My migraine is back thanks to smelly crap

UGH...been slowly creeping back in, but I screwed up today. I used the smelly bath product that actually triggered my last MAJOR episode. I sure hope it's a one day one....I can't do another three month stint.

Do you get triggered by smelly products? Which are the worst for you?

Mine is cheap floral purfumes, and Bath and Body Vanilla bean noel. UGGH!

Perfumes don't bother me at all.

BUT, cheap incense sets off major M's. I was at a Catholic funeral and had to leave because it hit me instantly and violently.

Paint and other industrial fumes do me in too.

Charlotte

Cheap floral and musky perfumes bother me most, as well as the smell of tar, dehydrating jerky, skunk and smoke (especially cigarette and cigar smoke). I can tolerate scented candles only if they are cinnamon, vanilla or kitchen spice scents.

When my migraines are at their worst, my sense of smell is dramatically heightened. I can smell things no one else can smell long before anyone else can (if that makes sense?).

Becky

Candles don't bother me. Some perfumes do, but as long as I get away from the fast I can usually avoid a migraine. However, cigarette smoke is a huge trigger, even a hint of it I can start to feel a migraine. And yes, when I do have a migraine my sense of smell is amazing...when I have a migraine too some smells that don't normally bother me are terrible when I have a migraine.

most of the things already metioned are triggers. all bath and beyond stores, gift shops in the mall. perfume and cologne also. cig smoke , some small restaurants. I also smell smoke at home though not always followed by M. I still look around for burning stuff, its funny but sad..

Called phantom smells I think. Most people are skeptical of your trigger smells.

I can't do perfumes most of the time. I can be around them, but my husband or myself wearing them
presents a problem. Within a couple hours of smelling them, it causes a M to pop up.
Candles are usually okay as long as they aren't musky or too strong. Burning foods or frying smells
also do me sometimes.

Industrial smells are my big no-no. My husband is a big fixer-upper and likes to do projects all the time.
He works with paint, stains, spray paints, and a lot of other famously bad smelling things. If I smell
that even for a millisecond I instantly get a migraine.

Funny since before I had my daughter and my M turned daily, I was a machinist and before that,
I worked as a fragrance guru in Ulta Cosmetics LOL!

that's a real diagnosis, standing for "multiple chemical sensitivity". i can't stand ANY of the aforementioned. scented candles are among the worst for me, even if they are not burning. "real" things like flowers; no problem. ditto for food smells, even burning food (which i do regularly.....)

all other smelly chemical crap. baaaaaaaad news. dianne

I just have to think about Vanilla perfume or candles and it makes me shudder, an instant migraine trigger for me. I also loathe those plug in scents.
Sickly sweet perfumes, I do love La Perla, and patchouli oil, but not when migraining. Cigarette smoke too, I hate it.

I love many smells, but when get headachy I can't stand most or all. I am usually ok with essential oils but sometimes even they can trigger me.

How about that super-human sense of smell??????? I HATE that!!!!! When I'm migraining, like most of us, I get super-human hearing as well. People who know me already think I have a heightened sense of hearing.....and it gets out of control when the headaches are around.

Anyone know why?

Fresh cut grass is one of my only known single triggers.

I got home and checked the brand of the smelly crap...It is bath and body works Vanilla bean noel. It's really pretty.......but a huge trigger.

why we get super-sensitive hearing and smelling; i think it's PROTECTIVE. if we can smell the thing more than other people, it's because our body is telling us in no uncertain terms, "get out of there pronto".

the same would apply to hearing. we need peace and quiet to recover from the migraine, and noisy places just won't do. that's my theory, for what it's worth. dianne

smoke doesn't bother me, tho I hate cigars.

Candles, perfumes, floral scents, real or artificial, those bother me. I have to leave a store if the scents are too strong. Cleaners and the like don't bother me.

Not eating bothers me a lot. Like if I go too long without eating. That's one of the biggest triggers I have. And yet I do it all the time. Go figure.

UGH...one hour massage worth 85.00, one T4 and one gravergol and my head is still cracked. UGH Stupid cheap smelly s#%$!!!!! Stupid me for using it....AGAIN!!!! lol

Sorry you're still hurting!

Smelly stuff seems to be hit or miss for me. Definitely sensitive to cigarette smoke, certain candles, and usually any kind of scented hand soap. Perfumes and lotions don't seem to bother me much though.

Have to agree with incense and vanilla scented things, although natural vanilla is fine, it's the synthetic stuff that affects me.

In general the more synthetic a fragrance is the worse I feel, and natural extracts and oils are ok.

I totally agree with moominamy, the more synthetic a scent is, the more it can bother me. I work in a Lush store, and it's highly fragranced, but the only artificial perfume they use is a small amount of musk. I'm fine there, but walk me past ambercromibe on the way home, and I hold my breath trying not to trigger something. And that's just the doorway! The last time I actually went into a bath and body works, UGH! I hurt for 2 days after. And smoke of any type (other than wood smoke) is an instant trigger. I've been know to trade customers at work to avoid the smoker. Thankfully none of the people I work with have cigarettes as a trigger, even though I work with at least 2 other migrainers.

wooohooo....the meds worked through the night (only woke me once) and I'm at work without a migraine today. Yay!

I can't believe anyone with a migraine working in lush....wow...good for you. I can tolerate their stuff....but couldn't imagine more then twenty minutes in the store.

I'm fortunate that candles and most perfumes don't bother me. Cigarette smells, spray furniture polish, and any strong chemical or petroleum smells are bad triggers for me though. As my neurologist says... migrainers have super sensitive senses and brains.

Some scents can lead right into a migraine and some never phase me. My wife is super sensitive to scents so she picks on them before I do luckily. Generally if I have to work with a strong smelling cleaning product or home project liquid, I wear a mask, helps the migraines and the asthma.

Whoot whoot....had my first headache-free day yesterday...exactly two weeks after my last botox.

Today was also a good day, but I had to take something after my chiro appointment, so not sure if that helped.

For me, two things are guarantied triggers: Diesel fumes from trucks, and the smell of burnt grease!!!

The other day my son made his own dinner (a burger) and left the pan on the hot burner after he turned it off. I ran into the bedroom and closed the door before the smell permeated the whole house. Thankfully he and my wife opened windows and got the smell out before it trigger a major.

My son, who is now 24 years old, always complained that the smell of eggs frying, being scrambled or made into an omelet, etc. would trigger a migraine for him. He could smell it in his bedroom in the basement.

My husband enjoys making jerky. The smell of the dehydrater drying the meat and the spices he uses, triggers a migraine and nausea for me. I can't get anywhere near it.

Becky