Hi there, I posted a topic the other day, 'Please get your sinuses checked out' under the user name aaron.thomas, but I managed to break that login and user name, so here's my experience, happy to answer any questions, just let me know through this site. Take care people, Aaron

"Hello Guys,

I found this site whilst going through the worse of my pain and always thought I'd write about my story/findings, to see if it can help or be of comfort for anyone else, as this forum was for me.

The headline news is to please get you sinuses and teeth checked out.

I know the causes and symptoms of MCS are far and wide ranging, but here's my story anyway.

If it can help even one person that would be good, as even though my illness lasted for only a short time compared to some people on here, I know the despair and fear that goes with being ill without knowing the cause.

The dates might be a little out, as things were a bit of blur in the pain at the time, and some of these things happened simultaneously. There are also a few swear words in this account to illustrate the utter despair felt at the time.

In Feb '09 I started getting ill at my desk at work, the worse headaches, hight temperature which all led to migraines and the vision distortions that go with them.

Over the space of a couple of weeks the getting sweaty and having mild headaches had escalated to vision distortion, tight chest (I suffer from Asthma) and vomiting.

After speaking with my Mum she said that it sounded like Migraines and that they run in the family, that most people usually have a trigger that sets them off and makes them ill, for her it's coffee.

So over the space of these several weeks whilst feeling rough I tried to figure out what was happening to me, while trying to put in as many hours at work as possible as the migraines were getting worse.

What it took me a while to realise is that there was this really strange smell that was around when this was happening. Over the coming days/weeks once I could smell it, it started to get stronger and so much more worse, along with increasing migraine attacks.

The only way I could describe it was a mixture of burning hair/electrics but also sweet at the same time. Worrying thing was no one wise in the office could smell it. Even more worrying was the effect it was having on my moods and temperament. I had this irrational rage that built up, and I was really worried that I say or do something violent and get myself sacked from my job. This feeling would only subside once I'd manage to sleep off the migraine. When it happened I literally could not get home fast enough to go to bed.

It wasn't until I was standing next to a female colleague in an small empty office (besides the directors we all work in an open plan office) that I realised the smell was coming from her. So I figured it's her perfume that's setting me off. I asked my manager what I should do, as I thought her perfume was having a really bad effect on me.

I didn't know her to well and she had recently joined our team, but I explained quickly that I was having a bad reaction to her perfume, and she took it really well and offered not to wear it to see if that made a difference. I realised it was a strange request and she could have taken it personally, so was very grateful that she understood.

Unfortunately it didn't make too much of a difference. For the first fews days the smell calmed down a lot, then I kept getting wafts of it, and the headaches started again. Over the next couple of days I had to be tactful and enquire as to wether she has forgot to not put her perfume on that day.

Things started to get a it tricky, but she was patient with me. I had to ask her to leave her jacket in the cloak cupboard at the front of the office, rather on her chair, as the perfume could be on her jacket. She continued to be understanding.

But the smell only continued to get worse. I though it was maybe one particular perfume that disagrees with me. If you speak to people you'll find a high majority of people have one type of perfume that gives them a headache, but this reaction was getting worse, and was quite extreme, beyond just getting a headache.

About a month and a half before all this all kicked off I also met my girlfriend who has been very very supportive, as I noticed that things she was wearing were effecting me as well. As you can imagine at this stage I was really starting to get worried.

So this is maybe April '09 now, and I'm having bad reactions to this smell that seems to be in more and more place where ever I go. Had to ask my GF to unplug the air freshener she has in her hallway. She gives up perfume, moisturiser and all perfumed products she would usually use.

So during this time I went to see my GP, wasn't taken too seriously and given a nose spray for hay fever. Things were getting a bit desperate at this time so maybe I was using it a little too much, but my nose started bleeding, but only a little. I went back to the doctors and he was instant that I carry on using the nasal spray. My nose was getting more sensitive to this smell, so I thought 'f*ck that' and stopped using it.

By this stage I was in a pretty bad place, going though this cycle of doing a two days a week at work, getting a migraine and having what they call these cluster headaches up to 4 days afterwards, getting better by Sunday, only for it all to start on Monday when I had to go back to work.

In many ways it was the cluster headaches that were by far the worst part of this illness. I could usually sleep off the migraines, but these could strike at any time and could last for 20 mins to 2 hours, then start again 20 mins later. Hard to describe but it's like a very painful hammering on the inside of your skull.

This was a incredibly scary time for me and those closest to me. Not know what the hell is going on with having these terrible reactions to a mystery smell that no one else could smell, I went though the whole gamut of emotions.

Genuinely feared for my mental health, was I going mad? Why couldn't anyone else smell this thing as well? Was it all in my head? Even though I had some strange reactions from the doctors. I was very lucky with my employers. My manager sits next to me and saw me first hand go pale, start sweating and start gagging as I run to the toilets to throw up. It helped him understand I wasn't faking it, that what ever it was was having a physical effect on me. My manager saw the sweat and the colour drain from my face. Twice I had to throw up in my waste paper bin under my desk.

