Am i the only one who can smell colds ??

[JontyMyers]

In public numerous times especially in winter and i can smell it. That weird smell when someone is all bunged up with cold am i the only one who can smell it ??!?? DH thinks im nuts when i push him away because i dont want to smell his cold he insists he cant smell it on people so can anyone else or i do i have some magic sort of nose

My DS sometimes smells chemically. When he smelt like that as a baby he usually came down with something. Now he gets a small pink smear just below his nose before a cold starts.

A colleague of mine is doing the 5:2 diet. Her breath tells me what day is her fasting day = YUCK!!! (I know it is off topic, but had to tell someone!)

I can smell when DH or DSs are going to be ill. I can't smell it on strangers though.

When my kids are coming down with a cold, we call it granny breath.
Sorry to all the grannies out there.

sarahquilt nice

Yes, both my DC have an acetone/pear drop smell to their breath when they coming down with a cold. Not unpleasant, but very distinctive.

I have an acute sense of smell (connected to my severe migraines, I think), but I'm no good at labelling the components of what I'm smelling, so no chance of a glam job as a coffee taster or chocolate expert, more's the pity.

YY to the pp that describes it as a vinegar smell. Yuk!

OP and anyone else - get over yourselves, you do not have superpowers.

The smell of respiratory infections, and gum infections and lots of other infections are quite detectible.

My Dh can too and I used to be like
until I read somewhere that it is possible and many others can smell it too.
He says they smell metallic.

No, I smell it. People's sweat also smells sweeter.

I also, by smell, know if the kids are going to puke before they show any physical symptoms.

That's the smell, wave

I can smell illness too- DH is utterly convinced I make this up!

I can smell tanning too!

Tonsil stones are rank. They stink to high heaven.

My sense of smell's abysmal - chain smoker with permanent sinus infection (my god I must smell foul to you lot!) - but I can smell tanning. It makes me feel happy. I know I do smell people's 'personal pong', whatever that's supposed to be called, but rarely identify anyone by theirs. I notice when somebody hasn't got one, though - or, at least, not one that registers with me. It makes me feel a bit creeped out about them.

I'm really envious of synaesthetics! Back in my misspent yoof, I experienced it a few times on acid. It would be marvellous to have that all the time :)

I'm pregnant and I swear I smell differently. It's hard to explain, but I want to say stale breast milk like but I'm only 19 weeks and I've smelt like this since 6 weeks ish. Showering only gets rid of the smell for a short while.

Wombat, hormones definitely change your smell. Just wait until your menopause; it's a thrilling mystery of How Will I Smell Today?

I have a freaky sense of smell. I can smell colds, can smell if the woman who used the toilet before me is on her period, my sister once reeked of sex. I really dislike the smell of children who have been playing outside. That is such a distinctive smell.

Only with my children, they both have acetone smell to their breath before they show cold symptoms.

DS2 smells kind of like pear drops if he is coming down with a bad chest or cold

I can smell when someone is coming down with a cold, before they know it themselves. Not just close relatives, anyone who gets close enough to breathe on me.

The smell I'm talking about is nothing like pear drops. It is a disgusting smell, sort of like catarrh crossed with old pennies.

I've never met anyone else in real life who can do this, and if I mention it, people think I'm making it up, but the smell is extremely distinctive.

We had a lady with cancer come into our salon and one of the stylists was convinced she could smell the cancer :/

I can smell "colds" too; most easily in the dc for obvious reasons. It's not really surprising, I'm a microbiologist and one of the easiest quick ways of telling what a bug growing in the lab might be is to smell it. Yy to the pp who said C diff is distinctive, but there are loads of others which are as clear. Electronic "noses"'have been developed to pick up the chemical signatures from some infections.
I think the "old pennies" smell might be related to the iron release which makes snot green.

Why do kids who have been out in the cold smell funny? It's a very distinctive smell.

Also kids who have eaten school dinners. Frightening what must be in them.

Um. So what did the nearly dying smell like ? What's the logic behind it ?

Iron release makes snot green? Blimey, today's turning into a great day for learning things I will probably never need to know!