79. Why Holiday Scents Trigger Migraines (And What to Do About It)

You walk into Home Goods and the candle aisle knocks you out. Your coworker lights a pumpkin spice candle. Someone cooks ground beef.

Instant migraine.

Or maybe you're the one smelling everything, and no one else does.

This is odor sensitivity, and it's one of the most disruptive migraine symptoms.

Here's what's happening: When you breathe in an odor, you're breathing in molecules that your liver has to detoxify and eliminate.

Why does this happen?

Think of your body like a toxin bucket. Your liver drains it by processing metabolic waste and environmental toxins.

But if your liver doesn't have the nutrients it needs or the cellular voltage to run optimally, it slows down. The bucket fills up.

When your bucket is full to the brim, even small exposures like laundry detergent, perfume, a candle, for example, tip you over into a migraine.

You're hypersensitive because your toxin bucket is overflowing.

When we drain that bucket by addressing blockers in the first and third principles, your liver runs faster. The bucket level drops. And suddenly, you can tolerate your friend's fabric softener, your husband's legendary cooking, and browsing Home Goods without fleeing.

I've seen clients go from fleeing candle aisles to browsing for 30 minutes without noticing any smell.

This isn't genetic as many migrainers think it is. It's an overflowing toxin bucket, and it can be turned around.