My girlfriend who I'd only been seeing for a short time stood by me and helped me in so many ways, I couldn't come close to explaining my gratitude to her. My parents too were also very understanding, and my Mum remember a story, which helped me click in another part of the story.

When I was 10 years of age, I had some mystery illness for a couple of weeks that mainly took the form of headaches. The doctors never did figure out what it was, but when she stopped wearing her strong perfume 'Poison' by Dior (aptly named) I didn't have these headaches any more.

I'd totally forgotten about this as it was a long time ago (34 when all this was happening), so in the haze of being ill and in pain and constant headaches and the fear of not knowing what was wrong with me, I dawned it's more than one perfume I'm having bad reaction to.

During this time I'd being do some research on the web when my headaches allowed, as there was some pretty bad light sensitivity that went with it. I found this website and found out that there are people suffering from similar problems, lots of stories of people having reactions to more things than me. I helped me stopped thinking I was going mad.

Back at work I realise it's not just the colleague closest to me that could be setting me off. As mentioned I work in a open plan office and as a Graphic Designer for a HR consultancy, I'm surrounded by women. It's a very female dominated environment. So over the course of a couple of weeks I spoke to those around me who were very understanding. I bought wine and chocolates for those who helped, which as everyone I asked. One of the women's favourite perfume happened to be Poison by Dior.

Things calmed down a little, but by this stage I started to smell this smell on the train on the way to work. It was becoming unavoidable. In the stairwell leaving the block of flats were I live. In the hand wash in the toilets. It was becoming even more of a nightmare. And again it was creeping back into the office.

By this stage I was pretty low, broken down a few time talking to my GF and my manager. Things were getting desperate. My manager let me use one of the small glass telephone rooms we have in the office, when things go to bad. I was starting to spend all my time in there as it was all I could do to stay vaguely headache free.

At this time the thoughts of some thing very wrong with my brain were beginning to take hold. I was thinking it, my girlfriend was thinking it, and so were my parents. But it was left unspoken thankfully. All sort of dark thoughts start to creep in, and it's bloody scary.

My company managed to swap my benefits and get me onto the health plan, which helped speed up the appointments to start seeing some specialists. I'll always rate the national Health Service which is free in the UK, well tax funded health care, it's just that the system is over whelmed with our growing population. But when I stared going back to the doctors it's a sad fact that I was referred to specialist a lot more quickly once I had the private health care.

I went to see an Immunologist, had lots of blood test and the (un)conclusion was I had to managed my asthma better. Before the breathing problems with this thing, I'd not had too much of a problem with my asthma. I mentioned the term chemical sensitivity and got cut off before ending my sentence. It's not recognised in the UK, the causes and symptoms are to far ranging for it to be a 'true allergy' I was told, what ever that means.

Things continued to get worse while these test showed nothing, after having to wait almost 2 months for the results.

There wasn't anything I didn't consider - diet, environment, lifestyle, you name it. All I did know was that my illness was directly linked to this smell. And my nose was getting more sensitive to it, and it was starting to appear everywhere. I'd had no social life for a while, but Christmas was particularly tough, I'd not seen friends for a long time.

It got worse to the point of most products containing man made fragrances we're triggering these migraines.

So besides having to hide away in one of the glass telephone rooms at work was the only time I was getting out, and all of it was seriously grinding me down. The constant worry and anxiousness about when it's going to happen again, the constant painful cluster headaches, so debilitating.

So in Jan '10 the company arranged for me to see the former company doctor (the company used to be part of a larger group of companies). My girlfriend came with me to sort out the directions as I wasn't feeling to good. I wasn't looking forward to the 30 minute train journey to London, I was scared soothing would set me off.

The journey quickly became a nightmare with some road workers removing some yellow lines (road paint?) outside the station, with the fumes an smoke driving across the trine station platform. By the tie the train arrived I was ready to throw up. We got on the train only to be confronted with a women applying nail varnish. I find the toilet and throw up. Now I was really worried about the rage, as mentioned it can be all consuming.

By the time we get to Waterloo train station I'm not in a good way, physically or mentally. My GF had never see the full extent of the mood swing this problem produced, but did an amazing job in calming down before getting on the tube (Metro).

We find the doctors address, get let in, only to find a perfume candle in the waiting area! F*cking hell, it really was the worse thing to face, but it showed the doctor the reaction I had to these smells, wen he had to check I was alright when I was throwing up outside his Georgian townhouse in a upmarket area of London.

