So, April 2012 I asked why I was smelling laundry detergent. The smell hasn't gone away and I have moved to a different state and changed detergents frequently. Why do I still smell it?
April 2012 was when I asked the detergent question. Since then, I have moved several times and changed my detergent. The smell isn’t constant and comes in sporadically without any triggers that I can discern. It has been years and this has not gone away and it isn’t in any specific place that I smell it either. As I type this, I can smell detergent. It is always the same type: powdery and soapy. Kind of like the homemade detergent my boyfriend’s mom makes.
Can anyone honestly tell me why this is happening? Why after all these years it is still happening? I have asked everywhere and everyone I know and they all think I’m crazy.
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11 Answers
It could be a form of epilepsy called an olfactory seizure.
Talk to your doctor. Phantom smells are symptoms of many things. Some serious. Don’t delay.
I think it’s probably neurological.
Maybe you’re thinking of the smell, but not actually smelling it.
As some other Jellies have recommended, please get medical help. Phantosmia, or olfactory hallucinations, can be nothing at all, or they can be caused by some grave conditions.
Every once in a while I smell ammonia. It’s really strange. If it’s homemade detergent you’re smelling it could be the same as me. No one else smells it when I do.
The only medical condition I have is a blood cancer called essential Thrombocythemia. It’s not fatal but I make to many platelets so I’m a high stroke and blood clot risk. The smells happen so infrequently that I forgot to ask my doctor if it could be related.
When I lived in an apartment, I use to smell it on and off plenty of times. Then I realized one day it was because all of my neighbors dryer vents faced just outside of our balconies. So every time I left the window or the balcony door open, the smell from their dryer sheets would blow into the house. It took me a while to figure it out. Could that be your case? Or do you maybe have some plug in scents that you leave in and forgot about it. Another idea may be a scented candle. I was given one as a gift once that didn’t even need to be lit for the smell to fill my home.
Yeah not to fear monger but I met a dude whose brain tumor started as “why do I keep smelling vinegar?” Tumor was right next to the smell-center in his brain. He was okay because he caught it early. Get your head into an MRI machine pronto.
Thanks for all of these great answers. I can’t see a doctor right now because we can’t really afford it right now but next time I go I will definitely bring it up.
^^^ When the time comes, please let us know what you learn.
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