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Episode Transcript

hi there
welcome to the Healing Migraines Naturally podcast
I am your host Doctor Leslie Caesar
and I am a former chronic migraine sufferer
who has devoted her life to helping other women
with chronic migraines recover their health
so that their body stops getting migraines
without adding new medication
or taking a fistful of supplements
today I'm recording the first weekend in December 2025
so we're getting into the Christmas season
the holiday season
and we had a great question from my Facebook group
Healing Migraines naturally with Leslie Caesar
Andy
help this time of year with all of the holiday scents
I am you know getting more migraines
so what do I do about this okay
so I thought this would be a great
thing to discuss this week on the podcast
because yes right this time of year
you've got all of the sense
people like to kind of bring out the holiday spirit
with all of the scented candles in their home
I used to work in an office
you know I used to work in corporate America
and so a lot of people
I remember like a lot of co workers this time of year
they they even want to bring the holiday scent
to the office right
so they might have like a little
little essential oil diffuser on their desk with like
the pumpkin spice latte scent
or something like that
you going to like home goods this time of year
like you're gonna be knocked out
right by all of the candle scents
and the holiday scents and all that kind of stuff right
so
it's a real gauntlet that migraine sufferers can run
this type of year
just going into a store or something like that
so not everyone
who's prone to migraines is very sensitive
to odors but it's a pretty common phenomenon right
so a lot of migraine suffers
they will say that they have like a bloodhound nose
right like they
they're the one in their family that's constantly like
smelling stuff
even when they're not in a full blow migraine
they're like maybe smelling something in their house
and like
saying to their husband or saying to their kids
hey do you smell that
and everybody's like no
I don't smell anything and they're like
where where is it coming from
where is it coming from right
um or they are very sensitive to people's perfume right
so again back at the office right
even if they're not in a full blown migraine
but they're sitting in that
you know conference room
conference room meeting with
you know
that one coworker that's always drenched perfume
and so on like they're like feeling like the
like the walls are closing in
right where everybody else hardly notices it right
so even when people aren't in a full blow migraine
a lot of times they're much more sensitive to odors
and then right
full blow migraine
forget about it right
so this is even more common
someone may not be that sensitive to smells in their
sort of everyday environment
if they're not in a migraine
but once they go into a migraine
oh right
forget about it like that
you know the
the you know
can smell the trash or that food odor right
oh you know
who's making ground beef right
you know it's like
oh I don't want to smell any of that
that smells terrible um
they become even more sensitive to odors
once they go into a full blown migraine
and then probably like
the most troubling
are people that are so sensitive to odors
that being exposed
to the odor will tip them into a full
full blown migraine right
and so this is I
I would say the most disruptive to people's lives
because we are inundated with all of these like scents
you know
from the candles or people like essential oil diffusers
but then you even have detergents
um you know
I have clients where you know
they can't walk down the laundry detergent
aisle in the grocery store
without getting a migraine
or they can't walk down the coffee aisle
in the grocery store without getting a migraine
because those products right
are just off gassing odor into the store aisle
and they can't tolerate it without getting a migraine
those are probably like
the three main levels of odor sensitivity
that migraine sufferers are prone to
another interesting phenomenon
too with migraines that is not very common
I was this is a rarer symptom
but there are people who when they get a migraine
they experience an olfactory hallucination right
so this is where they smell like a phantom smell
they smell something
or they perceive that they're smelling something
that actually isn't in the environment
so typically
it's a smoke type smell that they will perceive
so they will perceive like a burning wood smell
or like a tobacco
like a burning tobacco cigarette or you know
cigar type burning tobacco type smell
that is not actually existing in the environment
there's like no wood being burned
and nobody's smoking a cigarette
but they perceive that type of an odor
and it's actually
what is called an olfactory hallucination
that is different than an odor sensitivity
because the odor molecules are not actually present
what's happening is that's like
it's similar to a visual aura
a visual aura you're perceiving a visual disturbance
but it's actually happening
in the visual cortex of your brain
um an olfactory hallucination
is actually happening in your brain
in the area that processes
the olfactory input from the nose
so it's similar so
you can kind of think of that more like a visual aura
it's just something that you're perceiving as a smell
or as an odor that's not actually there
just like with a visual aura you're perceiving right
that swirling kind of kaleidoscopic type thing
but that there's not not actually like
like that's obviously not happening in the real world
right um
and there's nothing happening in your eyeball
it's all happening in the visual cortex of your brain
so let's go back to the odor sensitivity piece of this
okay so what's going on here
so odor sensitivity ref
relates back to what I refer to as the second principle
so if you've been following the podcast
if you've taken any of my free trainings
I talk about what I call the 3 principles
or the three things that our body needs
in order to restore itself back to a state of health
and maintain its state of health
and so the first principle is
we have to get the nutrients that our cells need to
our cells our cells are not going to function properly
if they don't have the nutrients that they need um
the second principle is
we have to clear metabolic waste
material
and other toxins from the cells and from our body
so when our cells
get the nutrients that they need to do their work
in the process of doing their work
they're making waste material
that waste material has to be detoxified and removed
from the body so that's the second principle
the third principle is
we have to restore our resiliency and vitality
so that we can weather the stressors
that are continuously bombarding us
