I’ve been sick with everything but the flu, going on 2 months now. Just one thing after another.
Right now, besides a little sinus congestion, I detect the everpresent faint scent of cigarette smoke. It’s been going on for about a week, it happens everywhere, and there’s nobody smoking near me, so I’m certain that it’s some kind of symptom. I despise the smell, so it’s driving me nuts.
I have experienced this too. I can’t remember if it was just my regular seasonal allergies or a rhinovirus that brought it on, but it was disturbing and lasted a number of weeks, despite medication and frequent sinus irrigation. It resolved on its own. Yuck, hope it never comes back.
I had a sinus thing going on recently and I smelled…human poop. For a LONG time. Long enough that I finally cornered my best friends and made them smell me, to see if it was me, because I could NOT get away from it.
It drove me crazy for a couple of months and gradually faded as my sinuses cleared up.
So my guess is, it’ll go away. (But it’ll drive you crazy in the meantime!)
I had rhinitis that resulted in perceiving bad smells (including a sort of burnt-hair aroma). The doctor prescribed a steroid nasal spray, saying this should cure it in a couple of weeks, but it actually cleared it up almost immediately - which suggests it may just have been the non-pharmaceutical ingredients that did the trick.
A long while later, after a bad cold, I had a repeat case of the same symptoms, so I just went and bought a pure saline nasal spray (intended for use on infants with blocked noses) and used it once a day. It cleared up the problem just as quickly as the steroid spray had done.
Do be a bit cautious with the irrigation. It can spread an infection farther up and in, if you have one.
It does help clear out the nasty-smell phenom, though.