I Can Smell Smoke All the Time

I had a cold for 2 weeks. I lost my sense of taste and smell. It's now been 3 wks that I can't taste or smell anything.....but cigarette smoke. This happens day & night, everywhere I go. I'm asthmatic so I need my inhaler alot lately because I smell smoking. There has to be an explanation for this. I've seen messages back to 2004 of people who are experiencing the same thing. Some doctor must know something. We aren't making this up. It's really happening. There has to be a common thread among all of us. My doctor has never heard of this, so I asked her to mention it at her next medical convention. Is there anyone out there who found a solution?

I also am relieved to see that I am not the only one experiencing this strange symptom. I recently had a very bad cold and lost my sense of taste and smell 3 days into the cold. It has been about a month since it ended but my smell and taste never returned and about 5 days ago the intense smell of ciagarette smoke started. I have never smoked in my life nor has my husband. I am not around smoke at all. I went to my Dr. today and she seemed to think that it was somehow related to my recent cold...she said she has no idea why I am experiencing the smell of smoke. She referred me to a ENT specialist. My appointment is on Aug. 26th. The talk of brain tumors and epilepsy is frightening so I will be sure to report anything back that I learn and will definitely report back after my appointment. Hopefully together we can get to the bottom of this!!!

I have concluded that the carbon dioxide that we expel during our breathing cycle is definitely an immediate relief for me from the smokey smell. I find myself just raising the neck potion of the shirt or t-shirt I'm wearing right over my nose and continue to breathe normally. I do the same with the bed sheet when I go to bed. I just lay it over my nose and mouth and breathe. And even after I remove the shirt or the sheet, I am smoke free for a while. The carbon dioxide stops the smell for me. I'm going to guess that if you use a paper mask (like a dust mask), poke a few holes in it for a little exchange air, it will work just the same. It works , it really does.

It started about a year ago...a couple of months back, I saw an episode of the "Ghost Whisperer" where a young man was dying of an inoperable brain tumor. When asked how did he find out he stated that the first symptoms was that he started to "smell smoke where there should not been any and he was not a smoker" then he started forgetting facts... The presence of this smoke has increased from every now and then to now a daily occurrence and now almost no relief for me. I have requested an MRI and I must admit that I am fearful.

Another relieved but not happy person suffering from hallucinatory cigarette smoke. I used to suffer from cold when I was young but not in the last few years. I started smelling smoke last week. Before that it was 6-8 months ago. I am thinking of going to a neurologist too. Or should I first go to a GP? Have any of you gotten an checkup/MRI done? Please share your results. Thanks.

I first had this smelling of smoke problem a few months ago and it went away after a few days. I had it again a month later but only lasted a day. Now its back again as of today. The smell is so overwhelming it is suffocating. I noticed this time that I ate some spicy food that must have triggered it. I LOVE spicy food, not all spicy sauces are the same and I realized that today, I ate a particular one that seemed to have immediately triggered it (Funny, it was the taco bell fire sauce). I also noticed that when I smell someone's cigarette smoke it triggers it too.( I quit smoking five years ago) I am hoping this might be helpful info for someone else who might notice other triggers. Or perhaps someone else may realize they have the same triggers. Maybe we can figure this out since the doctors don't seem to know anything about this phenomenon. Has anyone else noticed any possible triggers? Now that I realized there are triggers perhaps next time I can avoid this.

It's a little disheartening to see that this discussion ended in August. Are you all still among the living? For me, no medication, no smokers around, not a past smoker. Just a very odd sensation of cigarette smoke.

I noticed in the posts RE smelling cigarette smoke all the time that several people said they have Ionic Breezes. I too smell smoke at work, in the car, at friend's houses, and at home - all non-smoking areas. I also have an Ionic Breeze. Could this device be the problem?

I was almost floored when I saw this thread come up on Google. I was taking a stab in the dark searching for "smelling cigarette smoke all the time", and this came up first. I don't smoke (never have smoked cigarettes), my mother smoked while I was growing up, I take daily supplements of Vitamin C and Fish Oil, my home and place of work are completely smoke-free, etc. I *do* have a lot of stress (new job, father w/ terminal cancer, etc), and the smoke started pretty much the same day I started my new job. Talking to a doctor buddy to see if he suggests anything, or if I should take it further...

Some one before me said they thought it was the ionic breeze, but I dont have one and yet Im smelling smoke for nearly a week now. I thought maybe it was my grandmother who by the way has been dead since 2004 to check up on me, but I dont know. maybe Im just crazy and there is something obviously wrong. I dont have any insurance and Im losing my job today because of the economic times right now with a lot of businesses closing down including mine. I hope some one figures out something soon as im feeling like im going crazy!