a lot of times we call them migraine triggers
we have to have enough
resilience and vitality to weather those stressors
so that we don't get tipped over into a migraine
hi there it's Doctor Leslie
if you're a woman
having eight or more migraine days a month
let's talk
I'll show you how to drop them to near zero in 90 days
without adding more medication
in fact you can even lower
or maybe even completely
wean off of your medication within 90 days
and without agonizing cold Turkey withdrawals
let me tell you about my client Judy
she was on such strong medications for her migraines
that she was nearly bedridden
and could barely function
she had to close the doors of her small business
and felt like a failure she wondered every day
why am I doomed to suffer from these migraines
but just like you
she started listening to my Healing Migraines
Naturally podcast and a spark ignited
she knew that
if she could just figure out why these migraines
started in the first place
she could restore and recover her health again
so she booked her free consult call with me
and the rest is history
she now goes months between migraines
and runs her small business full time again
because she's completely off of those preventative
medications she followed the 12 week plan
and got incredible results
I've worked with women just like Judy
from all over the United States
overcome migraines naturally
so if you're serious about healing your migraines
then tap the link in the description
and book a free consult call with me
just like Judy did
we do cap new clients monthly so if the calendar's full
the doors are closed for now
so don't wait to reclaim the life you deserve to live
no matter how hopeless things seem
now with expert guidance
you can heal and recover from migraines
so I look forward to chatting with you
click the link now to schedule your call
so odors actually tie into the second principle
so let me dig into this a little bit deeper
so in the air are little molecules
and when we inhale them
the little molecules stimulate the olfactory
nerves in our nose and so they stimulate the nerve
and the nerve sends a little signal to the brain
those little molecules
what happens to them after they enter our nose okay
we have to get them out of our nose
if they get absorbed into our bloodstream
we've got to get them out of our body
so what we think of as like an odor molecule right
like oh
I smell a candle well
what are what's actually happening
the candle is off gassing little molecules
and those little molecules
when they stimulate the olfactory nerves in the nose
the brain processes that and perceives it as
pumpkin spice hahaha
nutmeg or you know whatever right
it perceives it as an odor
a smell right
something hopefully pleasant right
so but there isn't right
it's not like there's a little
miniature pumpkin spice latte that went up our nose
right it's little molecules
that are floating around in the air
and they stimulate those nerves
our brain processes that
and then we perceive that as a particular odor
but again what happens to that molecule
so that little molecule if it goes into the bloodstream
we gotta detoxify it now it's an environmental toxin
okay now when we hear the word environmental toxin
we think of man made toxins right
modern toxins that are in the environment
that we've made and we've put in the food supply
and the air supply and the water supply
but the environment even before
humans had the ability to manipulate the environment
in the way that we do and
and kind of create the chemicals that we make
the environment has always had environmental toxins
in it okay
so even before we were making
you know pesticides
wood was being burnt things were being burned
so when things are being burned
molecules are being off
gassed into the air that we are going to breathe in
and are going to have to get out of our body again okay
so I'm not downplaying
the environmental toxins that are in our environment
currently that are so called man made
but we have never been living in some sort of pristine
toxin free environment OK
the we
humans have always been living
under a significant load of environmental toxins
like for example mold OK
um particularly
the way that we live here in the United States
we are exposed to far less mold
I mean unbelievably less mold
than many humans still on earth are exposed to
typically
and if you just went back a couple hundred years right
when we were living in dwellings
that didn't have the ventilation and
you know weren't as dry as they are right
the modern American dwelling is a very dry environment
that has you know
very little mold in it compared to if you went back
you know 200 years
the types of dwellings that people were living in
were a lot damper
and there was a lot more mold growing
so I don't want to have like I said
I'm not trying to downplay what's in our environment
that we have caused
but we are kind of living in this sort of myth
right now culturally
that we used to live in a very pristine environment
and now we don't but in reality
from the body's perspective
we have always been living
in an environment
that was full of environmental toxins
that our body had to detoxify and get out of our body
right so
you know again
many people around the world
even today
let alone what would have been typical for everybody
just a few hundred years ago right
are living in a dwelling
where they're burning combustible material
for heat and for cooking
right there within their dwelling
and they're just breathing all of that right
as they're sitting next to the fire in their dwelling
with not that good ventilation right
so again our modern American dwelling with
you know central air
central heating windows
it's you know
if anything we're using a humidifier
it's so dry right
it's like our environment is a lot more
pristine than it was just a few hundred years ago
so the I say this again
not to get people too paranoid
but I say this because our body has been designed
to remove these environmental toxins
from our body right
because
we've always been in this type of an environment
where we're exposed to environmental toxins
that have to be removed from the body
so we have the ability to do this okay
um
I don't want people to feel sort of this dooming gloom
that oh my goodness
everything is polluted and now we're stuck right
our body is designed to remove these
toxin molecules from the environment
and so when we breathe in something
that stimulates the olfactory nerves
and we perceive that as an odor
we're actually breathing in an environmental toxin
so this could be you know
molecules from an essential oil diffuser
from a candle from somebody cooking beef on the stove
right from the trash can
from the vehicle in front of us on the highway right
all of these things are coming into the body
as we're inhaling and our body has to detoxify them
and eliminate them from the body
