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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

To LTB for refusing to recognise my hyperosmia for the superpower that it is and saying it's annoying?

52 replies

Gammeldragz · 13/10/2018 12:59

Me after work last night - "it smells of cat pee in here!"
DH "no it doesn't"
Me "yes it does, it's disgusting, one of the cats has peed in here!"
DH "I can't smell anything."
Me "but I can and I have super smelling powers, so there is definitely pee in here!".
DH "no there isn't, you're just being annoying!"

It's not like I WANT to smell cat pee! DH seems to think of he can't smell something, it doesn't exist.

Anyway, today I sniffed around and traced it to the doormat by the French doors, took it up and lo and behold, cat pee! Just presented this to DH for validation of my superior olfactory senses and an apology... Nope, apparently still annoying and not a superpower.

AIBU to LTB for refuses to acknowledge my amazing smelling powers and thank me for my diligence?

I may be pushed to concede that my apparent obsession with smell could get a little irritating, but this is cat pee! Which I have now removed. I should be lauded, right?

OP posts:
BillywigSting · 13/10/2018 14:51

I have this, my nana did too.

Can sometimes tell what has been previously served on a plate after its been through the dishwasher.

Leaves others baffled but it drives me nuts. Started when I was pregnant and never went away.

Definitely not a blessing if you live in a city, they bloody stink.

My dad on the other hand can't smell a thing and the smell (that he can't detect) in his car makes me want to heave.

CharDeeMacDennis · 13/10/2018 16:16

Well, as someone with no sense of smell whatsoever, I am massively impressed, OP Smile

Still constantly amazed by everyone who can walk into a room and sense foods or perfumes or plants or whatever, with no visual evidence, or who can sniff a dish and tell what herbs are in it. It genuinely is like witchcraft to me, I can't even imagine what it must be like!

So jealous!

chachagabor · 13/10/2018 16:48

I think you are me !
I have exactly the same .... sometimes a gift , other times a curse . Cooking is a joy, great pleasure from certain smells/ perfumes ..... but , oh , the cat pee detector and bo pick up are not so much fun!

Autumndayswhenthegrassisjewel · 13/10/2018 17:10

Yup I'm a fellow bloodhound! Can smell everything!!

GoatWithACoat · 13/10/2018 17:11

There was a thread on here many moons ago from a poster who had bought some cake making equipment from someone and even after she had dishwashed it she said she could smell it. Also a thread about someone who could smell smoke in a car two days after someone had smoked in it with the windows open. Both posters got flamed, told to buy a new dishwasher / lying.

I just felt their pain.

Cauliflowersqueeze · 13/10/2018 17:15

I have this. On the tube it’s a curse it really is.
I can recognise people by their smell before I see them often.

OP - I think we should be worshipped yes.

Cauliflowersqueeze · 13/10/2018 17:16

My friend can smell when people are on their period - she says it’s a kind of sweet musty smell. Thank the lord I don’t have that “gift”

EnglishRose13 · 13/10/2018 19:00

I had this when pregnant.

Husband definitely did not think it was a superpower when I'd wake him in the night after one of the cats used their litter tray.

NicoAndTheNiners · 13/10/2018 19:04

Dh is like this and it’s as annoying as hell. All he does is moan about smells.

NicoAndTheNiners · 13/10/2018 19:04

And the bastard threw my wooden aromastream out. He’s thrown loads of candles, etc out.

FirstAidDevice · 13/10/2018 19:05

I worked with a man who had this (it’s usually women I think)

He really could smell things from so far away. We always use to take the piss until he started going on about smelling smoke and then it turned out there was a big fire over a mile away, he could smell the smoke about 15 mins before we could. He could smell if someone was making toast a corridor over. He could smell if anyone had had a drink the night before. Weirdly enough he was adamant he could smell if a woman was on her period Hmm. He said it didn’t smell bad but they just smelt different than usual.

It was very weird!

TatterdemalionAspie · 13/10/2018 19:13

I had no idea that there is a name for this! Shock I am also hyperosmic (aspie superpower Wink). Am currently even more hypersensitive than normal because I'm weaning off antidepressants and it seems to have made my sense of smell as (disturbingly) acute as when I was pregnant. It's fucking horrific. Sad Sad

I'm currently sitting here with a big bag of soaps from a wonderful soap company (normally, any toiletry/chemically smells really trouble me, but these smell lovely and natural) to mask the smell.

