sense of smell

[Mary Elizabeth]

For the last couple of weeks off and on on a daily basis I have been experiencing the strong smell of cigarette smoke that is not environmentally related. I have had this experience at home, at work and in public places that are all smoke free. And on those occasions I have not been wearing clothes that have been exposed to second hand smoke. Any idea what this suggests? I have had previous epsiodes of smelling smells that are not environmentally-induced when I was under homeopathic treatment but they were fleeting episodes and never cigarette smoke.

[Bill]

Hi,

What has been/is your previous/present contact with cigarette smoke?

Bill

[Mary Elizabeth]

Growing up, my father was a heavy cigarette smoker. He gave it up fifteen years ago. I have not lived in his home for twenty-seven years and he did not smoke in the house for the last ten years of his smoking life. Two old boyfriends were occasional smokers. I was a mild smoker for about a year and that was about twenty years ago. The only times I currently am exposed to cigarette smoke is the occasional times when I enter or exit buildings where smokers are standing outside near the door(s) smoking. Oh! the first week of July I had a house guest for a week who smoked often but only outside (the front door of the house). She often tossed her cigarette butts in the trash in the kitchen which I would proceed to discard outside because the smell bothered me. Her clothes smelled of cigarette smoke and she hung them in my guest closet where I keep only outerwear.
Does that help?

[Bill]

Mary Elizabeth,

Are you eating macrobiotically and, if so, how long?

This helps.

Bill

[Mary Elizabeth]

Sorry, I overlooked that detail. I'm new to this forum but not to the old Mountainark forum. I had been eating macrobiotically for two years but in March of this year I developed a severe case of sinusistis (I used to get several attacks a year of this, pre-macro) that I was told was my body discharging which lasted two months. I did not treat it medically. As a result of feeling so sick I found it difficult to continue to prepare three macrobiotically balanced meals a day. Due to a stressful work environment, I had given notice in January that I was leaving my job of 27 years effective June 1. As June 1 approached and I had no new job I began to worry and focus all my time on finding work at the expense of keeping a regular and balanced eating regime. Although I found work a month ago, I have found it hard to find the time to re-establish my former more orthodox way of eating. While I do continue to eat organic whole grains and vegetables I will eat small portions of processed foods, meat and have binged on chocolate.

[Roy Collins]

Hi Mary Elizabeth. Oversensitivity to smell is known as hyperosmia and often follows a bout from infections in the sinuses or partial damage to the the olfactory nerve. That you have reoccurring experiences with one specific type of odor
(cigarette smoke) when it is not apparent in the environment is called an olfactory hallucination. This sometimes happens to people with seizure disorders that originate in the part of the brain where smell is perceived. Some distortions in smell are also attributed to various forms of depression. Yours seems more infection-related, which may take a bit of time to correct itself. Eating well helps greatly.

In peace, Roy

[Bill]

Roy,

That's very interesting. Is it possible to explain it in macrobiotic terms as a natural process?

Thanks,

Bill

[Roy Collins]

Hi Bill. Here goes: The ability to sense smells and to taste flavors are closely tied together in the brain center that receives sensory information from the tongue and nose.

Taste buds on the surface of the tongue send nerve impulses to the the brain's taste center. Sweet taste is recorded at the tip of the tongue; salty and sour taste is recorded at the sides of the tongue; bitter at the back.

In the nose there is a mucous membrane (olfactory epithelium) that contain nerve endings that detect odor. When airborne molecules containing various odors from flavanoids, gasses, oils, particles, etc., enter this area of the nose they stimulate tiny hairlike projections (cillia) on these nerve cells. These stimulations send impulases to the to bulb-like projection at the end of the olfactory nerve that relays the odor to the brain center to distinguish the odor.

Sense of smell can be altered if there are changes in the nose or nerves leading from nose to the brain center, like from a stuffy nose, flu, viral infection, cancer treatment, etc. Loss of taste is usually caused by conditions that affect the tongue (such as Bell's Palsey). Likewise, if there is trauma to the brain center that records smell/taste (car accident/seizure, etc) then the nerves become smell/taste nerve pathways are affected and sense of taste/smell becomre distorted.

