[courtney.w]

I've read a lot about sensitivity to light and sound...but what about smell?

My sister is a smoker, and my dad used to smoke... and their house smells like cigarette smoke. I don't smoke, so I already didn't like that smell. Sounds like a no-brainer, but I had no idea the smell would trigger a headache and now I'm stuck here with no way home... my husband left me here for the night and it's an hour drive each way, so him coming to get me at three a.m.isn't gonna work.

This leaves me wondering what I can do about this in the future? My parents don't know about my fall and I don't want to tell them, but Christmas will be tough if this is still an issue. Might not be an issue... my dad and I already had a fragile relationship and he called me an asshole because I wanted to go home in the middle of the night. I couldn't explain that the smell was giving me a headache because he is very protective of anything having to do with my sister because she's a recovering addict... so he would have still called me ugly names.

Happy Thanksgiving, right?

Sorry that was so long. I guess I needed to vent.

[Mark in Idaho]

courtney,

Get some Febreeze. The version for de-smoking cars works wonderful. You should be able to find it at an auto supply store. Then, you can retreat to your de-smoked room. You could explain that you have become very sensitive to smells lately. That it is likely a hormonal issue. Hormones can make women very sensitive to smells.

My best to you as you weather this uncomfortable situation.

[courtney.w]

I like the Febreeze idea, but my dad will get offended if I mention being bothered by the smell for any reason. He got mad at me last year at this time because we wanted to take him to look at Christmas lights for his birthday but I tried to push for everyone to ride in my car so my dad wouldn't have to drive...I wanted him to be able to enjoy the experience; instead, he ended up driving so my sister could smoke (she wouldn't have been allowed to smoke in my car). When everyone got out of the car to get snacks at a gas station on the way up there, he informed me that I should be happy that my sister is alive, blah blah blah... and asked me how I could dare to give her a hard time about smoking? That wasn't what had happened at all... It was simply a discussion where I was pulling for him to be able to relax on his birthday. So if I can't even ask her to not smoke in my car, he'll definitely be offended by the fact that I can't handle the smell of their house.

[bendiyogi]

Hi Courtney, I am usually very sensitive to smells and it's gotten even worse since smashing my head. At night I put 4-6 drops of lavender and geranium essential oils on the sides of my pillow to help focus my sense of smell in. It does leave marks on the pillow case though. This may sound silly but, maybe tie some fabric around your wrist with some drops on too, that you can hold near your nose and sniff when it becomes overwhelming.
Cigarette smoke is the worst and the smell of stale cigarette smoke on fabric or indoors makes me nauseous and gives me a headache too. If I just walk past someone who is smoking I need to wash my hair to get the smell out otherwise I feel sick! I totally empathize with you being forced to be in that environment.

[courtney.w]

I like that idea... just keeping something on me so I can have a way to refresh when I need to in a subtle manner. Having that on me might have saved me a lot of trouble on Thursday night... I'm pretty sure my dad and I aren't speaking right now (again) thanks to the blow up we had because I wanted to go home that night.

I don't want to tell my parents about my concussion because my mom has been very sick for months now with gallbladder issues and now a severe UTI. She's lost a lot of weight because she hasn't been able to eat more than one full meal a day since March, and she looks worse and worse every time I see her. Knowing about my head injury would just add to their stress for no good reason... and honestly, either way I would have been called ugly names; it was almost easier for him to think I was being a jerk than for me to let him get his feelings hurt because I didn't tell him about this.

Christmas will definitely be interesting... that's for sure!