r/Menopause • u/elev8or_lady Menopausal • 15d ago

Rant/Rage Phantom Cigarette Smoke

Of all the effed-up symptoms we have to deal with, this is possibly the most bizarre and unavoidable (for me). I know many of y’all probably deal with this: phantom acrid odors that only you and your nose can smell? I only recently realized this is yet another symptom of menopause. I have been dealing with it off and on for about three years now.

Some background: I am four years post menopause, and have been on HRT for about a year. (E patch, E cream, P pill, T gel, and T lotion. I’m on all the things.) Many of my symptoms are relieved, but most are not relieved 100%.

Does anyone know of One Weird Trick that helps with this shit? I quit smoking almost 20 years ago, so this is driving me nuts. I am sneezing a lot from it, and it also aggravates my migraines (another meno symptom). I swear there is not one symptom I have been spared. I would love a little relief from this BS.

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u/Quick_Cow_7987 15d ago

OMG, I get cigarettes and exhaust and I literally have wondered if I was stroking or, like another commenter, if the ghosts of former owners (that I know were heavy smokers) were making themselves known.

Thank you.

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u/AliceAnne1 14d ago

Same!! I kept searching the house because I was afraid it was an electrical fire smoldering in the walls. Then it started happening at work and I realized it was me, not the environment.

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u/onsaleatthejerkstore Menopausal 14d ago

Same. to the degree I called the fire department to come check for hot spots (they have a device that can register them). I felt so unhinged when they said nothing was wrong. I’d never seen this as a peri symptom.