Do you have a keen sense of smell ?

[Gunznroses]

How has it affected you ? my strong smell sense has resulted in having to change jobs in the past, and more recently may have to consider a new church, all because i seem to smell things other people don't. The smell is there and i can locate the source, but it's just not strong enough for others to smell iyswim. It's very difficult explaining it to people as i've had people say i'm being 'silly' or 'unkind', they just don't understand it's a real problem.

I also associate some smells with a colour, for instance a rotting flesh smell would be green or yellow, a pleasant floral smell would usually be lilac etc. Just wondered wether there were others here.

That's just like me! The way I cope is by knowing it's a double edged sword. I smell disgusting things no one else can... But I can also smell beautiful scents in the same way. I find it can be overwhelming if I allow it, like letting all the smells of the beach wash over me.

I associate roses with yellow, poop with grey etc but I more visualise (warning: Going to sound really strange here) scenarios that haven't happen. If I smell roadkill, I visualise what sort of car killed it, how the animal came to pass, how long it's been decomposing, someone finding it and grieving etc.

Okay, I sound crazy, don't I?

Should never have watched Perfume: Portrait of a Serial Killer...

How do you deal with it in social situation ? so say someone you work with has a really bad smell from e.g a leg ulcer, how do you manage that situation ?

TBH I haven't yet. :( I breathe through my mouth a lot and have OTT oral hygiene because I can smell my own breathe.

The closest I'm come to a 'solution' with people who smell bad (or are wearing chemical perfume) is stand as far away as etiquette will let me, try and take mainly through my mouth and always make sure I have a drink of something sweet to take into, such as a pungent juice. I also dab essential oils that I enjoy as perfume and will casually raise my arm as if to sneeze if it's truly making me nauseated and take a deep whiff.

I'm sorry I can't be more helpful. :( Even when I have a blocked nose it feels like I just smell what people 'usually' smell!

*Talk

hmm... the work situation was awful as this particular person was in my team. Then we were allocated to the same project where he had to shadow me everywhere. Poor chap had a life threatening condition that meant a particular smell emanated from him. Smell filled the whole office daily, but only i could smell it. I spent months feeling ill, overcome with nausea, retching etc, trying to hold my breath for so long resulted in chest pains, in the end i left. The chap was actually one of the nicest people you could meet and we got on really well, and we would discuss treatments etc, but i was struggling physically to be in his presence.

Been attending a local church for just a yr now, and similar problem, a regular member has a bandaged leg and uses crutches, im guessing its an advanced ulcer, smell takes over the whole church as soon as he come in, nobody else smells it except me and ds2, again lovely decent elderly fellow, someone i would like to have a chat with, but can't go near him. I now sit at the far opposite end of where he sits, but its no use! im now having to consider finding another church, all because of a leg ulcer

You poor thing! :(

Have you tried putting Vaseline under and inyour nostrils at church? Anyone who notices or is rude enough to ask, you can always say you have a terrible cold/chest infection/made up illness. Will keep people away for one and two the close to your nostrils the less you'll smell. I'd suggest certain types of oils but I tried them in my teens and burned myself quite badly. :(

I no longer go to church (only one in area) for a few similar reasons but don't want to out myself. I truly hope the same doesn't happen to you.

Question: Do you ever wonder why people like us are like this? I never hear about it. Until your post family and friends had me convinced I was batty.

P.S. I always use Vaseline in hospitals because... The smells... Shudder I'm sure you know what I mean.

I have a keen sense of smell. Sometimes the whole town seems to smell of dog shit

If I have flowers I can smell the florist smell iyswim, as well as the flower smell.

Department stores are hell, with all the perfume.

I hold my breath a lot if people are smoking in the street.

As a child I remember if a perfumey mothballey lady got on the bus I really hated it.

Perfume is up there as the worst smell in the world. They all smell the same. Chemical ridden garbage with a fake flowery hint behind the detergent...

SpecialAgent - well I don't know what to do (didn't know vaseline could mask smells, will try it) i can't talk to anyone about it as people just turn on you and think you're a nasty person. A while back a poster on MN posted about her 5yr old have serious problems with a child that had incontinence bowel problems in his class and how the smell was affecting her child's learning (dc couldn't follow the lesson and was heaving). She explained she felt for the poor child with the health problem but didn't know how to help her own child. All the posters turned on her calling her cruel, wicked, selfish etc in the end i'm guessing the OP was left sobbing into her PC.

