Achanchinou ([info]achanchinou) wrote in [info]migraines,
@ 2005-08-24 01:02:00
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Ugh.
I keep smelling cigarette smoke.

No one smokes around here. Not in my house. Not next door. Well, maybe on one side, but there's easily a hundred feet between here and there, AND my house is well sealed and ventilated.

I was in a restaurant earlier today and some nitwit was smoking. Indoors. And sitting across from me was a guy with a BIG OXYGEN TANK and you'd think they'd know better.

Anyway. I still smell smoke. I've showered, I've changed, I've washed my hair. I still smell smoke. I can't tell where it's coming from or why I smell cigarette smoke, but my head just gave a short warning throb... Do any of you ever have that happen? You just.. like.. Keep smelling it, even though it's not there, and then get a headache?

Edit: Although it turns out I'm not crazy and potentially not even having olfactory auras. Even after a shower, double shampoo, conditioning and a fresh set of clothes, my husband smelled my hair and said it did, indeed, smell like cigarette smoke. This makes me feel better and now I'm less stressed over the idea of having a migraine. Yay.

I'll be washing my hair again tonight, though.

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[info]bureinato
2005-08-24 05:10 am UTC (link)
There is a word for the weird symptoms you get before a migraine headache kicks in, it's part of the migraine experience. Anyway that sounds like one, they can be smells not just the visual aura.

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[info]achanchinou
2005-08-24 05:14 am UTC (link)
I usually get an aura, but I've never had this happen before. Only once that I can remember have I just smelled cigarette smoke for an extended period of time and not been able to figure out where it came from. It's so weird. I hope this isn't part of an aura, I could stand to live without mass synasthesia and horrid pain for a day or two.

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[info]fnordian
2005-08-24 06:01 am UTC (link)
I'm extremely smell-sensitive and i always smell/taste my triggers for hours after exposure as the headache kicks in.

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[info]achanchinou
2005-08-24 07:07 am UTC (link)
Awesome. :P I've often wondered if particles of dust or smoke or whatever can lodge in your sinuses and cause this to happen. Cigarette smoke is a heavy trigger for me. Knowing that it's my hair now (see post edit) I find that I feel less worried about it, and I tied my hair up in a knot on top so I'm not smelling it now. yay.

I hate cigarette smoke. :P

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Olfactory auras
[info]k_something
2005-08-24 06:33 am UTC (link)
Olfactory hallucinations (smelling something which is not actually there) may occur as migraine aura symptom (see http://www.migraine-aura.org/EN/Olfactory_Symptoms.html ). Anyone else had it?

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Re: Olfactory auras
[info]the_northbound
2005-08-24 06:53 am UTC (link)
yeah i sometimes smell bacon frying.. it's disgusting.. but makes no sense.. has appeared in trains and in my home.. without no frying bacon around.. just really odd and disgusting and making me wanna puke.

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Re: Olfactory auras
[info]the_northbound
2005-08-24 06:56 am UTC (link)
come to think of it, i sometimes smell and taste benzine for days.. i dunno if thats associated to migraine though.. never heard of taste aura.

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Re: Olfactory auras
[info]k_something
2005-08-24 06:59 am UTC (link)
Taste aura is called gustatory hallucinations (see http://www.migraine-aura.org/EN/Gustatory_symptoms.html ). Anyone else get it?

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Re: Olfactory auras
[info]achanchinou
2005-08-24 07:02 am UTC (link)
I've had taste auras, but they always came with other stomach issues too. Like I spent one week with a migraine tasting nothing but cherries. NASTY.

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Re: Olfactory auras
[info]azhure
2005-08-24 06:53 am UTC (link)
I have olfactory auras quite a lot, moreso than visual auras in the last few years.

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Re: Olfactory auras
[info]k_something
2005-08-24 07:02 am UTC (link)
What do you smell? Is it followed by the headaches?

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Re: Olfactory auras
[info]achanchinou
2005-08-24 07:09 am UTC (link)
I'm intrigued by this too. I've tried aromatherapy to ward off headaches and it actually made it worse more often than not. If you get olfactory aruas, can you ward them off with other things?

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Re: Olfactory auras
[info]azhure
2005-08-25 02:44 am UTC (link)
I've had a variety of smells - beer, burning rubber, smoke. They're generally followed by a headache, though not always immediately.

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Re: Olfactory auras
[info]pamc
2005-08-24 06:57 am UTC (link)
I've had it a lot. I get olfactory auras regularly and visual auras rarely. Which is weird, because due to another disorder, I normally have no sense of smell. But when a migraine blows... I can almost count the number of particles in the air.

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Re: Olfactory auras
[info]achanchinou
2005-08-24 07:11 am UTC (link)
due to another disorder

I'm intrigued that the more I study and learn about my own current disability the more I find that migraines are part of or included with SO so so many other disabilities and health issues and the like.

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Re: Olfactory auras
[info]pamc
2005-08-24 07:16 am UTC (link)
Yeah, we're not sure quite how they're connected, but they're definately connected. My pituitary, adrenals and thyroid don't work. Treating my migraines in conventional ways is like, as one of my doctors put it, "trying to smooth out the Rocky Mountains with sandpaper."

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Re: Olfactory auras
[info]achanchinou
2005-08-24 07:24 am UTC (link)
haha! Great analogy.

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[info]zen_girl
2005-08-24 12:27 pm UTC (link)
I have smell auras also. I smell dirty cat boxes though,very ammonia smelling. I am very smell sensitive also.


When housecleaning I can only use lemon or citrus scented cleaners or dishsoap. Anything else will trigger a migraine

I cannot wear perfume,use strongly scented soaps either.

I can use lemon or citrus air cleaners but no insense or other really smelly type things


Fiona

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[info]ladypeculiar
2005-08-24 02:55 pm UTC (link)
I smell things . . . a couple weeks ago it was nachos.

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[info]dame_wilbur
2005-08-24 05:38 pm UTC (link)
not only should you wash your hair again, it might also be that a smell that agrivates you will stay with you long after it's actually gone. it's rather like if you say something stupid, you can't stop running the scene over and over in your mind.
either that or you're halucinating. i used to do that a lot. some meds can cause halucination, so you might want to check you meds also.

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