Phantom smells leading to panic attacks

[beadbabe]

Hello
I'm hoping someone can tell me there is a benign cause for this - ie anxiety. All I can find on the internet is scary stuff, ie brain tumour or seizures.

I keep smelling things (difficult to say what) but it could be like smoke or burnt toast, or basically odd smells that I can't describe.

I have even woken up from sleep on a couple of occasions with a very strong smell - very weird. This has then caused me to go into panic. I'm not even sure if the smells are actually there, or if my brain is making them up, as I am now smelling everything that's out there all the time.

this has been going on for about two weeks, stopped for a couple of happy days when I thought I was 'cured' and now it's back.

I'm finding it really upsetting as I can't shake off the big fears of proper illness.

Help?

[PanchoGoz]

I get this too. Sometimes I will hear something or see something and for some reason it will come with a smell. For example, I played a sound on the computer and for some reason I got this very strong oder of burnt rubber. It came and went too quickly for it to belong to anything real.
I also get a burnt corn beef taste at the back of my throat/nose and I've never been able to find a cause for that.
I think it's another case of anxiety paying tricks, your nervous system is on full alert all the time and going into overdrive.

[NoPoet]

I used to get this as a kid. It seems to be some kind of anxiety symptom that isn't reported very often here. Maybe your senses are becoming sharper due to the anxiety causing you to become hyper-vigilant, or maybe the anxiety is seeking a new way to get to you. Anxiety will come at you any way it can - remember this, and you have advance warning when strange new symptoms creep in.