Can you stop smelling on command + throw up on command…?

[CalIie]

A bit of a gross one!

Potential trigger warning for anyone with an eating disorder

Sooo…. I recently discovered that not everyone can turn on and off their sense of smell. I thought everyone could do this, so I would always get confused as to why people made a big deal about bad smells.

I only discovered yesterday when visiting a fishmongers with a friend, that perhaps this is an unusual “skill”. She was complaining that the smell made her want to be sick, so I asked her why doesn’t she turn off her sense of smell. She looked at me all confused… I’ve asked a few of my friends and family and they also thought I was weird. However, it turns out my father can do it too and always assumed everyone else could (he is 71!).

Another thing our conversation revealed, that apparently makes me abnormal, is that I can vomit on command. Again, I’ve always been able to do it and it has never been part of an eating disorder or anything. As a kid would use it to great effect to get out of classes I didn’t like or exams I hadn’t revised for

My mind had been blown that other people I have spoken to can’t readily do these things.

Not exactly great talents but oh well!

Poll:

My POV: YANBU - these are common “skills”.
My friends POV: YABU - wtf this is so weird.

*No.

You're not doing it right.*

I do very little right so that’s not surprising

Oh hang on. I’ve read page 2 and I think I can do what you’re on about. I’m not turning off smelling though - I’m just putting my nose out of action and using my mouth to breathe so that I can avoid the smell.

I can def stop smelling when I want. Nappies, farts, dog muck etc. I tense some muscle in my nose and I can do it. Hubby and son think it's weird, I find it useful!

Can't vomit at choice! That could be very useful to get out of stuff as a kid!

@ofwarren CLASSIC Mumsnet “I thought I’d use a big word and show how much I know, but the truth is I have only a little expertise of the topic, and refuse to defer to someone whose knowledge is greater”.

It is a special skill, which often needs to be learned, as responses on this thread show.

TBA: There’s pretty much always someone who’s a bigger know-all than you in this place.

@ABitOfAShitShow

Oh hang on. I’ve read page 2 and I think I can do what you’re on about. I’m not turning off smelling though - I’m just putting my nose out of action and using my mouth to breathe so that I can avoid the smell.

Exactly.

What has thrown everyone is that it was referred to as 'switching smell off'.

Which implied that you could carry on breathing through your nose but just not smell anything.

Nay. It's just breathing through your mouth when you pass through recently mucked crops....

God, me again. Actually, my ability to block the smell would only work with certain smells. Heavy ones. Like drains of something. I know what the PP who talked about tasting the smells means - because that would happen with light smells in the air like recently sprayed perfume. I’m probably not making sense to anyone who’s not me. 😂

I can switch off my sense of smell. I sort of push the back of my tongue against the roof of my mouth, this makes it possible to breathe through my nose but not smell anything. It is something to do with how this redirects the airflow. Instead of the air going upwards it seems to go down, directly to the back of my throat.

I can't vomit on demand though.

[quote Piglet89]@ofwarren CLASSIC Mumsnet “I thought I’d use a big word and show how much I know, but the truth is I have only a little expertise of the topic, and refuse to defer to someone whose knowledge is greater”.

It is a special skill, which often needs to be learned, as responses on this thread show.

TBA: There’s pretty much always someone who’s a bigger know-all than you in this place.[/quote]
I'm with ofwarren on this one.

So she got the word wrong. Her point was correct though.

This is the strangest smug boast post I've ever seen on here

@Doggydreaming

I can switch off my sense of smell. I sort of push the back of my tongue against the roof of my mouth, this makes it possible to breathe through my nose but not smell anything. It is something to do with how this redirects the airflow. Instead of the air going upwards it seems to go down, directly to the back of my throat.

I can't vomit on demand though.

Yes!!

But you probably aren't pushing your tongue to the back of your mouth, it just feels that way.

Try keeping your tongue down and doing it. I bet you can still block your nose.

I’m just glad I’m not in a public place, I must look like a right crack pot trying not to smell. I can breathe through my mouth but smell/taste the thing still. If you can do it it must be quite handy but I don’t think it’s a skill I’ll master

I can totally turn off my sense of smell, you just stop smelling! Can't vomit on command though

CalIie if you use your special skill of not smelling through your nose but close your mouth completely do you pass out through lack of oxygen?

Sorry it’s not a special skill.

I still breathe through my nose.

I can do it and like you @CalIie I can only describe it as closing my nose flaps too 😂😂 the only trouble is if I have to do it for long periods of time or if I know I'm avoiding a bad smell it can make me gag.

I know someone who can vibrate their eyeballs on command. Two of their children can do it too.

If you do the closing of the nose flaps, can you still breathe through your nose? Because otherwise it's basically just breathing through your mouth isn't it?

I genuinely struggle not to gag at “imaginary” smells & disgustingness - eg picture, or vivid descriptions.
It’s a pita, am not usually a drama-queen.

I am ridiculously excited by this thread as I’ve never heard of people who can turn off their smell like I can and have been hoping my son will inherit it cause it’s such a gift! Dead pleased to hear it’s pretty common.

No one else in my family can do it though (or people I know) as they all think it’s a marvel.

I can make myself be sick more or less on command (sometimes with fingers down the throat, sometimes just thinking about it), but I can't 'turn off' a sense!

I can turn off my sense of smell too! I learnt to do it years ago when I had a smell prone job

I still breathe through my nose and I really have to breathe in heavily to smell something

I can stop smelling but I don't know if it's just not breathing through my nose or not, so may not be a special skill!

I don't know if I can vomit on command, I don't think I could, but I never intend in finding out!

So just to summarise about the smell thing.

What people mean is that they completely stop air going through their nose and smell absolutely nothing. It's not that they're turning off smell, just not allowing the smells to access the receptors. They may taste very strong smells on their tongue, however I use this "skill" changing nappies and it has never smelled strong enough for this to be the case.

It is clearly common and I imagine everyone could potentially do it but there are definitely a lot (or even a majority?) of people who haven't worked it out or never tried. Weirdly I often forget I can do it when there's a bad smell in a room that I hadn't anticipated, I only do it when I know n advance something is going to smell.

Also it's not just breathing through your mouth as a small amount of air still passes through the nose when you do that. The nose is actually blocked off. Flaps or otherwise. Soft pallett I believe someone said.

Lastly one poster at least claims to actually be able to block their sense of smell whilst breathing through their nose which is obviously witchcraft.

my sense of smell was very bad as a child & is still weak

I mostly notice smells with my eyes -- my eyes sting in response to some smells.