[jai (OP)]

hi, i have just read your thread on bad smells that no one else can smell. though very interesting i am still not sure if it answers all my questions.

for the last 4 weeks i have smelt a bad smell, the closest that i can describe it as is rotting flesh smell. i had a septum piercing about 5 years ago, i took it out 5 years ago as well, and the smell that you get whilst it is healing is very similar. i smell this 3 or 4 times a day, usually when there are no other smells or tastes around. for example, if i have eaten something strong tasting or when i have had a cigarette. of course no one else can smell it.

i have been worrying a little because i vaguely remember hearing somewhere that this could be a symptom of 'something', just cant remember what. does anyone have any ideas please? it is starting to get more persistent.

thanks

[DrN]

I have heard that smelling things that arn't there can be a symptom of brain trauma. pretty serious stuff. however, i keep smelling things that arn't there too, and I'm fairly sure I'm healthy. sometimes its a whiff caught from someone walking past - I've got a good sense of smell, so its possible that most other people won't be able to smell it before it dissipates.

also, if I've got - or recently had - a cold, then i sometime catch horrible smells which are presumably residues of infected mucous! lovely.

if you're worried perhaps you should get your friendly doctor to poke around up your nose, there might be an infection up there still. I had my ears pierced when i was young, and i still sometimes get infections in the piercings.

[jai (OP)]

thanks, i will take your advice and see a doctor when i am back in the uk. to be fair, i dont think it is anything to do with the ex septum piercing as there are no other sypmtoms. i was worried (and still am) that it is because i smoke even though it is not a 'smoke-like' smell.

yes! i know that smoking is terrible and i dont even like it. AND i dont know why i do it. perhaps (if it has not already been done) it would make an interesting thread. to find out why people think that they smoke. i have read the allen carr book and it was wonderfull. i quit for 7 months and then started again. i read the second book and quit for 3 months and now i dont know why i smoke, dont like smoking, dont enjoy smoking and still i smoke. the best that i have come up with is that i started again when i was stressed and depressed and that in some sense it is a self destruct mechanism. slow death and all that, like a gun that you can pull the trigger and trust that it wont kill you today, just some time in the future.

dark eh? sorry. on a lighter note this website is really cool. i have been cruising around it for ages and really enjoy the questions that it generates. thanks