Can you turn off your sense of smell/taste at will?

[Havanawinter]

Chatting with DH whilst watching the eating trial on I’m and I mentioned that if I encounter a bad smell I simply choose to stop smelling it. Likewise if something tastes bad I can switch it off sort of. I do it when drinking my iron enriched water in the morning. DH thinks that mad but I thought it was totally normal and I’ve never questioned it before.

YABU = can’t do this
YANBU = I can do this

I can block my nose off if that's what you mean but it takes so much concentration that I slip back in to nose breathing too soon and then can't get rid of the smell. I absolutely can't turn my taste buds off though, I'm an extremely fussy eater and can't force down things I don't like.

I'm a nurse and used to be able to do this when I worked in wards. I seem to have lost the knack now!

I wish. Even if I can mouth breathe, I can still taste it and the memory of some smells lingers in my nose and mouth all day.

Plumbers! That's another type of superhuman that must have perfected the technique!

What about the gag reflex? If we are talking about smell and taste, surely the gipping follows shortly?

Same. People always think I am mental when I say it.

Yep, I can also turn off smell. I don't know about taste though. Until recently I also thought everyone could turn off smell. It's definitely a gift in some situations!

Good grief, I can't even turn off my thoughts, far less my senses! I'd always assumed everyone's head was a constant buzz of activity. Brain's are fascinating.

I am not sure how you can turn off taste. There are thousands of taste buds on your tongue. You can't switch them off.

I have met someone who used breathing techniques to be able to block out smells (found this out when we were together in a cadaver lab).

However, I can make my vision blurry, and also do the ear rumbling thing.

No, can’t do that. My sense of smell in particular is incredibly sharp whether I like it or not (I often don’t!)

Smell- yes with ease. DM & DB can too. DH can't he is often jealous.

Yeah I can close my nose from the inside.. no idea how I'm doing it though!
Can anyone else whistle out of their nose, though??

Mine is but that is thanks to my adhd.

YANBU! Thought everyone could, until this very moment.

Fascinating! I cannot do this, I’m not ever sure I can’t stop breathing through my nose as the moment I try my brain is just thinking about it too much I end up breathing through my nose more!

My body quirk is that on my left foot I can fan out all my toes like Monster Munch. I cannot fan out my right foot’s toes. May be because I have an extra bone in my foot. 🤔

Yes, I have my suspicions. I think I'm mostly fine though so just ignoring them. Don't really know what benefit there would be to pursuing a diagnosis.

For smell,I feel like it's just switching to breathing through your mouth instead of nose? It kindof effects taste somehow too, like there used to be the idea of children holding their nose to eat vegetables to dull he taste.

@Radionowhere my diagnoaus at 46 changed my life.

@Eenameenadeeka its more like a pp said like turning off a valve at the back of your nose. I cant turn off my sense of taste though.

No, of course not.
You can ignore unpleasant smells/tastes and not react to them if that’s what you mean. So you don’t notice them.

Oh yeah, breathing through your mouth, very shallow breaths so nothing gets to your nose. I expect everyone can do that. It’s not really switching your sense of smell off though, more a breathing technique.

@Psychoticbreak what prompted you seeking diagnosis, if you don't mind me asking? I've been having a bit of a slow burn of realisation over the past few years, but I'm successful in my career, crap housekeeper mind you, so not sure what the purpose would be. I struggle with anxiety and motivation but due to a siblings horrendous and life long mental health problems I've just got on with it because it's not that bad in comparison.
I don't know. Can't decide what to do. Of course.
Sorry for the derail.

I can do this, but I thought everyone could.

No way - I bloody wish I could! I have quite a strong reflex as well

@Radionowhere will pm u a bit later so as not to take over thread 😀