Can you really smell a cold coming? Seen this post from Zazen...

[becklespeckle]

I was reading the Kleenex tips and saw this one from Zazen

...And if you smell nitrous oxide on anyone's breath, hold you own breath and turn away to breathe - their nose is making this gas to kill bugs they already have and they are infectious. Nitrous oxide smells 'cold' and metallic...

I always swear I can smell when my DCs and DH are getting a cold and am usually right, the smell is just as Zazen describes.

DH and my friends think I am mad - does anyone know the science behind this so I can be all knowing when I tell DH I am right?

[WowOoo]

What does nitrous oxide smell like? Cold and metallic?! Like a spoon or what?
Really want to know now.

[becklespeckle]

It's hard to describe, a bit metallic like a spoon but also cold like the smell of someone when they have been outside...

[ChampagneAndStrawberries]

I do get a metallicy smell in my own nose when I have a cold. And DH always claims that he can smell a cold on people. But then DH claims many things, so I wouldn't make him a cornerstone of your argument...

[abbierhodes]

My mom and MIL both insist that kids 'smell ill' before they become ill. IME, they are always right.

[becklespeckle]

Well I'm glad I'm not the only one smells it anyway!

Have googled but can't find anything.

[LightShinesInTheDarkness]

I agree with this, I can definitely smell the start of a cold on my DCs.

[NoNickname]

I can smell it too but it doesn't smell cold and metallic to me, it smells more like antiseptic or pear drops or an aldehyde smell.

[PeppermintPatty]

Me too, I can smell this. I can also smell when someone is hungry.

[loopylou6]

yes i get this, i thought i was just a weirdo, turns out i aint yippee

[becklespeckle]

I'm glad so many others can smell a cold too! Can't smell when someone is hungry though!

Can smell bread going stale (when it is still soft and only a day old) and milk going off (before anyone else can). Wonder if it is in the mind some of it?

[becklespeckle]

Or if some people just have really sensitive noses???

[belgo]

I've noticed this too, I can always smell my dc's snot when they have a cold, only if I gat close to them though.

[thumbwitch]

I can smell when someone's "not right" although I'd be pushed to say I knew they were going down with a cold.

Nonickname - I'd be worried about the aldehyde smell, that's often associated with diabetics with poorly controlled blood sugar.

I can smell the weather changing though!

[morningpaper]

My eldest definitely smells funny when she is coming down with something

Not sure if I could describe the smell though! sort of animal-ly and rotten....

[ComeWhineWithMe]

Yep I always notice a metallic smell to my dc when they are coming down with a bug I have even said to dp before that they smell poorly.

[thumbwitch]

sickly sweet, morningpaper? like meat that's going off?

[morningpaper]

yes sort of sickly sweet and ... yellow smelling

[nickytwotimes]

Oh yes, sore throats make your breath stink.

[cheesesarnie]

my mum swears she can.when i smell them when she says she can smell poorly feeling on them(iyswim)-all i smell is a kind of daffodil smell.

[thumbwitch]

sickly sweet/ rotting meat smell = volatile nitrogens, so similar I suppose to release of nitrous oxides.

[morningpaper]

yes that IS interesting, I would like to know

Because I say to DH "DD smells ill" and he goes

[becklespeckle]

I can smell weather changes too Thumbwitch!

I am so glad I'm not totally mad

[cheesesarnie]

do you say 'tut tut,smells like rain'??

[becklespeckle]

Ooh yes, let us know what you find! I have googled but haven't found any science to back this all up yet

[thumbwitch]

well it seems to be quite a well known phenomenon in the medico-scientific world but most of the articles I can't access without paying for them . This one I can though. Haven't had a chance to read it but since they have tried to develop an electronic nose to measure gases in breath in order to make diagnoses, I think we can safely say it is real.

I googled in Scholar scholar.google.co.uk/scholar?hl=en&lr=&q=breath+gas+illness+detection+human to get a list of articles that would be useful if only I could get at them! Anyone who has access, enjoy.