Where there’s smoke, there’s nothing?
Lived Experience
6/11/20261 min read
One of the most confounding “symptoms” of menopause that I experienced was smelling cigarette smoke…everywhere!
In my office at work - when smoking was no longer allowed in the workplace.
At home, in the living room, or the bedroom. Even though I had quit smoking years ago, and never smoked in this house.
In the car, out of the blue, when I had never smoked in that car.
And it was so strong at times, I started coughing and mildly choking as if I was trapped in a room with the doors and windows closed and no ventilation. It was actually quite scary at times and downright confusing.
Where was the smoke coming from? Was someone smoking inside when they shouldn’t have been? Was it all in my head?
I even searched the internet about it: “Why do I smell cigarette smoke when there isn’t any?”
One possible answer was a brain tumor. What?!
Or it could be “phantosmia”, which is an olfactory hallucination – all in my “nose”.
Maybe it is a neurological condition or migraines causing it.
Needless to say, I was freaked out. I asked my PA, and we went down the list of other symptoms that would be present with something neurological or a brain tumor, and came up empty. So we chalked it up to phantosmia, and I just had to live with it.
Even as I write this, seven years later, I am smelling it again. But come to find out, because hindsight is 20/20, it is a fairly common complaint in menopausal women – whether they are in peri- or post-menopause. So it wasn’t all in my head, or my nose – it was real.
At least the “symptom” was real. There was no fire.
#MenopauseAwareness #MenopauseBrainHealth #Perimenopause #HormoneHealth #MidlifeWomen #MenopauseSupport #WomensHealth