Non-drinker smells alcohol before passing out

Ok, we know someone who has been suffering from a very strange illness for months now. He has undergone every test imaginable, including full range of tests at the heart institute, blood tests, allergy tests, MIR, catscans, EKG, EEG and nothing is showing up. It's very frustrating - and frightening for him. So I decided to post about it here, just in case someone somewhere has ever heard of something similar. There does not appear to be a pattern, eg, no particular food item or beverage ingested. He does not drink alchol. What happens is that suddenly without warning, he'll get the smell of alcohol coming out his nostrils and when he smells that smell, he knows he's going to pass out. He has just enough time to put the child down or stop what he's doing, but he can't stop from passing out.

Has anyone ever heard of a similar pattern?

The screen was jumping so I'm staring a new window. Just additional info, this has occurred in airports, on airplanes, in hotel rooms, at work, at home, so it does not appear to be environmental, or related to any specific food that he knows of...ie, there is no one constant common denominator preceding these attacks.

That is strange, Eagle. The only things that come to mind are narcolepsy or epilepsy. But hopefully those two things have been ruled out with the tests. The other thing is something called orthostatic hypotension where standing up suddenly causes a sudden drop in blood pressure. Smelling alcohol prior to the episode suggests somthing other than the blood pressure, though.

Epilepsy was one of my first thoughts too, many who suffer observe the smell of burning toast before their seizures. That appears to have been ruled out. I would think/hope that the heart institute would have checked out the possible connection to blood pressure problems. But I'll research that and see if anyone mentions the smell. Thanks Yonuh!

I'm still leaning more towards some sort of reaction to sugar products in his digestive system...not diabetes, but it seems (to me) as if the alcohol smell would have to come from some level of fermentation going on; perhaps it overloads his system and he passes out. Surely they would have checked that out too.

I did an internet search on both fainting and olfactory hallucinations; either one could be because of diet and electrolyte imbalance (too much or too little of things like magnesium, for example). I certainly hope he finds a cause; it sounds frightening!

The alcohol smell could be an olfactory hallucination and not have anything to do with what is or isn't in his system. Evidently, olfactory hallucinations are not that uncommon. I'm sure all of us can think of times when we have recognized an odor that doesn't belong to where we are at the time.

I think I have olfactory hallucinations...there are many times when something shows on the TV and I would swear I can smell it. One of the worst ones is a Wendy's Big Bacon cheeseburger, one of my favourite fast food meals (though I haven't had one since my surgery in November, have no appetite for the sodium in it!) - anyway, whenever this ad comes on TV I seem to smell it, it's a glorious smell that almost makes me want one. And when we're watching medical shows, I seem to smell that medicinal smell that hospitals reek of. I've never heard the term olfactory hallucinations, but will look it up. Perhaps he's somehow associated that smell with his first or previous episodes of passing out. The smell might not have anything to do with it, as you say, but is the mind's way of relating the experience to a previous one. Worth looking into...find out when/where his first pass-out happened. The smell could be his mind trying to tell him where to look for the trigger.

Hi, my husband has the same issue. Yesturday he was taking to ER afrer he fainted on the way to dinner. This is not the firs time, but this one was a litlle scary. He had a TBI, stroke and spinal cord insury 13 momth agou and i was terified. The doctor checked him out and send him home. Said it is orthostatic hypotension or siezure. But the alcohol smell is a mystery to me even after all the reading i have dome. We are going to NRH to se his neuro docter. If I foung out, I will let you know.
One more thing. The orthostatic hyoutension could be trigered by medications for depresion or anxiety, alergies,......check it out

Hi Eagle!

Olafactory hallucinations sounds new to me but plausible for you.

But not necessarily for your friend. Hope he gets thoroughly checked out.

By the way, I'm not on Facebook and won't be since there's other stuff that distracts me after work. So hope you'll visit here more often!