Smelling things that are not there.

[sunflower7]

Hi There,
This is my first post so hope it is in the right place! I have had ME for a while now and also health anxiety. I worry that I have the worst illness and it takes over my life. Recently I keep smelling things like toast, sweet smells and bleach when there is nothing there. I am really scared as I know this can be a sign of brain tumours and epilepsy. I smell these things out of the blue so am thinking it can't just be anxiety? Please can anyone offer me some help or advice?

Thanks

[Vanilla Sky]

Welcome Sunflower , I cant offer you any advice on the smelling things but as always, someone will read your post and think omg thats me !! Anyway welcome to NMP , you will get good support here , we are all in the same boat :) Paige x

[suzy-sue]

This has happened to me lots of times ..Ive even come down stairs cos I could smell toast .I thought someone was cooking and no one else was at home ...:scared15:Ive smelt Violets ,paint, perfume the list is endless ..Its just your sensitized nerves playing tricks .Its amazing how the body responds to stress and anxiety ..Please dont worry ,Take care luv Sue x:hugs:

[sunflower7]

Thank You both for taking the time to reply to me. I am such a worrier and it drives my Husband mad! Seriously though I am glad to have found this forum as it is very helpful. I am panicking everytime I smell something :weep:

Thanks again for your help

[LadySinger]

I've often smelled things that aren't there, it can be a symptom of a serious problem, but not always. I have had a recent MRI, for other reasons, and they found no tumors, or abnormalities. And, I smell things like cookies, vanilla, brownies, so I welcome them. (I would really love to have the real thing though.)

[anxietyoverload]

i get it occasionally too :) x

[LadySinger]

Do you smell anything now? I know that sounds a bit weird. Or, are you baking any sweets? :emot-giggle::emot-giggle:

[Chezzie]

Ive had the smell of toast a few times. When i was really anxious. Havnt had it for a bit tho.

[Ingenious]

Me too - often just on waking up from sleep. At an old country house I lived in I could often smell perfumes - different ones each time - plus smoke, hay etc. and wondered maybe if it was a ghost, though I never saw anything :)

Don't rule out the possibility that you have a sensitive sense of smell and ARE smelling things that are there - just that others cannot.

[anxietyoverload]

Anxiety causes all the senses to be far more sensitive than usual, this morning i could smell mint and someone in my office at work had a peice of chewing gum!! i would never usually of smelt that! we become hypo sensitive to things!!
but saying that i smell things that arnt there as well, i once could smell coffee soooo clearly, but no one had any, it was all in my head! :) xx

[Whitetrash]

I believe olfactory hallucinations can be a rare effect with anxiety

[looking4answers]

Holy Cow!!!!!!! I have smelled things all my life that were not there.... I didnt know this is a symptom of tumor. I have a lot of this recently ,now im worried!!!

[debs71]

Hi,

I second what anxietyoverload mentioned hun....all our senses are heightened with anxiety so you are probably just hypersensitive smells wise.

This happens to me too - I think I smell gas LOADS of times and worry that the house will blow up! As yet it is still standing, lol. :D

Anxiety has A LOT to answer for.xxx:mad:

[looking4answers]

lol..... I can think of a smell and smell it...by the way ... I think im smelling gas in the house alot,worried it might blowup but we moved back to the south a year ago and I started smelling it but turned out it was the papermil and the wind was blowing it this way. Been years since I smelled it and just forgot about it. Funny thing is the smell I woke up to was propane and not the natural gas smell they put a smell in natural gas so you know its leaking but propane is totally different....lol...But actually I never knew to worry about smelling anything, I just thought of it as a good experiece lol .Im not going to google,im not going to google,im not going to google....:)))

[eva82]

I used to get this all the time...I would smell smoke and no one else smelled it ever! I decided to google what I was experiencing and had my first major panic attack after convincing myself I had a brain tumor. This sent me into my current health anxiety cycle of fear...I had a CT scan and MRI of the brain, also a complete neuro exam...everything came back normal. I also agree with anixetyoverload and debs71! Two years later I don't get this anymore and I've moved onto worrying about other things now!! :blush:

[looking4answers]

Ist it funny how one concern melds into another when you have anxiety?? Just loads of fun heh?

[debera]

yes i smell things from time to time. i remember smelling chinese food it worried me for awhile but the doc said there was nothing wrong with me. i agree it must be our sensitized nerves
debera