smells for the past week. Seems to have been triggered by a bad cold I was suffering last week. Kept thinking it was a kitty litter problem. Then I tried to eat some salsa and was repulsed by the smell - thought the salsa was bad. Same reaction, only worse, when I tried to eat malt vinegar on some fish a couple days later. Anything that contains vinegar tastes awful. The only medication I used while sick was Sudafed PE and Ibuprofen. Took both several times a day for 3-4 days. That's more than I usually ingest while sick, so it's possible that a drug reaction is playing a role. However, I tend to think it's a sinus infection. Honestly, I'm not having a lot of sinus issues though. I'm hoping this ammonia thing will go away in a few days.

just wanted to say I too smell stuff once in awhile I've never known anyone else to suffer with this and I have not mentioned it to my doctor.. I have been a hairdresser for about 20 yrs and the last few years when I would apply a haircolor I would forever smell the ammonia or other chemicals put in the hair dye.. my nose would just reek of the stuff for a day or two.. but, now its been a couple of years since I've worked with hair or been around color chemicals.. and the smell that comes to me is a sweet sometimes burning smell its very odd.. I live in an apartment and wonder if its something comming from the heating register? Its smells of either an electric burning or I guess an ammonia smell ( but, different than the hair dye smell) I'm not sure what it is? I'm concerned that I may have a chemical poisoning due to this and working with hair dye? Any more thoughts on it would be appreciated...

That darn ammonia smell! I've been experiencing it for almost two years now..... Not one doc I have seen can give me a straight up answer. Kidneys/ liver are fine. Blood work came back all good. The smell seemed to begin around the time I was first put on anti-depressants for PTSD. I went through 5 different meds during an 18 month period, can't recall the names off hand (extremely shortened attention span is one of many problems I'm dealing with). Another potential point of cause is that I may have suffered internal brain trauma from explosive shock waves or 'shell shock'. The V.A. has yet to determine if I 'warrant' placing on a CAT or other brain imaging device to even check to see if it could be the primary cause of my mental problems. They prefer to keep popping pills into me. Physically, I'm sound as a race horse. More often than not, I notice the smell really kicks in when I've been in the shower and lean over to wash the legs n feet. I go to stand back up and not a second later.... BAM!!! Like someone opened a smelling-salt capsule under my nose. This is officially one of the biggest mysteries I have ever come across as far as my health goes. Anyone know of any medical research that may have been done/ is being done on this subject??? If so could you post a link in the blog? Very interested.

WEll,
like so many others I thought I was alone in this problem. I have a constant sensation of exhaust smell. It's very sickening and causes a lot of nausea for me. No matter what I do, I can't get away from it. Nothing like amonia, just exactly like car exhaust fumes or a diesel bus.
In reading through all of the posts on this subject, I personally am seeing a connection with those who are on anti-depressants of one kind or another. I started on Paxil about a year ago, and that's when the first bout of this exhaust smell hit me. Lasted for weeks and I went to the emergency room one night looking for help. They were clueless and of no help, and had never heard of such a thing.
I tried to quit the Paxil about a week and a half ago, but the side effects of cold turkey quitting were awful. I had to begin them again in order to graduate off of them. Now the second bout of this exhaust thing has hit me. Started yesterday, the day after I began the Paxil.
Anybody else see a connection here?
T. B>

This explained it pretty well:

http://www.beginnertriathlete.com/cms/article-detail.asp?articleid=326

Concerning funny smells from nose; I have had this since childhood, as well as many other undesirable maladies. Since every Dr. i asked said it was all in my head, i needed to find answers elsewhere. What I discovered from alternative medicine, is that a syndrome called Candida (yeast) overgrowth is the cause. Many helpful websites exist outlining dietary changes (no sugar, glutenous grains, yeast, or fermented foods). Also, certain foods, herbs and spices (cheap) that inhibit yeast overgrowth. you see, i am a woman who has had it severly. I moved to a very wet, moldy, and polluted city. Quite a few years have passed and I'm noticing most citizens have all, and more of the embarrassing symptoms I grew up with. I'm totally convinced Candida is the problem. Please do some research for yourself and perhaps try the diet for a couple of weeks to see if it may be your problem too!! God bless~~~

I experienced a frequency of smelling burning-type smells and went to a neurologist. I had an MRI, EKG and another type of EKG, a CAT scan...a number of tests and a series of questions to find out what was causing it. The neurologist was stumped, as well. The only thing we could come up with...due to the fact that all my tests, blood tests, physicals were normal...was that it was associated with stress and a bodily reaction to stress. I stepped away from full-time, corporate work about a year ago and the sensations have become less frequent. They happen once in a awhile...but not to the extent that they did when I had a higher stressed life. Try meditation, deep breathing, yoga...activities and things that will bring about a calmer, more centered life and see if that helps.

I think i am also suffering from a similar problem. Its now been a few days to a week & on and off I get this horrible smell.

Ill start at the beginning. I felt like I was coming down with flu. Day later I woke up & it had got worse, the right side of my face felt bunged up. Even my right eye hurt as if someone had punched me in my sleep. Now this lasted a day or two & I assumed it was flu (dont think i had smelt that bad smell yet at this stage).

Now something no one yet appears to of mentioned. And its was actually my explanation for the smell until reading these posts. I have got a couple of cavities on 2 teeth also on the right side of my mouth. I assumed this pain (especially leading to my eye was linked to the nerve from one of these teeth).

Now without sounding disgusting on the 2nd night being bunged up I cleaned out my tooth with a toothpick & pulled out an old bit of food that did smell quite bad. I did notice that the pressure on the right side of my face seemed to be relieved. However it was after this a day or so later I started to get this smell. Just in my right nostril. I would actually describe it as that bad tooth smell (if you've ever experienced it). But the longer this smell remains the more I wonder if this is just a coincidence? And is it really a bad tooth smell? All other sorts of things have run through my mind. I have been very stressed at work recently. I also undertook a physical day of gardening & there was leaves, bugs, dust everyway. Also this year seems to of been the 1st ive suffered hay fever. Well after the gardening I even wondered if something had got stuck in my throat or nose that could cause this.

I have to say, im getting concerned so will have to get to the doctors as soon as possible. I personally think its my tooth problem. A build up of nasty fluid maybe, but its getting stored god knows where between my mouth, eye & sinuses. The pressure feels like its built up again but if this was the case, what I dont understand is when my nose clears. Which is when ill get this smell, there is no liquid being released. Its just that smell, in the back of my right nostril.

If I get any further news I shall post it here.

does anybody else have this?I am not on any medication,but I do work in a car dealership,I'm a receptionist in a showroom,and very frequently they change the cars around, but I still have this smell, even when I'm not at work.. I went to an ENT, and he didn't know what it could be.