The area of the nose that first responds to smells is located in the frontal area of the face ner the bridge of the nose, level to the eyes (high/front is more yin) and the area that first responds to taste is inside the mouth on the tongue (more yang position).
Taste signal goes first to back of lower brain (yang) then up to brain center at center of brain. Smell signal goes up first then to same brain center.

Sinusitis is an inflammation of the mucous membranes of the sinuses. The frontal sinuses are in the forehead just above smell center. The maxillary sinuses are in the cheek-bones on the side of the nose. The organisms that contribute to sinusitis spread to both pairs of sinuses. Once the sinuses become inflamed or blocked with excess mucus then cillia in nose becomes to damened to make proper stimulation and smell signal is blocked.

Many people with border-line personalites often exhibit certain forms of psychosis (hallucinations) that are olafactory in nature. Frequently the neurons that feed the taste/smell brain center are disturbed (excess neurotransmitter secretions, atrophy, virus, etc.) and they experience brief but vivid smell sensations -- that
may or may not be "real". Hallucinations are associated with the 5 physical senses and can be 1. visual (eyes) where you see things that are not there, 2. auditory (ears) where you think you hear voices, 3. tactile (feeling) where you think you are being touched, 4. olafactory (nose/smell) where you sense smells that are not there and 5. taste (tongue) where you experience heightened or diminished flavors. All of these sensations interact with each other in a physical way and are connected to the brain.

Here is an interesting case: Deafness runs in my family on the paternal side. I inherited this disorder as well. When I was 45
I went deaf in my right ear and then started to lose hearing in my left. Eventually hearing became very difficult and affected my home and work life in a negative way. Ineeded to have good hearing to continue my job as a bus operator. After much thinking I decided to have a stapedectomy. This is when you have the affected bone (stirup) in the ear canal removed and then replaced with a prosthesis (in this case a steel pin). Luckily I was able to find the doctor who developed this procedure. His name is Mendel Robinson and has international reputation as inventor of this procedure.

After this procedure (surgery) was performed my hearing was 95% restored in that ear. I was very grateful for this to happen. I could now hear my four-year old talking to me and my wife arguing with me! Oh joy to hear! Then I started to complain that my wife was making all food too salty. SHe decided not to use any salt for some time, but still it was salty. I thought she was playing a trick on me. ANyway I reasoned that it had something to do with the ear operation. I asked RObinson and he said yes, it was the ear operation. WHy? Because when they cut the stirrup bone they had to stretch one nerve that affects taste.
Therefore the right ear nerve controlled the salty taste.

Two years later I lost my hearing in the left ear and underwent the same procedure (now 100% restored). SHortly after I started to complain that my wife was using sweetners in the cooking. Even bancha tea! Of course she wasn't but I "imagined" (hallucinated) that she was because of the taste nerve being stretched from the second ear operation. I asked RObinson why is everything so sweet instead of salty this time.
He said because of the operation again but didn't know why the sweet taste was dominant. I try to reason that salty taste was controled by right ear and sweet by left ear. Then I started to research and found that tastes originate on tongue and this message is passed to lower brain via this nerve pathway that
bypasses the ear and then terminates in the center of the brain.

That's the best I can do. Too difficult to explain by yin/yang, if this is what you mean by "macrobiotic explanation."

In peace, Roy

[Mary Elizabeth]

Thank you, Bill and Roy, for your questions and explanations. Does this mean that there has been permanent damage to my sense of smell and that I will continue to have this very annoying perception of cigarrette smoke from now on? And why did these olfatory hallucinations surface months after the March sinusitis bout? Does it mean anything that these hallucinations have preceeded yet another such bout that began yesterday?! What can I do macrobiotically to treat the sinusitis? For relief, I am using a lotus root and ginger tea remedy. gargling and sniffing warm salt water. What foods should I be eating to help restore balance? Is this a yang condition? I also have a dry cough.