I was beginning to think I was crazy along with everyone else around me . I have been smelling smoke now for months with it getting more. I thought it was my father visiting me o.O Now I am really concerned becasue no one here seems to have an answer. I do not have an Ionic breeze. I hav enot been sick but I do have bad allergies. I take OTC Claritian year around. Fall is the worst time due to Ragweed. It is happening right now. I did have a hysteroctomy over a year ago and had to stop hormones becasue of the allergies. The hot flashes are pretty bad. I live in the South. I am anemic and have high eosinophils. I guess I will be making a Dr. appointment next week. This is really worrying me. _[removed]_

I have been going nuts. The smell of smoke drives out every other smell. I am glad that I am not the only one. My family thinks I am nuts. I smell it at home, in my car and at work and I have never been a smoker. My family all smoked when I was younger, but I never have. I swore my son was smoking one day -when I could see that he was not. If anyone figures out what is going on with us, please, please post it. I am starting to think I have some kind of brain malfunction.

i have this problem too and i hate it with passion. but i notice if i chew any mint gum it goes away for awhile. i went to see a throat , mouth ear dr. and they didnt find anything wrong with me. i seem to get it more at work we got smokers and i stay away from them as much as possible but it finds me. it kind of feels like i inhale the smoke and it stays with me for awhile... you are not alone my friend. but i don't know what to do about it either. :-(

I just started having a smell this week that I only notice at home. Sometimes when going out in the cold winter air there's a similar smell, but I figure that's something else. It just hit me one day. I got home and the moment I walked in there was some smell, a bit smokey. I went to my room and it was 3 times stronger. A few days go by and I hardly notice it around my condo (only 960sqf), but when I open the door to my room, it's there. Not as if I'm smelling smoke, but more like a smoker had lived their and left an after smell behind. Here are my recent changes in my life. I had gone to a trip to Maui for a week November 1st. Perfect air and no allergies. When I got back home in California, the next morning I had horrible allergies. I usually take no meds for allergies, it just hit me pretty hard this time. Even as I was reading this thread I was sneezing and feeling horrible. Being colder out now, the air conditioning has been completely off, and windows closed more often, so less flow of air and older air inside. My roommate also left for a couple weeks, so this week I started taking car of a 45lb dog, springer spaniel, which I have been letting sleep on my bed every night. I use to be allergic to dogs when young, but not anymore. Another change the day I got back from Maui was there were new neighbors on the condo connected to my bedroom wall. That first morning, with the window open, I had the smell of cigarette smoke. Turns out the new neighbors are smokers, and were going outside. Keep in mind I wasn't having the smell in my home until 3-4 weeks later. These people also shouldn't be there, they didn't pay their gas bill, land lord yelled, took fridge. Now I think they are without power too, and also starting this week is some gas powered generator. Also, my room has been a mess, clothes everywhere, boxes in corners that have been around for ages, rarely vacuum, dust in areas. So: 4 Weeks ago I got back home from Maui, hit hard by allergies, new smoking neighbors that I rarely was around when they did or had my window closed. I usually never smell smoke, so maybe this triggered it, and the heavy allergies. Also no air on for a while. This last week when I started having the smoky smell: Colder weather. Really no noticeable allergies this week until just now when I cleaned my room. Around the dog more, allowing to stay with me when I sleep. And a gas powered generator running on and off. Though, when opening the window when it's running is only a faint gas smell, except the cloud of smoke when they put more gas in it. Could being exposed to a dog this past week effect my sinuses and cause this. Could neighbors smoking inside next to my room be smelled through the walls? Finding the smell? I sniffed around and like most you, things smell normal, but the air doesn't. Though, it did seem stronger at the end of my bed against the neighboring wall, near the floor and on the wall. I had a pile of boxes from things I've bought with an abandoned computer at the bottom of this stack on the floor. Seemed like the carpet had a smell. Then I smalled inside the computer through a large opening in the back where the PSU was removed. Man did it actually have a strong smoke smell inside. I moved the computer out of there and opened it up but shortly after in another room I didn't find the strong smell in it anymore. I went back to my room and cleared that area. Getting down on the ground and smelling the carpet there and it had that left behind smoke smell. Particularly strong where the computer was on the carpet, which is strange since that wasn't completely covered for over a year, not exposed to the air. After cleaning my room and vacuuming dust out of the edges of carpet, everything I still caught the smell. I had just rested on the carpet a few feet from the trouble spot and suddenly a smoke smell hit me. I don't know what's up. Maybe something with my allergies is effect my smell just enough to make certain things smell more like smoke. Or smoke coming from my neighbors, but doesn't explain how the strongest smelling part was carpet on a cement foundation that was covered by a metal computer, not exposed to air. 2 months ago I had Shingles, the chicken pox virus that's in anyone that had the chicken pox at one time. It can come back from a weakened immune system, or stress. Several layoffs and buyouts sure had me stressed at work. The virus only effected the nerves in a strip from my back to stomach on my left side. I hope it was a sign of stress, not something else that weakened my immune system that is now possibly causing this smell. Anyone else have this smell stronger in certain rooms, my room has dual monitors, LCD tv, a computer, routers, modems and such, but no air filters. Let a dog stay around you more recently like when sleeping. Happen to smell real second hand smoke just before this started. If a stronger smell in a certain room, was it cluttered and messy? A messy room can have a stuffy smell, but not usually smokey, unless something effecting sinuses makes that smell more like smoke. Have the air off for near a month with windows closed more often?

I just started smelling something like stinky ashtrays or old cigarette smoke a few days ago. I don't know what has caused this, nobody in the house smokes. The smell is strongest around my computer desk. But, it is in the whole house, for me. Nobody else can smell it. I have diabetes, high blood pressure, asymptomatic allergies, GERD, sleep apnea and I sleep with a CPAP machine and now the smoke smell is giving me headaches. I can only get rid of the smell so I can fall asleep because I have put a bar of Dove soap in front of my CPAP filter. I'm getting tired of this smell, but, I figure, why go to the doctor when nobody here can get an answer from theirs! Has anybody got an answer for this yet???? :'(