Question:
I Smell Smoke

Hi guys! I have no idea if this has anything to do with having had gastric bypass surgery, but I am smelling smoke constantly! It is driving me crazy! I don't smoke & nobody I'm around smokes. Is this surgery related? Vitamin related? I had lap RNY in April 2002. No complications. Any help that you guys could offer would be greatly appreciated! Thank you!!!    — Binxalways (posted on March 16, 2005)

March 16, 2005
No you are not going crazy, this is happening to me. I am not a smoker and have always been sensitive to the smell of smoke but more so in the last year and half. I can smell someone smoking in their car two cars away from me at a traffic signal. I can go outside my house and smell if someone was smoking in the area or walking down the street. One of the girls that works in my office smokes and I can smell the smoke from her clothing when I walk down the hallway even before I know she is in the office (if I am out of the room when she comes into the building). I have found that I am more sensitive to many smells especially my cat who is a neat freak with her body habits. I can smell when she is scratching around in her box and cleaning up after herself. She has one of those auto cleaning boxes, LitterMaid love it.
   — ChristineB

March 16, 2005
I didn't realize it was related to losing weight or having this surgery, but I am more sensitive to it than I used to be surgery. I'm 27 months out.
   — Julie S.

March 16, 2005
having an increased sense of smell is common for a while post op. However, If you are smelling something that just is NOT there, You need to speak with your PCP and have them follow it up and thoroughly check you out. Smelling things that are not there could be a neuro issue or a sign of a medical issue that could need treatment. PLEASE call your doctor.
   — **willow**

March 17, 2005
Yes! For the last two weeks I'll be laying in bed and smell cigarette smoke yet I live alone in a house and have no one on either side for at least 30 feet in each direction. I've even gotten up to check the kitchen burners etc. Maybe...and this sounds corny but.....I have been around smokers lately, could it be saturated in the membranes in the nose and just revisiting me later...usually at night when I get a little sinus drainage/congestion going on. Who knows!
   — boonikki29

March 17, 2005
WOW! I don't feel like such a freak now! I'm five months post op and have been smelling cig smoke in the MOST unlikely places! It's been freaking me out! Even if we don't have an explanation, at least we know we're not alone!
   — christi_in_VA