I’m experiencing all sorts of stuff on my recovery journey. Starting yesterday, I noticed I started smelling hints of cigarette smoke, mostly when I’m at rest at home. No one in my household smokes and no one else smells it. I Googled “phantom smell of cigarette smoke” and got phantosmia. Most common cause is a sinus infection but causes go all the way up to brain tumors and strokes.
I think I’ve had other instances of smelling non-existent cigarette smoke before so I’m not too concerned yet. I may have done it to myself a few days ago since I used the saline rinse but got lazy and used tap water. Until now, I’ve always used either microwaved bottled water, or hot water from our water dispenses which uses drinking water from 5 gallon drums. I read online that you really should not use tap water. Coincidentally, the smoke smell started the next morning. I’ve rinsed out my sinuses one more time since then using drinking water but the smell remains. The weird think is that it only appears after I’ve stopped moving, i.e., either sitting down in a chair or lying in bed. If I’m moving about, I don’t notice the phantom smell. I hope it’s just a temporary thing and goes away like before. I should have brought it up while I was in the ER yesterday afternoon. “Hi, since I’m here, let’s go over my entire list of medical complaints!”
Life with chronic diseases 