GoatWithACoat · 14/10/2018 17:25

cake making equipment from someone who smoked and she could still smell smoke on it after she had put it in the dishwasher and nobody on here believed her.......

.....that was meant to say. Shame my literacy skills are not as good as my ability to smell.

LakieLady · 14/10/2018 21:00

Another hyperosmic here.

Someone at work made a round of drinks, and took an Earl Grey tea bag out of someone else's cup, then used the same spoon to remove my Tetley tea bag. My cup of tea reeked of Earl Grey, but no-one else could smell it.

My ex used to say that I could smell beer if he'd so much as walked past a pub and that it was like being married to Hannibal Lecter.

Great for telling if meat's gone off though.

QuentinWinters · 14/10/2018 21:05

Ooh I have this. Didn't know there was a word for it.

WoodpeckersAreWood · 14/10/2018 21:13

Yep. Me too.

When we were potty training I could play hunt the poo.

I could smell even the slightest trace as I walked through the door. DH would follow in bemusement as I snufled my way upstairs like a bloody sniffer dog.

Skittlesandbeer · 14/10/2018 21:19

Had this very strongly from about month 2 of pregnancy. I absolutely LOVED it, and wish I could get it back (disappeared at the birth)!

Even though smells aren’t always pleasant, the ones that are really knocked my socks off! Food was soooo appetising, flowers were so lovely. I was sniff sniff sniffing everything yummy I could think of!

Handy too, there are clothes shops I now don’t enter because of how they stank of chemicals, when I had my superpower. And now I wash all new clothes. So many chemicals, so many hands touching them. I could smell it all!

Ennirem · 14/10/2018 21:24

I have this and didn't know there was a word for it! God the amount of really gone off milk other people happily consume Confused I can smell it across the room, but OH tells me I'm mad and keep happily quaffing it Envy (not envy!)

Onesmallstepforaman · 14/10/2018 21:58

Another male who can smell when a woman nearby has her period. And any foods on the turn. I have a relatively big nose, but don't think that's the whole story. I hate walking down the detergent or deodorant aisles in supermarkets. I don't use heavily scented washing liquids, or fabric conditioner. In the past I've been able to smell where a slow puncture is on tyres.

TheSmallClangerWhistlesAgain · 14/10/2018 22:05

DH's sense of smell is much better than mine but he's never said anything about smelling when I'm on my period. He's really good at predicting what milk will be off by the end of the day and which fruit is the best to eat. Unfortunately, I can't wear perfume around him as he hates it and can't just ignore it.

My superpower is my bat ears. I can hear a dripping tap from outside.

Oysterbabe · 14/10/2018 22:19

My husband is a bit like this and it is annoying. It's partly that he seems to have a very good sense of smell and partly that he smells everything, mostly things that it wouldn't occur to me to smell.
"This spoon smells weird"
"Why are you smelling a spoon?"

Cataline · 14/10/2018 22:22

I have this too!! We all used to laugh at mum Mum's 'imaginary' sense of smell when we were growing up as she'd walk in the door, sniff, then announce a cat had weed somewhere.

I now have the pleasure of this 'skill' Grin

I can also smell germs. I can tell when I'm getting a cold as I can smell the germs in my own nose. I can smell it on my son and husband too and would probably be able to smell it on others if I ever got that close!

TheSassyAssassin · 14/10/2018 22:37

Yep, I have this too plus v sensitive hearing. Ex used to joke I could be in bed and still hear a mouse farting in the garden! Smell can be good or bad superpower though. Was in a shop the other day and there was a guy in there whose BO almost made me vomit, it was that strong 🤢 On the flip as soon as a colleague begins to open say an orange, I can tell whether it's going to be nice and juicy, or a bit dry and tasteless.

Original poster
Gammeldragz · 15/10/2018 11:21

OysterBabe to be fair, some spoons DO smell wierd. I can't eat yogurt off a metallic smelling spoon!

OP posts:
antipoddy · 15/10/2018 19:23

Can I join? Mine has gone from helpful to superpower while pregnant - I've managed to smell damp and mould in two houses we viewed, DH for once was impressed, instead of the usual moaning when I make him shower and change because I can't stand next to him Grin