[Roy Collins]

Hi Mary Elizabeth. It is unlikely that your olfactory nerves have been damaged, especially if there is no sign of abnormality in your nose and sinus inflammation has subsided. If within a couple of months, after eating a more restricted macro diet (no animal fats, no dairy, no simple sugars, no flour products, etc) and use miso and clear broths on a regular basis with whole grain brown rice at least once daily (no raw fruit or raw salad)
you continue to have this specific smell sensation then it is possible that something neurological is going on and you should see neurologist for some diagnostic tests.

In the meantime add moisture to the air in your room with a vaporizer or humidifier (use hot water steam inhaler if you have pain). A glycerin tincture of goldenseal and echinacea (combined) will help dry out sinuses and boost immunity to infection. Use
20 drops per cup of bancha. Try this for 10 days and look for results. Keep us posted as you monitor your self treatment.

I hope this helps.

In peace, Roy

[Bill]

Roy,

Wow! Thanks for the explanation and the time taken. Both of your posts give Mary Elizabeth an informative background in taste and smell and what she can do to help herself.

When I get a little time, I will attempt an explanation involving yin/yang, imbalance, and organ relationships in a simple-as-I-can healing way, partially based on what you've said and partially on my feelings and creativity. You can dial me in if I get too far off the track or if you don't agree.

Thanks again,

Bill

[Roy Collins]

Thanks Bill. I look forward to your more simpler, healing way of explaning this intricte system, if you truly want to stay with this. Keep in mind, however, that there is always the "possibility" of another reason for the altered sense of smell, such as a tumor pressing against a nerve in the smell/taste pathway from center brain to olfactory center. That is why it is important to not wait too long to seek additional care if symptoms persist. Best to be cautious when problems arise in areas so close to the brain.

Quite often, just because we are now eating macrobitoic diets we think we are above and beyond disease, but those of us who have been in the health business for a long time know that this simply is not the case. The reasons are many -- inheritence, genetics, environmental conditions, working situations, stess, past habits, age factoring, consciousness, in-utero/placental feedings, psychological inheritance, geography, climatatic factors, astrologics, physical injuries, first/second hand smoke, etc. I feel we still have a long way to travel and seking out medical attention when the condition is warrented is a sign of humility and understanding that we simply are not superheroes.

In peace, Roy

[Bill]

Roy,

Another good response. I agree that there are many things to consider of which we have very little idea, if any, compared to what there is to know. One of them is, in case of a tumor, what a tumor is; i.e., why it occurs, what it signifies, and what it is doing. Perhaps another way of putting it would be where is the balance.

I think the healing mechanisms are all present in the physical body as it was created. The part that is missing relates to human nature and free will. It is in this that what we have chosen needs to be supported, no matter what choice that is.

The more understanding, the better. This is the path to freedom.

Bill

[Roy Collins]

Bill, your response needs a bit more clarification for me to properly understand your point. There are different types of tumors which can arise in any area of the body and are attributed to different reasons/responses. Tumors exist in nealry all animal species and for the most part are related to environmental toxins that destroy delicate tissue in vaiours pathways, functions and organs of their phsiology/anatomy. Whether each species is aware of this or not I cannot say, nor do I see what freedom has to do with this issue. Maybe you can explain further.

Not every person or even each species is operating with the same healing ability. We are all born and posses differing proportions and capabilities of body/brain endurance. Some people are born without some of the functions we are born with.
Some possess greater strenghs of immune resistance and have certain DNA strands that enable them to live longer than others, etc. We are all diferent, down to the most minute detail of atom and cell compostion. Depending on the individual and their beliefs they can have "freedom" regardless of handicap or physical confinment. Same with other animals -- if they have higher thinking ability or not. I don't understand your hypotheis.


In peace, Roy

I have been plAGUED FOR MONTHS WITH SMELLING cigarette smoke where non exists. I put aquestion throught the ask.com and found your website and am finding answers thru Mary Elizabeth asking the same question. Thanks Roy and Bill for the comments. I know nothing about your eating program, tho I alwys cook with whole foods.
So, perhaps I have a sinus condition that is prompting this sense of cigarette smoke.??
Sandra