odors and migraines

When I have a bad migraine(like right now) I`m definitly more sensitive to most odors(perfume, new vinyl shower curtain, certain food,scented candles,etc.). If I don`t get away from them, it gets worse and I feel nausiated,etc. It`s like I just go through the roof and can`t handle the odors. Does anyone feel like this during a migraine?

Also, when my m aren`t that severe or when I don`t have one at all, I can`t handle odors either but it`s not as bad when I have a severe migraine. This started to happen right after I had my child(years ago). I didn`t have m at that time but for the exception of the 2 months I was pregnant.

I didn`t start having bad m until I was in my mid to upper thirties. So, I do know some of it is connected to my m but I`m wondering if some of it could be a hormonal problem. Has anyone had any odor problems connected to hormones and not migraines?

It is very common to have a sensitivity to odors during a migraine. Migraines can increase sensitivity to any or all of your senses. Most common is light and sound, but odors rank right up there.

Alli

Odors trigger me off right away all the time. Burning scents on the stovetop are a huge trigger for me. Within minutes I have a hum dinger. During migraines I usually get very sensitive to smells as well but some scents I enjoy if they are very light like lavender and peppermint. I'm also sensitive to sound and light like Alli said. They are both triggers and sensitivities.

Yes, I'm definitely more sensitive to smells during migraines. Perfumes/chemicals are the worst for me.

They also act as triggers. I can't make my way from the front of Debenhams, where the perfumes are, to the back before a migraine starts. Debenhams is a UK department store.

John

Yup there are a few out there that make things worse. One is one of the rubber dog toys I have. Didn't realize how strong the smell was when I bought them but it's enough to make me toss my cookies. I don't know that odor triggers with me but odor during an M, blech!

Right before and during a migraine I cannot tolerate odors or smells at all! Scented candles and certain cooking odors are the worst. These same smells and other ones such as burning smells can trigger a migraine...

I hate doing it but I refuse to go to homes of people who burn candles...I just can't handle it.

Cheap incense, any type of product with a petroleum base, magic markers, cheap perfume.

However, high end perfume does not bother me at all and actually relaxes me when I use the bath products.

With a severe migraine I get olfactory hallucinations. I think I smell natural gas every where. It's very disconcerting. I drive people nuts trying to find the non-existent gas leak.

Charlotte

i don't smell nonexistent things, but DEFINITELY, during a severe migraine my nose works overtime. every smelly thing is magnified, making my pain worse.

as for the gas leak, though, please don't let anyone discount it if you think you do smell gas. i smelled some in the basement of my rental house, more than 20 years ago. nobody else could detect it. i had the gas company come out, and they couldn't find it, either.

then i had them come out AGAIN, and sure enough, there was a tiny leak. any tiny leak can turn dangerous. i had 2 children sleeping in the basement, so i'm very glad i was persistent in the face of denial. dianne

Odors in general are bad for me. Not just during a migraine, but any time. They'll trigger a migraine if I don't already have one. I can't tolerate candle stores, bed and bath stores, perfume sections of dept. stores, etc. Those are the worst. I can't tolerate women who wear strong perfumes or scented lotions. I can't stand scented deodorant, on myself in particular. I have some that sits in my bathroom (it was free) that I can't wear because I can smell it all day and it gives me a migraine. I hate incense. I hate those room fresheners that plug in or go off automatically.
Almost any perfume scents bother me, cheap or expensive, as long as its strong. Mild perfumes are sometimes ok.

Cooking smells don't bother me, mainly because I went to cooking school and learned to get used to them, but also because they aren't cloying and, to me anyway, they disipate in the air in a way perfumes don't. I adore the smell of garlic and olive oil
Oddly though there is one smell I abhore, and that's nacho cheese. That horrible, fake nacho cheese from carnivals or taco bell? It triggers a gag reflex in me, and that triggers a migraine.

Exhaust fumes are hateful. Instant migraine.

Good thread

Yes, that is a bugging thing.
I can smell something 2 miles away
It is so difficult to explain to others, then.
One day, at work, I was really sicked by the odour of sweat from a colleague. No one else could smell it, but I did... Of course, everyone accused me of overreacting. I feel lonely sometimes

I usually don't even notice most odors. I can be standing next to composting cow manure and not notice it.

But when a migraine is coming on my sense of smell ramps up 100x. I can smell two-day old burnt toast from the other end of the house, an unlit scented candle three rooms away. I can smell the musty smoke smell from the fireplace which hasn't been lit for 3 months and think the house is on fire. I can't go near most stores. The smell of new clothing in a store ( my wife says I'm smelling the "sizing" they use to starch the clothing) nauseates me like you wouldn't believe. Cooking odors make me vomit.

Then I start smelling stuff that isn't there - strong metallic odors and skunky odors like the stuff they add to natural gas. The migraine hits soon after I start smelling phantom stuff.

give me cow dung any day (well rotted for the alotment), but don't get me anywhere near a soap shop!! Not that I'm not clean, I just can't stand the smell anytime. Smells drive me crazy as I wake up every day with that bit of migraine switched on. I get the same response to smells even when full of cold, I can't smell what it is that's setting me off but I know it's there!!!

Di

we all have so much in common. some smells i do not like. when i have a migraine i cannot tolerate most smells/odors etc. i have no tolerance. my husband always asks me if he wants to eat peanuts. they make me sick. if i have a low level ha, the smell will make the headache rise up in level. if i have a full blown migraine, it makes me feel like i will start vomiting. weird sensitivity. makes going to baseball games challenging.
rose

My husband brought a cup of coffee in the living room......

