I only browse from time to time here. Anyway I was a chronic cluster sufferer for well over 5 years. Now it seems like the past 1 year I have been off and on (seasonal?). Anyway, Right now I have been without a headache for months so I am on no medications.

However, I recently noticed that since my clusterheadaches have slowed down and become seasonal I have a new weird symptom.  My sense of smell has become overwhelming, to the point where it has actually cause some problems and made other things better.

The good:
*I know eat a few different foods that I never really liked in the past.
*It helps me when I go deer hunting...seriously. I can actually smell a deer before I even see it

The bad:
*I have also lost the ability to eat certain food
*This is embarrassing but sex is sometimes unbearable because of the smell. Its both me and my wife. Its now got to the point where both of us (my wife) shower before and I still have issues.
*Certain perfumes are overwhelming to me and it nearly makes me sick. So I have a hard time being around anyone who uses something strong

So anyway I was wondering if anyone else here is highly sensitive to smell. I looked up Hyperosmia and apparently it is linked to Cluster headaches.

Hello there:

I get extremely sensitive to odors when I am about to be hit with CH and throughout the attack.

An example:  Driving down the highway on a very hot day with MAX A/C on in the car with windows closed, I can smell grass being mowed a mile or more away.

Other odors that are triggers make me wonder if the odor is a trigger or rather I'm getting a CH first.  Between CH, I only have an average sense of smell.

Wishing you well,

Ray

A little different here...I used to make my living with my nose (seafood evaluator). Probably ended up there because growing up my Dad couldn't smell and I was his nose. So...have always had a sensitive sniffer. CH didn't help (or hurt) my performance.

Certain odors are "triggers"... like zinc welding, strong perfumes, solvents...In high cycle, I get strange odors (that aren't there) when in, or about to get, a major hit...main one is ammonia. Neuro said she had never heard of this...

Best,

Jon

Yes yes and yes. My sense of smell has heightened - pretty much everything you said. I can't handle sharp smells - perfume is the best example I can come up with now. I remember wishing it was banned from my work - it wasn't a popular movement needless to say. It sucked and I couldn't believe how much more I noticed it.

It doesn't even have to be a lot, I was reading a magazine and the little cologne sample hit my nose as I turned the pages and BAM, that was all it took.

There has to be some neutralizer out there that would help. Maybe we should keep coffee beans in our pocket

Ditto for me- in fact, I've been nauseous all day after going to Michael's Crafts store (all that %&#@! holiday cinnamon scented crap.)  I also have a more "tender" sense of hearing- like the high pitched whine of the television set hurts my ears, but my SO can't hear it at all....

I've noticed over the last few years that I'm becoming more sensitive to odors.  Like others have posted, during a CH cycle, just walking into our regional mall can set me right off.  I think they pipe in some really obnoxious smells into the whole building--nevermind having to walk through a perfume department where they're aiming for you.  Even when out of cycle, I have an aversion to many perfumes now....could be just psychological at this point though, and I wouldn't say that its extreme.

Here's a hell-trap to avoid: Michael's Arts and Crafts....they have all of their Christmas-piney-sugary-cinnamonney-scented candle-crapalooza out for the masses- within two minutes of walking in the door I thought I was going to throw up!! 

jon019 wrote on Dec 5^th, 2008 at 8:09pm:

I'm much like Jon; when approaching a high cycle & throughout I get a strong chemical smell that no one else can smell.
During low cycle my hooter's not worth a pinch of cocky smitt.

Cheers
Barry

Yes, indeed!  Sense of smell got extremely heightened before this current cycle.  My wife noticed it before I did.  I was telling her to not put perfume on and this one body spray that she likes was nauseating. 

Had gasoline smell trigger shadows at the gas station yesterday.  Also, told my kids, rather than ask, that they didn't brush their teeth this morning.   I usually ask them to make sure before they leave for school...this morning I didn't need to.   Smelled funky breath from across the room.   

This is really interesting!   My husband says that I should work for the FBI... sniffing out drugs and bombs!  My sense of smell is very strong.

I had no idea that it could be related to CH!

Jeannie

Beth,  I also had that problem when I was pregnant.  Getting money out of the ATM used to make me throw up.  I couldn't stand the smell of new money!

Hi - 10 years late to this thread but it still was the top result on google. I've had CH for about 20 years, and this is the first year I've definitely noticed an extremely heightened sense of smell during my current cycle and they will trigger. Today I left work because I could smell the shaving cream of a coworker 4 cubes away and it was making me very nauseated. Lotions, creams, perfume, hairspray.. All so much stronger and what used to not bother me at all now makes me feel like I'm literally eating/drinking the stuff.

It's almost like the CH is just honing in on any little thing that I would normally find slightly annoying, and using that as an excuse to launch a full blown CH attack, which causes my sense of those things to be heightened out of self-defense??

Interesting suggestion. Before I started with CH my sense of smell wasn't too great, but about the same time it started, my sense of smell improved significantly, especially for burnt toast (so much so I hate smelling it).

Hard to know if it is a coincidence or not.