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For me, strong odors are definitely a trigger. Over the years I have learned to identify and avoid certain smells, like leather, bleach, naphthalene, hair spray, insecticides, even the smell of barbecue. My friends and family know, so they make sure I won’t be exposed to such odors.
However, sometimes it’s not always clear if the scent triggers the seizure or it’s the aura / beginning of the seizure that makes even the slightest smell unbearably strong and unpleasant. For instance, I’m in a room where nothing bothers me for a while, but suddenly sounds (e.g. running tap water) and odors I hadn’t noticed before seem so intense I think my head will explode; then, in seconds, I’m on the ground unconscious. They are never phantom though…
Thank you clusterhead and MikeJ for confirming what I have believed for awhile now. I'm an apartment manager and I had going into peoples apartments because some of them smell like cigarettes or too many air fresheners, etc.
I don’t know if this is called a sensory seizure / partial seizure if it is followed by loss of consciousness and the rest.
This is one thing I've never suffered from odors causing a seizure but feeling sick bad with odors yes....what I suffer bad before a seizure is smelling stale urine and motion totally sickening as they get stronger.I has always felt like many of my partial seizures were brought on by being exposed to odors I find unpleasant. Has anyone else experienced something like this, seizures caused by strong odors?