so what happens to people is
their body becomes overloaded with metabolic waste
material and toxins why would that happen
that happens because your organs of detoxification
you have 3 organs of detoxification
that's your liver your kidneys and your lungs
interesting
that your lungs are an organ of detoxification
so the liver is doing the bulk of the work
so I'm just gonna refer to the liver
for simplicity purposes um
so we have our organs of detoxification
that process these toxin molecules
so that they can actually get out of the body
until they're processed
they're sort of stuck in our body
so they have to be processed
so that they can be eliminated
so what happens is that the liver gets overloaded
the liver
has to run the detoxification pathways fast enough
to keep up with the load now
what does the liver need
to run those detoxification pathways
your liver needs nutrients so the first principle okay
so if we start to develop a deficiency or a blocker
within that first principle
and our liver
doesn't have what it needs to run those detoxification
pathways it's gonna slow down
things are gonna start to slow down
the other thing that the liver needs is
cellular voltage or vitality
so this ties into the third principle um
part of the third principle is the literal cellular
voltage that's required for the cell to run optimally
right so if our liver is a little bit low voltage
it's not gonna run as fast
so what happens to people is
they start to develop a deficiency
or a blocker within the first principle
and the third principle
and then their liver starts to slow down
and then the waste material
and the environmental toxins start to build up remember
it's not just about toxins from the environment
we're making waste material all the time
we're making toxin molecules all the time
as part of our metabolism right
so the when the liver starts to slow down
that's when things start to back up okay
so when we breathe in an odor molecule
we're breathing in additional toxin molecules
if I'm already overloaded right
if I've got like this little toxin bucket
this little trash can
and it's already loaded up to the brim
and then I breathe in a bunch of smoke molecules boom
right I'm gonna have a problem okay
so we become more and more sensitive to things
the fuller and fuller that toxin bucket becomes okay
so if my liver is working optimally
because my first principle
and my third principle are in a good shape
and then my liver can run optimally
as things are being added to this bucket
as little toxin molecules
and waste materials are being added to this bucket
my liver is gonna be able to keep that bucket drained
and then if I breathe in a bunch of perfume
from somebody in an elevator or
you know somebody's candle at work
cause they wanna get in the holiday spirit
and so they're burning a little candle at work
I can't I've got some room for that
I've got some room in my bucket
to take in some additional toxin molecules
if I'm already overloaded right
if I'm like barely hanging on and then right
it's like drawing the camel's back right
one little molecule of a pumpkin spice candle
and now the whole bucket is overflowing right
and so when that happens I could get a migraine
if I've got room in my bucket
and I breathe in that little pumpkin spice candle
it's pleasant right
okay great
now I'm more in the holiday mood
but if my bucket is all the way up to the top
and I'm breathing in this pumpkin spice off gas candle
I don't have any room for that
and I'm gonna
perceive that to be much stronger than it actually is
it's gonna become unpleasant instead of pleasant
and when that happens and we go
oh my goodness that candle right
oh this is terrible
you know and everybody's looking at us like
I think it smells nice right
that's because we get into this hypersensitive state
the fuller and fuller that bucket is
and then we start to perceive
things as being unpleasant
or being stronger than everyone else perceives them
so this explains right
why somebody whose bucket is right up to the top
they start to smell things that are in the environment
this is not an olfactory hallucination
these are actual odor
molecules that are in the environment
but we start to become hypersensitive
and we start perceiving them much more acutely
whereas other people are like
I don't really smell much
but we're smelling it like it's right there right
you know right there in front of us
because we are more sensitive to it
because that toxin bucket is up to the top
when we are in a full blown migraine
any migraine or head or headache
is an indication that that bucket is overflowing
and so if the bucket is already overflowing
and we're in a migraine and then somebody starts
cooking ground beef on the stove
we're already overloaded
we're going to find that very unpleasant
right versus if we're not in a migraine
and somebody's making hamburger
it's like oh okay great
when's dinner but when we're in that migraine
oh yuck
what are you cooking that smells terrible
get that out you know I
I I'm smelling it in the kitchen hours later
right because we are already overloaded
that's obvious
because we are already having the migraine
and then finally
for the people who will get tipped into a migraine
when they smell something right
that's because their bucket is right near the top
they're right on the verge of overflowing
and again straw on the camel's back
just one more little thing added to that bucket
and now their bucket is tipped over
and they're in a full blow migraine state
I have had so many clients over the years
where they will get a migraine with any kind of odor
you know if their coworker uses fabric softener
sheets on their laundry
they can't sit in the cube next to them right
because they can perceive the off
gassing of that fabric softener
and no one else can perceive it
it's not a hallucination
those odor molecules are actually there
it's just that
they are so hypersensitive to perceiving those odors
because their toxin bucket
is all the way filled up to the brim
so what I see over and over and over again is
as we get that bucket drained
as we address the blockers
or deficiencies within the first principle
and the third principle the liver starts running faster
cause it has what it needs to do its job
and then we start draining that bucket
and then we start lowering the level
and what do you know
suddenly people aren't so sensitive
I I mean
I can think of example
after example of clients over the years where
oh yeah I could never
you know my husband
he would you know
cook his you know
venison steaks and it would oh
it would just I couldn't tolerate it
I just said can you do that outside
you know I can't tolerate this
I get this out of my kitchen
low and behold she comes home
her husband's cooking the venison steaks
oh that actually smells good
that smells kind of savory right
what's going on here right