He was very understanding and listen to my saga. He asked a few question, and it was quickly established that I could work from home, thank god for internet connections. He signed me off for three months, while I sorted out a referral to an Ear Nose and Throat (ENT) specialist. He was quite shocked to hear this story and the reaction I had, and mention the last resort could be severing the nerve that connects the brain to the smell centre. Pretty drastic but by that stage I'd have done anything to feel well.

Luckily I get a referral to a local ENT clinic 15 minutes from where I live, spoke to consultant who took the time to digest the story, and sent me for an MRA scan on my nose straight away. Within a couple of days I'd had the scan and really started to think the worst about brain damage etc. due to this reaction.

Few days after the scan I return to his office, and he produces the x-ray like scans of my head. He explains where the sinus cavities are in the skull, and point out that the right sinus cavity under my eye if full/blocked with something an infection has produced. The few days prior to this meeting it had become increasingly painful to lean forward, so I'd been experiencing sinus pain as well.

He talked about how this was the worse sinus infection he'd seen, and the other sinus cavity under my left eye was starting to fill up. He prescribed some antibiotics to clear up the infection. I had a bad case of Sinusitis.

Now he points to my nose and the 'septum' or nasal divider is bent, very bent to the left. He explains that this is likely to be restricting the air flow and more than likely has something to do with the infection, and he want to straighten it in an operation. He'd recommend this even if there were no infection. While he's performing this operation they can widen the sinus channels.

So I agree to have this Septoplasty operation and the drilling of the channels to widen the air flow around the sinus cavities. He didn't know why this infection was so bad, how long it could have been going on, or why it was interfering with my sense of smell. I was very relieved that they had found something, if they hadn't it would have been back to square one.

I got the bare minimum details regarding the operation, as I had to go through with it, it's go to be the root cause of this problem. I started the course of antibiotics in between the two weeks it took for the pertain to happen. When I can around he said he'd never seen so much 'gunky shit' (his exact words), and that the antibiotics should've cleared that up but hadn't.

So in March '10 I had the operation and it hurt like hell, I managed to get an eye infection where that breached the very thin bone where they drill the channels near the eye. After a return to hospital for a few days, I recover at home, and continue to work from home for a while pretty much avoiding contact with anyone for fear of an infection.

I recovered my my flat (apartment) with the occasional visit from my girlfriend. This was an apprehensive time as we weren't too sure if the operation had worked or not. I had a good feeling it had, but as anything containing man made fragrances had been removed from here I live, it was still to be tested.

After the recommended period of self isolation to avoid any infection, the 1st time I tested wether it was better was walking through a shop we have here called Boots. The have a perfume counter with many brands that can usually be smelt as soon as you step in the shop. I walked through quickly. Nothing. As I was heavy painkillers at the time, I wasn't trying to get too excited, but it felt good to be able to walk into shops on the local high street without the terrible smells washing over me.

Over the next few weeks, my girlfriend and I did little tests with her cosmetics, and while they smelt strong, it wasn't the two awful smells that set me off. We started going to places where there would be other people and again while there were some strong smells, none of the migraine inducing ones.

As you can imagine this was a happy time, but there was a fair amount of caution as well. I can now smell as a normal person does, and as this is now a new sensation to smell so well it's taking a while to get used to while my brain subconsciously filters out background smells. I do still have a very nasal voice though!

So things are good now, I returned to work for my very understanding employers, and am still with my incredible girlfriend. She could have run away when all this started but didn't, and if we can get through those dark times, we can get through anything.

But the story isn't quite finished yet (not long to go, promise). At the end of last year I went to see my dentist for a regular check up and asked him about this tooth I had some bad dental work on many years ago. About 14 years ago I had a dentist mess up a regular filling and drill down to the nerve. I had root canal filling to sort this out. But when I tapped the tooth I could still feel it. It didn't hurt or anything, but I could still feel it, how could this be if the nerve had been removed?

After high resolution x-rays, it turns out the dentist from all those years ago had managed to drill all the way through the tooth and cracked it. Even though they had filled the root, there was a massive chance bacteria was building in that area.

And guess where that area sits next to? Thats right, the sinus' on that side of the skull. It doesn't take much imagination to figure out it's connected in all of this saga. So I've had the tooth out of course, at the end of last year, as I guess there was always a chance of re-infection while it was still in there gathering bacteria.

So that's my story, please get your sinus' checked out, don't go to cheap dentists.

I've learnt many things from this time, reached the depths of skull pain, emotional despair, but also learnt a lot. There is a big psychological effect with chronic illness, of course there is, when you are desperate for any sort of answers, but when dealing with medical professionals try to be calm as possible, explain as much about the impact on your life as you can, and don't mention any research or self diagnose. The General Practitioner doctors (GP's) I dealt with suggested it could have been some sort of psychological issue, but I found I was listen too by the specialists.

Hope my story can bring some sort of help to someone, and I would like to thank Matt for starting this website, without it I would have thought I was going insane. The kindness of strangers eh?"