Cigarette Smoke Smell Triggers Migraines

I received this excellent question from a reader today... and wanted to post my response in the hope that my "survival tips" might be of help to you.

Hi Kelli,

My question for you is about cigarette smoke as a trigger for a headache.  When someone comes inside from smoking cigarette and I can smell it, it instantly gives me a headache that will last for hours, even after the person is gone.  I have always been avoiding smokers, but sometimes I can’t.  I go to college, and it happens on the bus, in classrooms, and in the tutoring center.  It happens countless other places, like in line at a store, movie theaters, etc.

What should I do?  Is there anything I can do to prevent the headache from the smell.  The same thing happens from perfume.

I see a neurologist who tells me I have migraines, but sometimes from the smell of a smoker I feel like it’s just in my sinuses.  I tried topamax and verapimil for a preventative medication, topamax made me sick and verapimil didn’t work.  Any pill for migraine relief makes me very nauseous.  I feel desperate, so I wrote you for advice.

Thank you,
Stefanie

Dear Stefanie,

First, let me tell you that you are not alone.  So many migraineurs cite cigarette smoke as a major trigger for their headaches. Unfortunately, as you stated in your email, there are many times where we just don't have control over whether we will be around the smell of it (it makes me so mad sometimes).  I don't have a definite answer to eliminate this in every situation, but I can at least tell you what I do personally.

I find peppermint to be a great smell for me when I'm confronted with a smell trigger... or even when I already have a migraine (most mint scents are great for me - and there's a cucumber/melon combo I love too)... and I carry a little vial of peppermint oil in my purse (mine came from a Bath & Body Works Headache Relief kit they came out with several years ago, but I can't find them anymore - http://www.migrainedaily.com/2004/10/peppermint_head.html - but they do still have some cool aromatherapy stuff).  I also found a similar vial to the one I carry, but with both peppermint and lavender oil, at this website:  http://www.lilslavender.com/product/1431

Sometimes, if I'm sitting next to someone who has been smoking... or I am in a smoky environment, I will take the peppermint oil and put it on my pulse points (wrists, neck, temples)... and then at least I can have the nice fresh scent of peppermint close to me.  I have some peppermint lip balm too that I keep handy and wear all the time... I just love the fresh, clean smell.  Sometimes it can help mask the smoke smell... or any unfamiliar smell that I know might be a trigger for me.  (Perfume can be a tough one though if the wearer has really overapplied it... but hopefully that isn't too often.)

There are scents other than peppermint that are known to help migraineurs including: lavender, bay, melissa, jasmine, eucalyptus, and rosemary.  I personally do well with some citrus smells too... but they have to be pretty subtle.  If you don't do well with any smells though, this isn't going to be a good solution for you.

If you are being forced to walk through clouds of smoke to enter "non-smoking" buildings (smokers always seem to stand right by the door), consider talking to the building administrator and asking them to post signage that requires smokers to move away from the entrances. It's the least they can do to help us non-smokers not have to smell like smoke for the rest of the day just for entering a building.

In terms of how you feel the pain/pressure in your sinuses... I am not sure as to how the smell would affect your sinuses... I haven't had that same experience.  I do know several people who have allergies and sinusitus who use a "neti pot"?  I wonder if you may be having some sinus congestion... and if so, a neti pot might help you clear your sinuses.  There are some good articles explaining it below: 

http://www.netipot.org/about_nasal.htm (video here: http://www.netipot.org/demo_video.htm - and make sure to read the reviews on Amazon.com as some people have found these types of neti pots to be too big for their nostrils)
http://www.healingdaily.com/exercise/neti-pot.htm
http://www.healthandyoga.com/html/product/neti.html

You're on the right tracking by checking in with your doctor and continuing to look for solutions.  We are all different in the way we experience migraine and headache.  It can sometimes take quite a bit of trial and error to find the right personalized solution.  You will find yours... just keep your spirits up and don't give up.

No more migraines,
Kelli  :)

Comments

[Pot]

I can't ask for more advise. This blog is definitely full of information and idea. I do not have a migraine that may be triggered with cigarette. If you can avoid it then good just move away.

[Netipot]

in this blog post advice to that smoking ciggarate is dangerous , that effect also to nearest people.

[Rod Egg]

I too suffer from Migraines triggered from from Cigerette smoke. As a kid we thought they were Sinus headaches. Both my parents smoked. After I became an adult and had children, I didnt have one for years but we protected our children from cigerette smoke.Wasn't until my son join Scouts that I stared to have headaches again every morning on the campouts. I then figure it was the campfire smoke that was causing it. Now when ever I am around and even smell a cigerette I wake up with a migrane the next morning. So this is a very real trigger to Migraines.