I cannot handle smells at all. Since the pain has been constant it happens all of the time. Synthetic fragrances are the biggest trigger. Handsoap, lotion, deoderant, perfume, hairspray, scented candles. I find that unscented things are much better, but I can handle some things scented with essential oils. I have become somewhat of a hippy. We only use all natural, unscented or naturally scented products and one of my biggest triggers is when I go out front and my neighbor is doing laundry. the HORRIBLE "fresh" scent of the dryer sheets being pumped out on to my front porch is gagging and makes my head react immediately. I wish I knew how to tell her without being rude. Would giving them a present of seventh generation products be nice or creepy

M

MaryAnneLive wrote:I cannot handle smells at all. Since the pain has been constant it happens all of the time. Synthetic fragrances are the biggest trigger. Handsoap, lotion, deoderant, perfume, hairspray, scented candles. I find that unscented things are much better, but I can handle some things scented with essential oils. I have become somewhat of a hippy. We only use all natural, unscented or naturally scented products and one of my biggest triggers is when I go out front and my neighbor is doing laundry. the HORRIBLE "fresh" scent of the dryer sheets being pumped out on to my front porch is gagging and makes my head react immediately. I wish I knew how to tell her without being rude. Would giving them a present of seventh generation products be nice or creepy

M

Aww, I think it would be nice! I wouldn't mind getting a little basket of seventh generation products put on my door sometime. I would definitely use them, too! Wish I was your neighbor!

lovegia wrote:Aww, I think it would be nice! I wouldn't mind getting a little basket of seventh generation products put on my door sometime. I would definitely use them, too! Wish I was your neighbor!

LG - imagine if we had other M sufferers as neighbors. This could either be very good or very bad. Good - we'd all be considerate of each other as we know what it's like. Bad - we could all be in the middle of a rager at the same time It sure would be interesting....but then the SO's could conspire....

imagine if we had other M sufferers as neighbors.

We probably wouldn't even know each other because we're tucked away in our dark rooms with our black-out curtains.

Charlotte - unfortunately you are probably right. I live in a 2 flat and I know my downstairs neighbor has fibro and one of her triggers is weather changes. Only see her every once in a while....

I've always had a strong sniffer. People have always teased me about it. My son does too. But I am sensitive to everything, light, sound, touch, smells, etc. My doctor says that migraneurs have a super sensitive nervous system so they feel everything more acutely even pain. I have actually been rude but I am generous about it. When I work close to someone who is using scented lotion (Victoria's Secret is the worst) or scented shower gel I have bought them something else in a scent I can stand in a very nice version and given it as a gift with explanation. For example, I had a girl working for me using Irish Spring soap. It is super strong smelling. I went out and bought her Origins White Tea Shower Gel as a gift and explained that Irish Spring is causing my migraine to trigger. She gets migraines too so she was somewhat understanding but it hurt her feelings that I didn't like the ways she smelled. The biggest problem is at work I sit right outside the kitchen where people heat up nasty things for lunch. This was all when I was still able to go to work. I had to leave my desk around 11:30pm and not come back until people stopped heating things up. I convinced all 70 employees in my company to not wear perfume or cologne except the few people that actually smelled good. They understood when it kept me from coming to work. I haven't always been upfront about this problem. It wasn't until I turned 40 or so and my migraines got debilitating that I started to do active campaigning. I even had to have my company change the soap in the bathroom because it makes me break out in hives. I can't wear sunscreen or deodorant either. I have to use that salt rock thing. I have never been able to go down the laundry soap isle at the grocery store, even when I was a little girl. My mother always avoided it or let me wait at the end. But I was the girl in the bubble with allergies, asthma, and ear injections too.

So if anyone near you is causing your migraines to be worse with their smells try to think of a really nice way to ask them to change. Or alternatively ask them to tell you or learn when they do laundry or whatever and make sure your windows are shut. I have a next door neighbor who smokes and we have worked out a deal where I NEVER smell her smoke. She knows it makes my migraine works and that I am a shut in because of it so she is understanding. Most people will be. In return I have always done my best to be a quiet understanding neighbor in return.

for about 40 years, i've had to search out soap and other personal products which are non-fragranced. believe me, one really has to SEARCH. they are getting more commonly available, but usually only in health food stores. one i can use from a regular store is "dove for sensitive skin".

there are soaps which are JUST soap. like dr. bronner's peppermint soap. most migraineurs seem to tolerate peppermint; it's my favorite smell, and this one most often comes from essential oils, which are less toxic.

all perfumes are man-made crap and come from the chemical companies, not pretty flowers. perfumes/scents are known neurotoxins. why anyone would knowingly put these things on their persons is a mystery to me. if they just knew better, wouldn't they try to protect their brain cells?

someone above said that the bad reaction can come even if one does not smell the offensive ingredient. this is because it's not the smell which causes harm, it's the chemical CAUSING THE SMELL. end sermon. i hope this helps someone or at least starts them thinking differently.

dianne

(i've had MCS/multiple chemical sensitivity since forever, and for me these chemical things cause cause sometimes-instant but usually delayed migraines. it's very hard to go anywhere without encountering junk that makes me sick. it's like stepping into a minefield, because the explosion of perfume can literally lay me low).