We can't be the only few! i manage to stomach most smells (everyone in my office has a particular breath smell, boss' breath in particular has a very sharp chest clutching smell ), but rotting ulcer's etc are really hard to 'stomach'

I can stomach perfume smells, its the really awful ones, i can smell when someone is having a heavy period and needs to change, i can definitely smell my own breath hence i never speak to anyone before brushing and can't understand how people kiss first thing in the morning .

I read in an online article that people with a keen sense of smell are usually people who worry a lot, which is interesting as I am a worrier
apparently laid back people tend to have a weaker (or just normal) sense of smell.

I can't cope with the smell people have when they are about to come down with a cold or sore throat. Fortunately I can only smell it when I'm standing very close to them.

Wow Gunz that's just like me! I smell periods (it's horrible when you smell yourself, in public isn't it? The paranoia others can too just eats me up inside) DH knows there are no kisses without us both using thorough oral hygiene.
He kisses my forehead every morning instead as he adores intamcy, which is sweet but makes me feel terrible because I can smell his breath and sweat even though he's being kind. He wants to snuggle naked after sex and I just want us both to bathe, bathe, bathe. Feel so guilty. :(

I also have very bad anxiety... I wonder what the 'link' is?

Oh and (lighthearted) anyone who uses Lynx is banished from my household!

I thought I had quite a keen sense of smell but on reading this I certainly don't on the same level as you all do

DP refers to me as 'bloodhound Dentressangle' at times when I can smell things he can't eg. for weeks I could smell a damp, wet wood smell which he couldn't. It turned out was a very slow leak from the dishwasher which had caused the wooden floor underneath to get damp.

When I was pregnant though it used to get me down as it was really heightened. I was sick a few times after getting wafts of smells. The worst was the smell of a fridge, even one at work that people just used for packed lunches (in Tupperware containers) and milk in closed plastic bottles. It was as if opening the door let out this concentrated smell that had been building up forever.

Hello fellow acute scent sniffers - me too. I also associate smells with colours too, which most people think is very freaky.

I lived and worked in London for 20 years, which was torturous. The tube in the summer was like my own personal hell. I used to always try to have a very light scarf but mostly spent alot of time breathing through my mouth.

I can smell things like people coming down with a cold too, can smell ear wax, can tell exactly how many days it has been since someone has washed their hair. One of my worst smells is those people who get vomit breath when they drink beer. Doesn't happen to all beer drinkers but certain people get vom breath when they drink beer - very odd.

When I was pregnant my sense of smell was even more acute, which was a nightmare. Spent alot of time retching through pregnancies, nothing to do with morning sickness just smells!!!!

DS also has a very acute sense of smell, possibly even more so than mine and can pick things out from miles off. He is ASD, so I don't know if the sensory issues ASD people tend to have, make it worse.

Postbellum - I smell the 'vomit' breath too , i can't smell people coming down with a cold but i can smell my own cold! Awful smell. Do you have a lot of anxiety ? its all just weird. Only ds2 seems to have inherited my sense of smell, and he is about going for CBT for guess what.....? anxiety ( nothing to do with his nose) purely coincidental.

Swimming pools are awful too, like someone's raking your nostrils out.

And soft play, it's just cheesy feet, poo and damp sticky dusty smell..

I am a worrier Gunznroses & DS is particularly anxious, which is part of his ASD (or at least I think it is).

Another odd thing I can smell is water. Just by sniffing it, I can tell if it is hard from chalk or lime and the water in parts of Ireland has an amazing sweet smell! Again, most people seem to think I am nuts when I say I can smell water.

Is there anyone else here with a keen sense of smell who also has anxiety or is a worrier PLUS a child with a neurological condition e.g Asd, OCD, Tourettes, ADHD ?

Is there anyone here with a keen sense of smell who is very laid back?

Not laid back. Some anxiety but it is treated. Aspergic traits.

One of my four children has both ASD and olfactory superpowers.

I don't know if this counts, but my DSS has a neurological condition and he's lived solely with us since he was a very young baby.

And my Dsib has ASP

Unfortunately there aren't enough responses here to make a link, suppose even if the whole of MN responded if would still be thin BUT interesting.

Thank you all for your input.

This is a fascinating thread. I suffered while pregnant with a heightened sense of smell, and couldn't walk down any of the cleaning products aisles at the supermarket; the chemical smell was so overwhelming. Luckily it was only temporary - I can hardly imagine how debilitating it is to live with permanently.

Out of interest, what is the 'coming down with a cold' smell like?

(Meant to say - what was weird for me was being able to smell the chemicals 'underneath' the perfume they mask them with.)