[Kelli Smith]

Hi Tessa,
I'm sorry to hear that you're having such a hard time with your migraines. I'm so happy to read that your Mom is so supportive and has committed to smoking outside if you should move back in. That is such a wonderful thing. You'd be surprised to know how many families don't understand what their migraineur is going through and are not willing to do anything to help mitigate their pain. The fact that your Mom is willing to change her routine in her own home is really supportive and wonderful.

In terms of things that might help with your daily migraines, I would suggest that you just keep trying anything you can to see if you can make a difference. I've personally had great luck with acupuncture and supplements over the past year. I've tracked and pretty much know which foods I need to avoid, and know that I need to be careful with my sleep schedule - not too much or too little sleep. I've blogged about it pretty extensively, so you can read through this site and learn more about my experiences. I think for most of us, we just have to keep trying different medications, alternative therapies, diet changes, sleep changes, etc... and just do whatever we can to find routines that will keep the migraines to a minimum. It's difficult, but don't give up.

Best, Kelli :)

[Tessa]

My mom smokes all the time in the house. So does her husband.. She said that if i move in she will start smoking outside because i have really bad migraines. I am on 3 different kinds of medication for it. Nothing seems to help. I was wondering if there is something i can use or do to help with my headaches.. Cig smoke makes my head hurt so bad. I have a headache almost everyday.. I wake up with one and i go to bed with one.. Its everyday.

[Kelli Smith]

Hi Latoya,
I'm curious... you mentioned marijuana smoke doesn't seem to bother you. Have you used marijuana specifically to try and help your migraines? I've always been curious whether it helped with migraine pain. I know it's such a helpful natural pain reliever for so many people with chronic pain. If it were legal for me to try where I live, I would certainly try it. I would so much prefer to use a natural plant for pain relief than the hydrocodone I use now. I just can't imagine that marijuana (I wouldn't smoke it, but use some other method to consume it) would be more harmful than the pharmaceuticals I currently take. Maybe it will become legal in more states in the future so people with pain will have the option.
Best, Kelli :)

[Latoya]

I agree, the smell of cigarrette smoke gets in my sinuses and makes me sick and the worst migraine comes on, sensitivity to NICOTINE?...Marijuana doesn't give me that effect.

[Johnny Shmoe]

Cigarettes trigger cluster headaches for me.
http://www.electroniccigarettesinc.com helped

[zette]

I'm a long-term migraine sufferer and am really interested in learning more about the connection between smells and migraines. But I'm not sure where to begin, so I'll just try to begin.

I'm now 49, but have had migraines since I was a teenager. I've known for years that MSG and BHA and BHT trigger migraines for me, so I've avoided those for most of my life. As I got older, my headaches seemed to cluster right around my period. I used to do the high dose of caffeine and tylenol routine, but when new medications started coming out for migraines, my doctor made them available to me. I take Imitrex, and most of the time, it seems to work pretty well, but lately I've been going through these periods of heightened sense of smell or hyperosmia in which any smell becomes more intense and more and more kinds of smells are triggering migraines. I've also been getting migraines that wake me up at night -- something I've never had before. I go for a few months with only those migraines connected to my period, and those I can manage, but then I get these months in which I have a series of the other kind of migraine and the "smell thing."

And I'm not finding much in the literature about smells as migraine triggers -- only about how smells and noise exacerbate migraines once they've started. Are the doctors just not getting it? When I asked my neurologist about it he literally just said, "Well that sucks because you can't control what smells you encounter." End of story.

But I'm finding that I need to change my daily habits in order to avoid smell triggers as much as possible. I've also started coughing and having trouble getting my breath when I encounter some smells -- particularly perfume. And trying to replace one smell with another doesn't seem to work for me because once I've encountered the trigger, I'm done for. All smells are then so intense. It has become excruciating for me to take the elevator in our building (small space intensifies smells, especially perfumes), or even to sit at dinner with friends, and most of the time, no one else is really even aware of the smells -- except my husband who has learned to watch out for me. He'll tell me -- don't sit by my mom tonight, she's doused herself in perfume again (even though I've told her several times that it's really painful to be around her when she's wearing perfume). My son and I were walking down the street yesterday and a woman half a block away was wearing a coat that reeked of moth balls; that set off a coughing fit, followed by a migraine. Last week, I scared my son when I couldn't stop coughing because a man a few paces ahead of us lit his cigarette using an old fashioned butane lighter. I spent the rest of the day fighting just to get through the day with a headache hanging out around my temples. I don't know what to do anymore to manage these, and I'm tired to being looked at as though I'm exaggerating or as though I'm a freak. I know what I smell, and I know what pain it causes.

I can't be the only person out these who has these clusters of migraines, can I? What do other people do to function on a daily basis and get through the day when everywhere you encounter triggers?

Thanks for listening.

[Diana]

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http://www.origins.com/templates/products/sp_nonshaded.tmpl?CATEGORY_ID=CATEGORY5981&PRODUCT_ID=PROD54