Olfactory Flashbacks

[Stir Ling]

Has anyone else ever had olfactory flashbacks (smells that are "not there")? I'm having these all the time now. Combined with nausea, they are horrible experiences. I smell dirty men's genitalia, something like the putrid odor of a men's toilet, and urine in general. There's no pattern. Once I smelled it while sticking my nose into a package of coffee.

Sometimes they freak my out, although I'm getting used to them.

I *do not* understand why this is happening to me!!

 

[Srain]

I smell smoke, fire! I smell cigarettes, pot, and the smell of the fields that they use to burn in the summers.

Your body remembers, I believe there was a thread on that, I'm sorry I can't remember but you can look it up. This is not uncommon and it is part of the PTSD symptom pool. I'm sorry you are frighten by it, I get that way as well.

Take care and keep posting,
peace,
Rain

 

[maddog]

God, for me it's blood... the smell of it, everywhere, choking me when I wake up in the night, stealing up on me as i walk down the street, startling me as though someone has grabbed me...

Sometimes I feel it will make me crazy. The reality and power of it are terrifying.

Maddog

 

[Srain]

((((((((Maddog))))))))

 

[Stir Ling]

They seem to have mellowed out in the last few weeks. Sometimes I feel like one might come on but then the feeling fades. Instead I feel constriction in my chest, a feeling like I'm "tripping", and total exhaustion. It's like there's a brick in my head anytime I try to sit down and accomplish something. The only "work" I can do is housework or the most repetitive stuff in the college that employs me. I've realized how mindlessly one can teach a college class one has taught for eight years.

I wish all this would just Go! Away!

 

[BloomInWinter]

I have many triggers to scent, especially in combinations.

Many have gotten better just by turning towards the feelings they invoke, and allowing my memories to take me wherever they lead. Then writing it out, talking it out...processing the trauma.

Smoke and mildew/sweat were rage triggers in me. Still can be, depending upon the environment, the level of my anxiety, etc.

 

[Stir Ling]

I get triggered to surging rage when I smell my "dad's scent." There was a particular odor to his room and clothing. Smelling it in my youth used to drive me to rage. I partially understood it, although now it's much clearer to me.

I don't mind smelling the things that remind me of him: fish, sweat, the smell of smoky bars (rare these days, although I got triggered bad on a recent trip to central Europe when I smelled the jacket of a guy who had just left a smoky bar), Canadian beer, cognac, etc. What gives me nausea and can debilitate me is when I suddenly smell urine after taking a whiff of my coffee, or upon coming into my house through the back door. It'll be overwhelming: the smell of a vile train station toilet or a dirty penis right near my face. I can't write about it here without feeling immediate disgust.

 

[Jeanna]

I have been having these types of flashbacks. I have familiar images that appear momentarily but unidentifiable followed by a very strong odor that does not exist in my present surroundings. The smell is also familiar but unidentifiable . Lasts only a few seconds along with feeling removed from my body and inability to speak. Presently in EMDR. Anyone else experience this? My therapist says all things point to something that I don't remember but cognitively know must be true but I have a great deal of emotional resistance to the reality of this confirmation.

 

[FallColour]

Anyone recently experiencing olfactory flashbacks? I thought this manifestation was gone, but it has recently reared its ugly head...

 

[BlackbirdSinging]

I experienced this about a year or a year and a half ago. No one in the house smokes. But I was in my room and I could smell cigarette smoke. It was very clearly cigarette smoke. It was strong enough that I looked all around my room until I was almost panicking. There was nothing burning. I knew that anyway. It didn't smell like just smoke. It was very clearly cigarette smoke that I was smelling.

I got very anxious. I tried to ignore it but I couldn't. The longer it lasted the more anxious I got. I sat on my bed trying to figure out why I was smelling something that clearly wasn't there. I started wondering if it was a kind of flashback. I tried to distract myself. I was still in my pajamas so I and decided to get dressed. I couldn't find the shirt I wanted to wear. I tore apart my closet and eventually had to give up looking for it. I was still very anxious.

By the time I finally calmed down and I wasn't smelling cigarette smoke anymore I realized I don't even own the shirt I was looking for. I own a similar one though. It's just a different color than the shirt I was looking for. I talked to the therapist I was seeing at that time about it and if I remember correctly she said it's a kind of flashback.

 

[Friday]

Yep. Both flashbacks triggered by smells, and smelling things that aren't there.

 

[Ronin]

Often.

Most coming back to some variant of blood / gas / fire. Comes and goes, just really angers me in situations it's unlikely to be momentary situation. Getting all hyped up for 'nothing'.