Phantom odors and tastes before attacks

[NeitherHere]

This last season i've been caught off guard by a number of changes.

One of these changes is the unprovoked sense of smelling/tasting cocaine or methamphetamine in my sinuses and upper airways. Now I won't be coy, i'm a recovering poly substance user and cocaine and methamphetamine were DOC'S of mine to some degree but its been almost 2 years since the last time i've even seen EITHER let alone even think about them. I don't get any other associated symptoms, i dont get high when these sensation hits me but usually that same day I get hit with a cluster AND migraine together. Rarely one or the other and consistently both together bouncing back and forth if not concurrent. The cocaine sensory anomaly seems to happen before the absolute most brutal attacks. This also seems to happen on overcast and rainy days as well around noon 

 

Does anyone else have sensory experiences like this before an attack? 

This has never happened before. Even when I was using it never had this sensation. Its as if I just sent a large volume of it up my nose. My sinuses also seem to swell causing congestion during these abnormal experiences too. 

 

I'm not sure what to think here but i'm choosing to accept it as a benefit in the sense that I have some sort of benchmark to recognize "an attack is coming " 

[jon019]

...i can't speak to the connection of these phantom odors to hits or cycle except to say that for years i experienced similar. mine were burnt toast, manure, electrical fire, and a few others. my cycles were very close apart and it never seemed connected to cycle position or hit prodrome. as i recall these were random and "interesting".  is also a symptom of other scary neurological maladies like MS...which i have been tested for multiple times (negative). that its a "tell" is actually a good thing for you...

43 minutes ago, NeitherHere said:

This also seems to happen on overcast and rainy days as well around noon 

...rapid change in barometric pressure...like hi to lo pressure weather wave was a guaranteed trigger for me and many others. re "noon", guessing your particular circadian rhythm...

46 minutes ago, NeitherHere said:

My sinuses also seem to swell causing congestion during these abnormal experiences too. 

...that there is WAY typical of CH...it would surprise if only occurring during these...

 

47 minutes ago, NeitherHere said:

I'm not sure what to think here but i'm choosing to accept it as a benefit in the sense that I have some sort of benchmark to recognize "an attack is coming " 

.....boy howdy, YES! and mega congrats on off loading the monkey...from contacts and research it seems clusterheads are more prone to addictive behavior than "regular" citizens...

best

jon

[dhuddly]

@NeitherHere I explicitly remember smelling an electrical fire smell or similar to it the whole 8 weeks of my last cycle. It was odd but unmistakable. I haven't really looked too far into it other than it's related to the sinuses swelling which can affect our smell. Congrats on 2 years clean too. I will see what I dig up on the elevated sensory levels. 

[Craigo]

Not related to smell but there was an anecdotal post on a FB group a couple of days back from someone saying that if in the morning they have a particular song playing in their head over and over again, they are guaranteed to have an attack that evening. What happens beneath our conscious awareness where the central nervous system and layers of the mind communicate is absolutely wild.

I would attest to the persons comments around often having a particular song stuck in my head first thing in the morning, much to my wifes displeasure as I crank it out on repeat for several coffee cycles, however I do not have a correlation with attacks the same day.

Thank-you for sharing this and I am interested to hear more reports, if they are out there.

Congratulations, from another with a history of substance abuse, for closing that chapter and may your future be radiant.

[NeitherHere]

I want to thank you folks for not alienating me for this post. I can't express just how important that is for the uninitiated / less involved to actually talk about CH and our experiences. 

I also want to note that just because I have CH and am a recovering addict doesn't mean I allow myself or others to treat me as anything "less than"

I was recently accepted onto the community CERT team(community emergency response), have the approval of the associated Search and Rescue team. I'm also working on another opportunity working with the state in a volunteer capacity involved in natural disaster /defense roles 

There is hope for a man/woman who will do anything necessary to achieve their goals. Just because I have CH doesn't mean I cant be a valuable asset to my community in some regard. On the contrary, I believe it means I can be extraordinary in these roles. 

 

The substance abuse was from a lack of purpose and meaning in life. I think i finally got my way into the purpose that those drugs slowly robbed me of. Ch is the stone that sharpens me. 

Theres this belief that language is power. How we use words is what gives things power. It changes how we see things. I've learned to stop giving ch power over me and to weaponize it to make myself stronger. If I can survive something that I know feels worse than getting shot (personal experience) then I can work through damn near anything. The first step is convincing myself I can. 

 

Never surrender. 

[NeitherHere]

Jon019, now that you mention it my sinuses are swollen pretty often. I never really put the two together beyond my sinuses locking up before attacks. Ive always looked at it like all squares are rectangles but not all rectangles are squares kinda mind set lol