I have a very strange question...  

Over the past few months I've had a craving for stong smells--
such as the smell of gas (at the gas station); white-out; and dry
erase markers.  No, I'm not a kid looking to get high-- I'm 45 years
old & one sniff seems to satisfy me(for a few hours, at least). I certainly
am aware that these odors are toxic. I can't figure out where this
came from-- it came out of the blue and I have never heard of anything
so weird in my life!

I've  tried to research this on the web-- not much help.  Could this
be caused by some type of strange vitamin deficiency?

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Request for Question Clarification by pinkfreud-ga on 12 May 2005 21:24 PDT

Please forgive the personal question, but could you be pregnant, are
you taking birth control pills, or are you undergoing any hormone
fluctuations (such as menopause)?

Do you have any desires to eat unusual, nonfood items, or do you
experience powerful cravings for certain foods?

Do you have any known tendency toward iron deficiency anemia?

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Clarification of Question by anxious26-ga on 12 May 2005 21:34 PDT

I think you're pointing toward the condition called PICA (when
pregnant women have strange cravings such as the desire ot eat dirt or
drink bleach?)

We can rule that out--  I'm not pregnant or on birth control pills. I
haven't started menopause yet-- I'm very regular (and I haven't
experienced any of the other symptoms yet).

I had my annual physical a few months ago and I was borderline anemic.
 I retook blood tests last month and was not anemic at all.

FYI, I was taking Ferrosequal iron supplements years ago (but-- to get
really personal here-- I had problems with constipation and stopped
them).

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Clarification of Question by anxious26-ga on 12 May 2005 21:39 PDT

Sorry, I forgot to answer part of your question.

I do have cravings for sweets-- but not for any particular foods.  

I can't imagine that there is any coorelation-- but I did switch from
drinking regular coke to diet coke a few months ago (and I drink a lot
of soda-- up to 36 ounces/day)

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Request for Question Clarification by pinkfreud-ga on 12 May 2005 23:10 PDT

This is baffling. I was indeed thinking of a variant of pica. I went
through a similar phase when I was entering menopause.

Other than the existence of these olfactory cravings, are you
experiencing any other phenomena related to smell or taste? Do things
smell different, or does the intensity of odors seem altered?

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Clarification of Question by anxious26-ga on 13 May 2005 04:09 PDT

No.  Just these strong cravings.  If they weren't so detrimental to my
health (ie. toxic), I would just laugh about it & forget it.  However,
the urges are so strong that I often give in and I'm very worried
about damaging my body (like slowing giving myself lung cancer).

Maybe I should talk to my gynocologist?  My internist had no clue.

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Request for Question Clarification by pafalafa-ga on 13 May 2005 05:17 PDT

I don't mean to cause any further anxiety, but the only possibly
relevant report I came across was this one:


http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?cmd=Retrieve&db=pubmed&dopt=Abstract&list_uids=6107556
Can a tumour cause the same appetite perversion or taste change as a pregnancy?


It may be something you wish to ask your doctor about.

pafalafa-ga

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Clarification of Question by anxious26-ga on 13 May 2005 13:41 PDT

oh!  I will call my doctor on that.  However, I didn't experience any
strange craving slike this during pregnancy.

Hi, anxious26-GA,
You say,
"I can't imagine that there is any coorelation-- 
but I did switch from drinking regular coke to
 
diet coke !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

a few months ago (and I drink a lot of soda-- 
up to 36 ounces/day"!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Artificial sweeteners have proven to produce an incredibly wide range
of horrendous symptoms.  So you should cut out the deadly aspartame,
(or what have you) artificial sweetener, whether it's causing your
specific "odor love" or not.  I haven't "Googled" it for a while, but
if you look for this info on the horrors of artificial sweeteners,
it's easy to find.
The only "good" sweetener with zero calories, is an herb called
"stevia", which is also good for your health in many ways.
I hope this helps.

Thanks for your advice!

I have had a very similar experience. For the first time in my life, I
have had very strong cravings for very wierd/unhealthy smells. #1
lemon dishwasher detergent, #2 lemon anti-bacterial wipes, gasoline,
etc.
Spooky thing is that I have also switched from regular soda to diet soda.... 
I am a student and needed the caffiene, but didn't want to calories. 
Wierd. You can bet I am going to try to cut out the nutrasweet etc to see if 
these strange smell cravings go away.