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Strange burning smell?

swilow

swilow

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Mar 9, 2005
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Hey there healthy peeps, :)

Recently, I've been randomly smelling something which is reminescent of something burning/smouldering; its very faint, but it smell a bit like roasting nuts, but is more acrid then pleasant. Its rather strange, and I am wondering what could cause it....? I smell it probably twice a minute, its very fleeting, but quite disctint.

FWIW, I am on a benzo taper, but am not in withdrawal, as am doing it very slowly....

Peace :)
 
Not to induce fear or whatever but having a brain tumor can cause this.

Theres other medical reasons that are less severe but generally its a symptom of something often enough that is worth getting a medical examination over.
 
It could be blood/general unpleasantness clogged up in your sinuses.

I had sinusitis once, and all I could ever smell was burning toast.

Get it checked by a doctor. I didn't for a very long time, and I developed unbearable headaches 24/7 for a month. Turned out the sinusitis had caused all the gunk to diffuse through into the space between my brain and my skull, causing two huge abscesses squashing my brain into the back of my head, and needed emergency neurosurgery.

So yeah, better safe than sorry, unless you want a huge scar across your scalp like Frankenstein... 8)
 
this has happened to me too! It usually occurred when i was having stomach issues from being generally unhealthy or detoxing (like you are). If you live in a commie country ;) I would go see a free doctor.
 
Buy a neti pot to clean out your sinuses, if you still are smelling weird things after a few cleanings go to the doc.

Do you snort anything? If so try orally dosing instead for awhile.
 
moonyham said:
Not to induce fear or whatever but having a brain tumor can cause this.
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This is true but the chances of it being that are so incredibly slim it's not worth mentioning at this stage ;)


swilow, I get olfactory hallucinations as well. They usually occur for a few seconds and they are always unpleasant odours, e.g. faeces, burnt toast, rotting flesh etc. After looking in to it a bit, the most likely causes are respiratory tract infections, sinusitis, migraines, and then less commonly seizures, strokes, and tumours. But the interesting cause I found most likely to explain to my symptoms (including olfactory hallucination amongst other things) is peripheral neuropathy (i.e. damage to the peripheral nerves), which in my case would have been caused by years of alcohol abuse. Since I read that I've cut down my alcohol consumption and I haven't had any weird unexplainable smells at all recently.

So, what's your alcohol and drug consumption like at the moment? Just out of interest, have you got any other symptoms? You really should get this checked out by a doctor though as soon as you can, just so they can cover all bases.
 
JSPete said:
It could be blood/general unpleasantness clogged up in your sinuses.

I had sinusitis once, and all I could ever smell was burning toast.

Get it checked by a doctor. I didn't for a very long time, and I developed unbearable headaches 24/7 for a month. Turned out the sinusitis had caused all the gunk to diffuse through into the space between my brain and my skull, causing two huge abscesses squashing my brain into the back of my head, and needed emergency neurosurgery.

So yeah, better safe than sorry, unless you want a huge scar across your scalp like Frankenstein... 8)
Click to expand...

Whoa, that is intense.
 
Pillthrill said:
Whoa, that is intense.
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Twas four years ago now, but I survived =D

I've got a hole in my skull on my forehead from the drill the surgeon used, I can push my finger in and it makes me feel oddly happy ;)

It's covered by skin btw, in case you were wondering.
 
n3ophy7e said:
swilow, I get olfactory hallucinations as well. They usually occur for a few seconds and they are always unpleasant odours, e.g. faeces, burnt toast, rotting flesh etc. After looking in to it a bit, the most likely causes are respiratory tract infections, sinusitis, migraines, and then less commonly seizures, strokes, and tumours. But the interesting cause I found most likely to explain to my symptoms (including olfactory hallucination amongst other things) is peripheral neuropathy (i.e. damage to the peripheral nerves), which in my case would have been caused by years of alcohol abuse. Since I read that I've cut down my alcohol consumption and I haven't had any weird unexplainable smells at all recently.

So, what's your alcohol and drug consumption like at the moment? Just out of interest, have you got any other symptoms? You really should get this checked out by a doctor though as soon as you can, just so they can cover all bases.
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Interesting and helpful response. I've mentioned it to my psychiatric team and GP; they kinda said something random about temporal lobe malfunctioning; as you know, my brain is not integrated properly (dissociation, happening regularly) and I have begun having absence seizures (and grand-mal/big-bad-intractable-ones), with the former being the more dominant type.

However- the smells are very prevalent when I return from a black/white-out, but moreso when I am really really hot; it smells like electrical circuits shorting out, or toast, or even wood-smoke.

Hmm, drugs- well, I amm on benzo's, and been smoking 5-MeO-DMT, salvia and (eating) mushrooms in the past 5 days; prior to that, my intake has reduced.

Its so strange; the smell is only present when I exhale....

Oh wells we'll see what we see (or smell) or somethinggggg....:) Thanks guys; I sincerely hope I don't need my head drilled open!! ;)

Peace....:):)
 
^^ Very interesting S. It could very well be linked somehow to the dissociation. Keep us updated yeah? <3
 
JSPete said:
Twas four years ago now, but I survived =D

I've got a hole in my skull on my forehead from the drill the surgeon used, I can push my finger in and it makes me feel oddly happy ;)

It's covered by skin btw, in case you were wondering.
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8o8o8o8o8o8o

I am both glad you're ok and creeped the hell out by the image of you fingering your hole for pleasure.

This is what I saw in my head when I read your post
 
Olfactory hallucinations have a strong correlation with certain kinds of epilepsy temporal lobe being the most common. They can also be related to migraine auras or many other sorts of neurological phenomena. I can picture benzos or salvia contributing to extra "noise" in the temporal lobe and causing this situation for you. If it happens a lot even when not doing drugs or you are experiencing other neurological signs you should mention what is going on to a health care provider.
 
EoTorv said:
They can also be related to migraine auras or many other sorts of neurological phenomena. I can picture benzos or salvia contributing to extra "noise" in the temporal lobe and causing this situation for you. If it happens a lot even when not doing drugs or you are experiencing other neurological signs you should mention what is going on to a health care provider.
Click to expand...

This is really good advice, thank you! :)
 
Yeah, it is possible it's not related to drug use. I had bad vertigo/los of balance a couple days after a strong mdma roll and was freaking out thinking I had screwed myself up from the drugs. But turned out that it was a coincidental combination sinus/ear problem that had nothing to do with my tripping.
 
I used to smell an impending rain all the time when I was abusing hypnotics. I would begin preparing my clothes for the rain, and ask if plans were still on if it was raining, stuff like that.

But, actually, smelling burnt things is commonly associated with epileptic seizures. Definitely these can be encouraged by intoxication. Are you taking a specific drug more than you have before? Or a combination? Are you exposed to heat? Try not to excite your brain too much... and keep relaxed. Take a short break from intense brainwork.
 
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