Brain tumour anxiety triggered again today.

[cattia]

I've been doing a bit better with the brain tumour anxiety this past week or so. Managed to convince myself that my senses were just hypersensitive and my general levels of anxiety have gone down somewhat. Then I walked into my kids' room and smelt a very strong odur like rotting meat. There was no mistaking it, but after a few seconds it was gone. I can find no source for it at all and of course I've read in the past that rotting meat is one of the phantom smells associated with tumours. I'm straight back to full on meltdown, convinced I have a tumour. Phantom smells was what started this whole thing. This definitely wasn't my imagination, but why would a random smell just appear and disappear like this?

[worriermama]

Hi there, I've worried about phantom smells before. You need to remember that A) it could have been a real smell, and B) things other than brain tumors can cause phantom smells.

I have experienced phantom smells with both hormones and migraines. Are you premenstrual, pregnant, perimenopausal, or menopausal? Taking birth control or another hormonal medication? I've smelled rubbing alcohol (boy did I ever freak out with that one -- totally convinced I was dying), rubber, and what I can only describe as Kool Aid drink mix. My mom has had it too and has smelled peanut butter.

It's far more likely that your'e hormonal or had a migraine than that it's a tumor. It's also very likely that it was a real smell that wafted in through a window or vent.

I know it's hard but try not to remember that most people would just wonder what it was for a moment and then get on with their day!

[cattia]

Thank you so much for your reply. I have been trying to tell myself that most people wouldn't even give it a second thought and that brain tumours usually present with symptoms that are serious enough for them to be diagnosed in people who do not have health anxiety! I believe that I am perimenopausal and in fact I am mid cycle and I ovulated yesterday. I have been having a few hormonal issues and I hadn't considered that those could contribute. I suppose I am very hypersensitive to smells and perhaps could have focused on a smell that was actually there. It does freak me out that it came and went so quickly. Your reply has been really helpful thank you

[SLA]

Experienced them with flu too.

[Iker20]

Phantom smells can be a sign of brain tumor, but its not a common symptom, if you dont have other clear symptoms I wouldnt worry

[cattia]

Thank you all. I just hate the way that these things spring on you just as you feel like you're doing better with your anxiety. Always catches me out and makes me think that it can't be the anxiety that's causing it.

[worriermama]

I'm so glad what I said was helpful. And FWIW I get really weird hormonal symptoms during and the day after ovulation. Dizziness, spacey feeling, nausea, and increased anxiety!

[cattia]

Wow, thank you worryworryworry, I really never knew that! I hope it's that. I have no idea whether they will refer me for an MRI. Half of me hopes so, the other half of course is scared of what they might find. It's a hard symptom to deal with because the smells are so real, but they last a few seconds then they're gone and there is no source for them. Funnily enough, my dad has an issue with phantom smells too. He has had it for years and it comes and goes for him.
Worriermama, that's incredible, because I get that too with ovulation, especially lately with my anxiety being bad, and I've not really come across other people who get PMS type symptoms mid cycle. This month I had really bad fatigue and bloatedness.
I just wish I could live like someone who doesn't have a brain tumour, but when I tell myself to do that, my anxiety comes back and says 'who are you trying to kid, going out and living a normal life when you could be dead in a year, never see your children again, etc etc'. And then I think how can I carry on like there's nothing wrong when I have this deadly thing hanging over me. Urghhh HA sucks!