this used to just I would
you know want to vomit smelling this in the past
or low and behold
I was able to sit in the car with my friend
we were able to go out to lunch together
in the same car
because I could sit in her vehicle with her
despite her laundry detergent right
I have had clients that have not been able to ride
in the car with a family member
or a friend because they cannot tolerate the off
gassing of the laundry detergent
that their friend uses I mean
this is the I mean
this can really impact people
but when we get that bucket drained
low and behold they can tolerate that and they can
you know go over to a family member's house
and tolerate their candle usage right
they can tolerate the fabric
softener that they use on their clothing
you know
being able to go into your office environment and
you know know that
if a coworker comes in with a little bit more perfume
today you're gonna be fine right
that absolutely can happen
this is not something that's hard coded into you
this is not something that's genetic
this is a natural result of what happens
when that toxin bucket
when that little trash can gets to overflowing state
and again it
it gets that way because our liver starts to slow down
because it doesn't have what it needs
within the first and the third principle
so I will also say you know
when I talk about the second principle and I say
you know clearing metabolic waste material
and other toxins from the body
a lot of people right away they go
they say oh
you're talking about detox right
because detoxification
within the natural medicine space that I am a part of
is a big deal right
everybody talks about this
but what people are not understanding
unfortunately
a lot of natural practitioners don't understand this
and then definitely the general public
like how do we get in this position in the first place
I can say you know
definitely we do have man made
environmental toxins that are playing a role
but we again
yes we have these man made toxins
but we have never been living in a pristine
toxin free environment
so it's much more complex than just oh detox
oh toxin overload from the environment
let's just do a detox what's really going on here
is the subtle
interplay between all three of these principles
I believe that we have gotten into the
toxicity problem that people are talking about
rightly so
we haven't gotten there just because of man made toxins
we've gotten there
because we have an epidemic of Americans
who are not able to get the nutrients that their cells
need to
their cells and their vitality
is low their vitality is diminished
and so those two things are playing a tremendous role
in addition to things like man made
environmental toxins
so what a lot of natural practitioners don't understand
or what a lot of lay people
you know maybe you're listening to this
and you've tried to cleanse
or you've done a 30 day quote unquote
detox or something like that
so if what those types of things consist of is sort of
pushing your liver
so like whipping the horse of your liver
whipping a dead horse
and trying to make a dead horse run around the track
faster right
because like I say
if your liver doesn't have the nutrients
that it needs to run those detoxification pathways
and you can read about these pathways in a biochemistry
medical textbook this isn't just like woo woo
naturopathic stuff I'm talking about
this is we know a lot about how this works
um so
if your liver doesn't have the nutrients
that it needs to run those pathways
and you don't have cellular vitality
or cellular energy things are gonna get backed up
and so if you're just gonna whip the horse
but the horse hasn't had any hay in five days right
you're not going to get around the racetrack
and unfortunately
a lot of natural practitioners don't understand this
a lot of lay people are doing these
like kind of cleanse routines
and they don't understand that either
and I'm telling you if you're prone to migraines
and you do this kind of thing
you do some of these detox schemes
these detox protocols
you're highly likely to get a migraine
ask me how I know OK
so this is because when we are prone to migraines
that's an indication that the toxin
bucket is already up to the top
and then we get super sensitive to things
and you try to push the liver
you try to whip the horse and the bucket just over
spills tips over and everything spills out
and then we feel really sick
so you have to identify okay
what are the blockers within the first principle
and how do we address that
how do we get more nutrients coming to your liver
and trust me it's not just taking supplements
like glutathione or things like that
um and then how do we increase the vitality
then if we need to we can gently push the liver
to move a little bit faster okay
you can't just beat the horse
but you can nudge the horse a little bit
and then we're going to get that bucket drained okay
and then these symptoms
like odor sensitivity are going to start to improve
and I I
I love this phenomenon I
I love it it just tickles me every time it happens
because this is a symptom that
when it starts to get better
you don't notice it right
this is a symptom that when you walk
in to a store
and you're overwhelmed with that candle odor
and you're like oh my goodness
we gotta get out of this home goods right
you that's when you notice it
but when the symptoms starts to improve
when the toxin bucket starts to drain
and then you go into a home goods
and then you're just enjoying browsing around
and looking at all the little finds
and then after 30 minutes
you go wait a minute
I don't I don't smell anything right
and it's like well
maybe they maybe they don't have candles this time
right
like maybe I missed the candle shipment or something
no no
they still have the same
same obnoxious candles in there
I'm just not perceiving it like I used to
it's really really fun when this symptom uh
improves and then again
for people that are really in the bad situation
where they can't go over to somebody's house
uh can't
you know be in a car with somebody
because of their laundry detergent
this is life changing
when this symptom starts to improve right
so I hope this helps I hope this gives you some insight
into what's going on here
let me know in the comments
if this is something that you struggle with
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and again if you're struggling with odor sensitivity
this is something that can be turned around
we just need to
determine what it is that your body needs
within all three of these principles
and then put the right game plan together for you
and get you feeling better so that you can
you know maybe you wanna have a candle in your house
right maybe you wanna be able to have a
a nice pumpkin spice candle
uh next
next holiday season it's totally possible for you
so very good I'll talk to you soon